Program trains older adults in online work

Tony Sarmiento would like to see every senior citizen in America online. Connecting with friends, family and others with mutual interests through e-mail and social media staves off isolation, said Sarmiento, executive director of Senior Service America. Online games and puzzles, as well as looking up new things, can keep the mind sharp. But most important, Sarmiento said, more and more seniors need employment -- and they need computer skills not only to compete in today’s marketplace, but to even search and apply for jobs. Sarmiento awarded a grant from Senior Services America to the Community Action Committee’s Senior Community Service Employment Program, or SCSEP (pronounced “SeeSep”).

The US Department of Labor funds SCSEP, a national program that prepares seniors to re-enter the workforce and then finds them temporary “training” positions at local nonprofits to obtain the skills they need to get full-time jobs. The grant, the second SCSEP has gotten from Senior Service America through the Department of Labor, will largely cover wages for these part-time, minimum-wage “training” jobs. The program covers how to find a job, prepare a resume, dress for work, deal with a changing employment environment, financial planning -- and, more and more, gaining confidence using computers, tablets and iPhones and common programs and apps.