Job Fair (File Photo – arvind grover)
Reps. Judy Chu (CA-28) and Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) are leading a call for urgent action from the T. Administration after delays in federal funding left thousands of low-income seniors without pay and communities without essential services.
By News Desk
In a letter signed by 40 Members of Congress and addressed to Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought, the lawmakers demanded the immediate release of funding for national grantees of the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP). The program provides older Americans with job training and wages in exchange for community service work.
The lawmakers criticized the DOL for failing to publish its annual Training and Employment Guidance Letter (TEGL) for national SCSEP grantees for Program Year (PY) 2025, which began July 1. While state and territorial funding guidance has been issued, national grantees remain in limbo with no timeline for when they will receive critical funds.
SCSEP served over 42,000 older Americans in PY2022, contributing more than 20.4 million hours of community service. The delay in releasing PY2025 funds has already led to significant disruptions.
“We have already begun to see the devastating impacts of this delay,” the letter states, highlighting the case of the National Asian Pacific Center on Aging (NAPCA), a national SCSEP grantee based in Washington state. NAPCA has furloughed 800 low-income senior participants due to the funding gap.
“For many participants, who live paycheck to paycheck, this program is a financial lifeline,” the lawmakers wrote. “The uncertainty around funding is not only distressing for these individuals, but it’s also harming the nonprofits and businesses that depend on their work.”
The letter urges DOL and OMB to immediately distribute SCSEP funds to national grantees and to make the funding retroactive to July 1.
The appeal has been endorsed by major national aging and workforce development organizations, including the National Asian Pacific American Center for Aging, Easterseals, Goodwill Industries International, National Urban League, and the National Council on Aging.
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