Giving Back How older Ohioans overcame age—and poverty—to serve their communities: The story of SCSEP
By sharing best practices and networks, national sponsors seek to elevate SCSEP's value
Ohio SCSEP administrators say they like having a national organization working with them and for them.
David Brightbill, executive director of the Community Action Program Corporation of Washington-Morgan Counties, likes the cooperative style—one agency in Washington, one in Marietta, he says. The national grantee arrangement “gives us a presence in Washington, D.C. That’s where the money is. They (the national sponsor) are much more able than we are to deal with the Department of Labor.”
But the local partner is important as well. “We live and work in this community.” Somebody “at a desk in Washington, D.C.” can’t know the community “the way we do.”
Jim Seith, national director for the AARP Foundation’s SCSEP program, believes the national organizations bring greater value to the program, and have for 36 years.
SCSEP programs run via national grantees “are on average more successful than (those run by) states,” he says. The AARP Foundation is the second largest of 13 national sponsors that administer SCSEP, behind Experience Works, formerly called Green Thumb. The national sponsors bring standardization of procedures, sophisticated IT support, centralized data collection and stability at the local level, he says.
Anthony R. Sarmiento, president and executive director of Senior Service America, which administers SCSEP programs in 108 agencies in 23 states and the District of Columbia, has emphasized collaboration, partnerships and network building. “We’ve taken best practices from one part of the country and disseminated them through our network.” For example, Sarmiento has joined the board of SeniorNet, a nonprofit agency focused on helping older adults become computer savvy. Through the partnership Sarmiento hopes to accelerate computer skills-building among SCSEP participants, which should enhance their marketability in the workforce.
Only SCSEP tries to accomplish two complicated goals simultaneously, notes Paul Magnus, executive director of Mature Services, another national grantee that administers SCSEP in Ohio. “Without the job-training emphasis, the program would stagnate and we could not serve new applicants,” he says. “Without the emphasis on community service, the program would lose its identity and purpose.”