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Since our founding in 1977 as Operation ABLE (Ability Based on Long Experience), National Able Network has worked to serve older workers, overcoming age-related barriers and discrimination and connecting seniors to employment opportunities that help them stay or become self-sufficient. This long record of service is reflected in Able’s administration of the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP). Able has provided SCSEP services to Illinois seniors for the past 32 of the agency’s 37 years, and today we reach more than 1300 clients in 5 states in the Midwest and New England. Just this month, we’ve partnered with Senior Service America to help another 117 Illinois seniors in need through SCSEP programming.

Here at Able, we feel that providing quality supports to stable employment for older workers is hugely important, not just because reaching these older workers is an essential part of our pedigree, but also because the challenges to finding employment that older workers face are significant, daunting, and sometimes unique. For example, when older workers enter the job search, either because they have lost a job or because they’re entering the workforce from retirement or life on a fixed income, they face long odds. The length of unemployment that older jobseekers experience is much longer than it is for workers under 55 – in the years since the recession, it’s been as much as twice as long! Even today, older jobseekers do not find employment for an average 42 weeks, nearly 75 percent longer than other workers.

For any worker, facing an unemployment spell is difficult. For older workers, and especially for the low-income older workers that we serve through SCSEP programming, overcoming the sluggish job market and the misconceptions and hesitations employers have when considering an older jobseeker is nearly impossible alone. That’s why we work hard to reach these 55 and better workers, connecting them with the tools they need to overcome the barriers they face – tools such as our nationally-recognized Job Readiness Training to prepare jobseekers for the job search and the workplace, our supportive service connections to provide for jobseekers the resources they need to stay healthy and care for themselves and their families, and our long-term subsidized employment training to build their resumes and job experience and provide a needed source of income as they pursue their long-term goals.

Here at Able, we’re proud to serve older workers, and we’re proud to provide SCSEP services. We’re excited to be able to reach even more Illinois seniors in need in partnership with Senior Service America, helping them to become self-sufficient and achieve their goals.

To learn more about National Able Network’s Senior Services program, call 855-994-8300 or click here to visit our website!