SCSEP trains older workers. The Trump administration wants to cut it

Ronald Williams was unemployed when a friend recommended a local jobs program for older workers.

After he completed training with Goodwill in 2024, Williams quickly landed a job as a custodian — a role he still holds two years later, at age 62.

Goodwill’s job training program receives funding through the federal Senior Community Service Employment Program, also known as SCSEP.

Williams, who lives in Steubenville, Ohio, credits the federally funded program with giving him confidence in his ability to work after facing what he describes as his personal rock bottom, when he was homeless and struggled with drug and alcohol addiction. Now eight years sober, Williams said, he recommends the program to people he talks to who need money and don’t know where to turn.

“It helps you out, because sometimes you’re stagnated, sometimes you can see no further than the job you worked in the past,” Williams said. “But they give you a future.”

The program’s own future is uncertain, however, as the Trump administration scrutinizes SCSEP funding.

SCSEP provides both job training and community service opportunities for older adults through grantees, including state agencies and national nonprofit organizations such as Goodwill. Participants are paid the highest of the state, federal or local minimum wage and work an average of 20 hours per week, according to the Department of Labor.

To qualify to take part, individuals must be at least 55 years old and unemployed and have family income that is no more than 125% of the federal poverty level.

SCSEP had more than 42,000 participants in 2023, according to the Labor Department’s most recent progress report on the program.

“In the scheme of things, it’s a relatively small federal program,” said Maura Porcelli, senior director of workforce at the National Council on Aging, a nonprofit organization that focuses on improving the lives of older adults. “But it has a deep impact in the lives of the older adults it serves.”

SCSEP, which was created in 1965 through the Older Americans Act, has faced recent scrutiny about whether its federal funding — totaling around $405 million in fiscal year 2025 and $395 million in 2026 — is worthwhile. For perspective, the Congressional Budget Office projects total federal outlays will be $7.4 trillion in 2026.

Last year, the Department of Labor held up more than $300 million of the SCSEP funding. As a result, providers halted their services for roughly four months, prompting “tens of thousands” of seniors nationwide to be “suddenly furloughed,” according to a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of four program participants.

Now, the Trump administration’s 2027 budget proposal, released in April, calls for the full elimination of the program’s funding.

The document refers to SCSEP as “an earmark to leftist, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)-promoting organizations instead of helping seniors in need.”

The proposal says that efforts across federal agencies — including the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program employment and training, and multiple Department of Labor workforce development programs — already address SCSEP’s purpose. State and local governments have “proven track records of increasing wages, as opposed to this ineffective and duplicative program,” the proposal says.

The Trump administration has called for the elimination of SCSEP before, starting in the president’s first term, and said in its 2026 budget proposal that the program “fails at its goal.” Congress, which is ultimately responsible for the budget, authorized $395 million in funding toward the program for 2026, about $10 million less than it set aside the year before.

Consumer advocates say the government’s assessment of SCSEP’s value doesn’t account for the challenges participants face. SCSEP aims to help the “very hardest-to-serve individuals,” Porcelli said — those who have explored every avenue available, including other federal programs, and have still not been able to reenter the workforce.

Nor is employment the only measure of success, advocates say. At Legacy Link, a nonprofit organization in Oakwood, Georgia, that provides support to older adults, the eldest SCSEP participant is 86 years old, according to Christine Osasu, the program’s director. Through SCSEP, Legacy Link works to help older adults reach “as close to self-sufficiency as possible” with job skills training that brings them up to speed on technology, Osasu said.

“For some people, that will absolutely result in employment,” she said. “For others, that will result in just teaching them how to operate modern technology so that they can navigate their life with less assistance.”

The proposed elimination of SCSEP comes as people up to age 64 face new work requirements for Medicaid and for SNAP benefits, formerly known as food stamps, as part of President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill” enacted last year.

Amid broader affordability pressures, people who are near or above those age thresholds may need to work to keep up with their expenses — even though eligibility for Social Security retirement benefits starts at age 62.

In response to CNBC’s request for comment, the White House referred CNBC to the Office of Management and Budget, which administers the federal budget. OMB did not respond. The Labor Department also did not respond to requests for comment.

In a written statement, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., ranking member of the Senate appropriations subcommittee that oversees labor issues, said she is “committed to stopping Republicans’ misguided efforts to take this program from Americans in need.”

The four-month SCSEP federal funding pause last year led to the elimination of all staff who handled the program at Legacy Link, according to Osasu. The nonprofit, which once had nine offices across Georgia, now has just one location.

Its SCSEP program is operating at about 30% of what it was able to do before the funding pause, Osasu said — and as a result of that lost infrastructure, some seniors who were on the program prior to the pause have not been able to reenter. Legacy Link cannot take on new SCSEP clients, either, despite an influx of inquiries from people interested in joining the program, she said.

The payment lapse affected clients who relied on the training program’s paid minimum wage, Osasu said. Some Legacy Link participants were pushed back into homelessness, Osasu said, while others no longer have their cars or have seen their health decline because they couldn’t afford to take their medicines.

“Things are kind of in a dark place right now,” she said.

Porcelli said the National Council on Aging could not provide training during the SCSEP funding pause.

“Very rarely did I have a day go by when a participant job seeker didn’t call me, asking with a certain level of desperation when the program was going to be started up,” Porcelli said.

Those participants had become used to receiving income from the program, she said, and were gaining skills and working toward getting a job.

“That life-saving stipend was crucial for them, so it was really difficult for a lot of people,” Porcelli said.

Goodwill in Zanesville, Ohio, also saw many of its participants struggle during the funding pause, though some were able to get hired by the nonprofit or government organizations that provide the on-the-job training, according to Mike Carpenter, SCSEP program manager for the Zanesville Goodwill.

Goodwill’s program returned in November and has since gotten its 84 Zanesville participants reenrolled and back into training, Carpenter said.

“Now the only thing they keep asking is, ‘Are we going to be funded next year?'” Carpenter said. “[They] don’t want another lapse, they want to continue on.”

The Trump administration has said it wants to cut that funding altogether — a stance it has taken in both of the president’s terms.

A September report from the House Committee on Appropriations, led by a Republican majority, said SCSEP has “led to unsubsidized employment for less than half of program participants available for employment with worse outcomes for participants with a disability, older adults, and participants with lower levels of education.” The report does not detail its source for that statement or provide any data, and the committee did not respond to requests for comment.

SCSEP is not “perfect,” said Cal Halvorsen, associate professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, whose research focuses on the intersection of work and aging.

“There’s definitely room for improvement,” Halvorsen said. “But the answer is not to cancel it, because this program is a lifeline for people who might have no other opportunities to get retrained for work.”

In a research paper published in the journal SSRN in 2023, Halvorsen and fellow researchers said more SCSEP funding is needed to accommodate a high demand from unemployed and low-income seniors who want to work. The demand for work among older people may be poised to increase: In 2024, the U.S. had more people over age 62 than under age 18, Halvorsen said, and the population will continue to get older.

Older individuals who are out of work can face a more difficult time finding employment, Halvorsen said. SCSEP participants tend to have additional barriers to finding employment, such as English as a second language, chronic health conditions, homelessness or having been formerly incarcerated, he said.

“Just looking at Department of Labor metrics shows that this program is not that successful,” Halvorsen said. “But if you kind of look a little bit deeper and look at who the population is they’re serving and how hard they have it, even though they do deserve jobs, it doesn’t surprise you the numbers are so low.” 

SCSEP participants who spoke with CNBC said they are eager for the opportunity to work.

Unless you’re financially prepared, “retirement is not a whole lot of fun,” said Vonda Jones, 72, of Valdosta, Georgia, who said she started working when she was 14. Jones is the lead plaintiff in the class action lawsuit.

Jones’ monthly expenses, including $700 in rent and a $440 car loan payment, take up most of her $1,800 monthly Social Security check, she said. In 2024, Hurricane Helene destroyed her home, and while Jones has not been able to afford to rebuild, she is still paying property taxes and lawn-maintenance costs on the land.

SCSEP helped Jones improve her computer skills, she said, after she retired from the Georgia Department of Labor in 2018 and spent several years caring for her grandchildren. Today, Jones is working part-time as a receptionist, earning minimum wage, and is actively looking for full-time work that pays more, she said.

“In my mind, I’m still productive and still able,” she said.

Other SCSEP participants must navigate the challenges of seeking work while managing health conditions.

Tina Williams, 57, who is in remission from lung and brain cancer, said she is looking for a position that allows her to work from home as she recuperates physically. Last year, during the funding pause for SCSEP, the Valdosta resident turned to food delivery to supplement her income.

Participating in SCSEP has enabled Williams to boost her typing skills and work on her resume and job interview preparation. “I look at it like college for the elderly,” Williams said of the program. The income it provides also helps, she said.

But finding positions that allow her to work from home has been difficult, she said, and the fact that she is older doesn’t help.

“From what I’ve seen, they really don’t want to hire you at a later age,” Williams said.

Dennis White of Dublin, Georgia, had emergency surgery for throat cancer in January and can no longer speak.

White, 73, continues to work at his job as an assistant at a local library, where he arranges and restocks returned books and new arrivals. The position, which he found through SCSEP, was exactly the kind of job he had hoped to secure, White told CNBC via email.

“I have always loved physical books, and the added benefit is that this is a mostly non-speaking position,” White said.

White said he first heard about Legacy Link’s program through a class in a homeless program he was enrolled in. SCSEP provided a chance for him to train and explore opportunities, and the financial help was a “godsend,” he said.

Some SCSEP participants said they are concerned about the consequences if the Trump administration cuts the program.

Theresa Nottage, 67, who lives in Locust Grove, Georgia, said her monthly rent went up by $200 this year, while her Social Security benefit — the primary income she uses to pay the bills — rose by roughly $50, she estimates. She said the money she receives from Legacy Link training helps her pay for personal items that SNAP benefits don’t cover. Nottage is currently looking for full-time work.

“We just need a little bit more income to help so we’ll be able to survive,” Nottage said. “Because if I move out of here, I’m going to be homeless.”

In June, Anita Shelly, 63, will reach the four-year limit for training with Tri-Parish Works’ SCSEP program in Chalmette, Louisiana. The program helped her improve her computer skills, she said, after she spent years working in a deli — a job that led to her need for two knee replacements. She is looking for work.

“The rich is going to stay rich, and the poor is going to stay poor,” Shelly said of the prospect of cutting the SCSEP program.

Professionals who work on the SCSEP program and older individuals who have participated in it said they believe the program is effective.

“The program is a second chance for people, and it is also a hand up for people,” said Goodwill’s Carpenter.

Not everyone who participates in Goodwill’s program gets hired to a regular job, according to Carpenter. Even so, there are noticeable improvements in both the individual’s life and the community organizations they serve, he said.

“It’s not just a handout,” Carpenter said. “It is a chance to prove yourself, make yourself better and make your life better.”

SCSEP graduate Williams of Ohio said the Goodwill program provided a sense of family and gave him confidence in the value he provided through his work. He said that helped him speak up when he saw that the property where he lived could be maintained better — which resulted in a job offer.

Williams said work has been “excellent” and that he has no plans to stop.

“You have to earn it,” Williams said. “You have to get up every morning like everybody else, and you got to punch that clock.”

“When you get done, you go home, and you do it all over again,” he said. “But the joy of it, you know?”

— This article was written with the support of a journalism fellowship from the Gerontological Society of America, the Journalists Network on Generations and the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation.