How to help reduce elder poverty? Keep Chicago seniors employed

It was tough for Nazareth Wilson, 62, to find steady work in Chicago. His age and lack of formal work experience were already hurdles. And he had spent 19 years in prison. For years following his release in 2013, he worked odd jobs such as delivering food for restaurants.

“A lot of places wouldn’t hire me because I was on parole,” Wilson said.

Then in 2018, a friend had an interview with a federal work program for low-income adults age 55 and older called the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP). Wilson tagged along and was also accepted into the program. The nonprofit Easterseals placed him with a food pantry at Believe In Thine Heart Ministries, a West Englewood church.

“It kept me working, kept me focused,” said Wilson. “It was divine intervention.” Wilson later also got a part-time job at New Pisgah Baptist Church in Auburn Gresham.

The Senior Community Service program’s relevancy is growing as the U.S. population rapidly ages; baby boomers will be 65 and above by 2030. By 2034, there will be 77 million people ages 65 and over — outnumbering the population under 18.

Cook County is following that national trend. Its population of older adult households aged 65 and above jumped more than 19% between 2012 and 2019, according to a report from the Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University. Most of that growth was in Chicago.

Even under normal circumstances, people over 50 spend twice as long to find a new position after becoming unemployed. The job search for disadvantaged older adults is even harder.

A close-up portrait photo of Nazareth Wilson outside his home in Grand Crossing. — Nazareth Wilson outside his home in Grand Crossing.

Financial pressures are growing among older adults — amid rising costs of living, dwindling savings and high inflation — and many urgently need to keep working.

That’s especially so among low-income seniors, who face more barriers to finding and keeping jobs. Many of Chicago’s older adults are lower income with more than one-third earning less than 30% of an area’s median income, classified as “very low income,” according to DePaul researchers.

That disparity is even starker among racial minorities. In Chicago, 43% of Black older adult households, 41.8% of Hispanics and 40.3% of Asians earn less than 30% of the area’s median income, compared to about 23% of whites.

Nearly half Chicago’s older adults would not be able to afford an unexpected $400 expense, according to a 2019 Department of Health report.

“Many seniors live on a fixed income and face limited options to earn more, placing them at risk of homelessness as they age,” said Beth Horwitz, vice president at nonprofit All Chicago, which works to end homelessness.

The number of homeless elderly across the U.S. will nearly triple by 2030 from a 2017 baseline, estimated Dennis Culhane, professor at University of Pennsylvania and a lead researcher of a 2019 report. Loss of work and income is often linked to homelessness.

One way to prevent poverty among seniors is to help them continue to earn money beyond fixed incomes. About half of seniors rely on Social Security to live on. But the average Social Security benefit was $18,170 per year in 2020 – usually not enough to make ends meet.

White collar workers “are healthier as we move into our 60s and 70s. There’s no reason for us to stop working,” said Ruth Finkelstein, executive director of Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging at Hunter College in New York. “But at the lower end of the wage scale, people are less likely to have adequate retirement savings, pensions, employer contributions, so need to keep working.”

How SCSEP helps vulnerable seniors

The Senior Community Service Employment Program is for adults 55 and older with priority to those 65 and above. Participants often need more support because they might speak limited English, have a disability or less formal education, are veterans, or were incarcerated or homeless.

The Department of Labor started the program under the 1965 Older Americans Act — the federal law supporting people 60 and older — to respond to high poverty rates and a rapidly increasing aging population. Since then, the national program has offered more than 1 million low-income adults work placement and training. In 2019, nearly 55,000 people enrolled in SCSEP.

The senior program funds national nonprofits such as Easterseals and the AARP Foundation, as well as dozens of state agencies like the Illinois Department of Aging and the New York State Office for the Aging. The program serves nearly every county in the nation.

In turn, those groups offer work training and job placement at churches, libraries, health and senior centers and community groups such as The Chicago Lighthouse For People Who Are Blind and Gads Hill Center in Chicago.

SCSEP-funded part-time jobs — akin to internships for adults — pay minimum wage but give participants valuable work experience, references and other support that can help lead to unsubsidized jobs.

“The program helps many of those without hope, tools, resources and confidence get to a better life,” said Crystal Odom-McKinney, SCSEP national director with Chicago-based Easterseals.

Crystal Odom-McKinney, national director of Easterseals’ Senior Community Service Employment Program, writes on a large notepad during a training for older adults. — Crystal Odom-McKinney, national director of Easterseals’ Senior Community Service Employment Program, speaks to program participants during a training for older adults at Easterseals’ office in the Loop.

Easterseals assesses the skills of program participants then places them with suitable organizations.

Post-pandemic, hiring trends were still lagging, said Odom-McKinney. Finding work placements “can sometimes be challenging. We are always looking for diverse trainings, especially organizations that work with individuals who are diverse learners.”

Since its inception, about half of the Senior Community Service program’s 1 million participants found unsubsidised employment, including Wilson. When he joined, Easterseals provided additional training with online career sites, resume help and other support.

In 2022, Wilson was hired for an unsubsidized job outside SCSEP.

He now works at Garfield Park Hospital on the West Side and was recently promoted to supervise mental health specialists.

“So far, so good. It’s challenging,” Wilson said. “All these years of hoping and praying — I finally found something at 60.”

Senior work program benefits

A US Senate committee in 2021 called SCSEP “crucial” in light of a “looming retirement savings crisis.” It said roughly one-third of workers do not have workplace retirement plans and the majority of older adults don’t have enough savings. Age discrimination, inadequate training opportunities and other factors also make it more difficult for older adults to find employment, the committee pointed out.

In spite of the need for support, the program’s grantees and researchers say there has been talk over the years that funding will decrease or get cut entirely. Some critics say that not enough participants find full-time employment after the program ends.

But given that SCSEP serves older job seekers with multiple barriers, it’s harder for them to find jobs. “Many participants do not want or don’t have the health to seek full-time work. Many seek part-time work. This is still a good thing,” said Cal Halvorsen, assistant professor at Boston College’s School of Social Work.

And the Senior Community program’s benefits are not just monetary. About 74% of participants reported a better outlook on life while working, according to a 2020 Department of Labor evaluation.

Sharon Hendrix Phillips, a program participant of Easterseals’ Senior Community Service Employment Porgram, center, sits at a conference table at Easterseals' office in the Loop. — Sharon Hendrix Phillips, a program participant of Easterseals’ Senior Community Service Employment Porgram, center, joins a training for older adults at Easterseals’ office in the Loop.

Participants learned about useful services to help them financially, as well as free skills classes, according to a study by Halvorsen, who said that knowledge also benefits their families and communities. Participants also reported improved self-confidence and social engagement.

In Chicago, Wilson got more than a job after joining SCSEP. He learned computer and life skills through Easterseals’ partnership with GetSetUp, a global online learning platform for people 55 and older that serves about 4.6 million people.

His learning curve was steep because technology had significantly advanced while he was incarcerated.

Wilson recalled seeing people on the street talking to themselves, “like they’re out of their minds.” He realized they were talking on mobile phones. On the train, everyone was using a laptop. “The whole world had changed,” he said.

Through a computer loaned by his church, Wilson enrolled in GetSetUp’s online classes for learning about computers, mobile phones and other technology like Zoom. He’s also taken classes for general enrichment. For example, Wilson takes food and health classes to help manage his diabetes and high blood pressure. “I didn’t exercise while incarcerated. Just ate and that was it,” Wilson said. But in recent years he has lost 100 pounds.

For his hospital job, he walks the hallways at night to monitor patients. “I like the job. It’s honest money,” Wilson said. “I want to retire at 67 or 70, if I stay healthy.”