Emily Stover DeRocco

SCSEP Grantees

August 20, 2003

Thank you for your introduction. And thanks for inviting me to your celebration. We do have things to celebrate.

The first is the successful transition that you've completed. I know it hasn't been easy.

More than 40 percent of the participants now work with new grantees as a result of the competition. The solicitation for grants asked applicants to explain how they would accomplish a transition while "minimizing disruptions" to participants. ETA was committed to making sure that every senior participant who wanted to go to work on July 1st had somewhere to go and would get paid timely.

The complaints from seniors that might have been a torrent were instead a trickle. Just a handful of the hundreds of inquiries that came to the Toll-Free Help Line required our intervention. This was not an accident. It was due to the careful planning and very hard work of a very effective team. Let me applaud John Beverly, Administrator of the Office of National Programs, Ria Moore-Benedict, Chief of the Division of Older Workers Programs, and the staff of the Division of Older Workers Programs. The regional staff also provided enormously important help on the ground, where it was needed most. Let me thank the regional representatives for their good efforts.

Most of all, the smoothness of the transition was due to the National Grantees' willingness to communicate and solve problems as they arose. You worked out problems before they became federal issues. I want you to know how much we appreciate the staff time you dedicated to the transition, the cooperative spirit you showed, and the sheer hard work you put forth in tracking down small issues before they became large concerns. All of the grantees deserve our gratitude for making the transition work so well.

We can now look to moving forward in the program year and making this the most successful year SCSEP has ever seen. Let me highlight some of the exciting new initiatives in the works that will help us provide the top quality services that both America's seniors and businesses deserve.

There is an old poster called SCSEP "America's Best Kept Secret." But we don't want it to be a secret anymore. And we can't. I need not tell you that seniors are the fastest growing segment of the workforce. With the edge of the baby boom generation nearing retirement, the aging of the workforce will accelerate. Seniors are healthier and living longer. More and more people who reach retirement age want to continue to work; others - those who may be eligible for SCSEP - lack a retirement cushion and must continue to work. Businesses' need for a trained, motivated, flexible, and reliable workforce continues. But as the workforce changes, business will have to consider hiring non-traditional workers to fill that need.

We have a great match between business needs and a population ready to work, and we need to get the story out. To do that we have contracted with a very successful Public Relations firm to help us raise awareness of SCSEP among businesses, the workforce system, and the seniors who qualify for the service. They are preparing and testing new promotional materials, including these posters you see here this morning. Our aim is to "brand" SCSEP and make it a program sought out by both seniors and businesses looking to hire skilled and reliable workers. This effort includes National Employ Older Workers Week but goes beyond a week in September. "America's Best Kept Secret," we hope, will be out.

There are other changes in store. This conference agenda covers innovations that bring SCSEP closer in line with the public workforce system. The new performance measures that will become effective in Program Year 2004 will improve accountability. These performance measures reflect the President's Management Agenda and SCSEP's authorizing legislation. They will help us learn more about the people we are serving and how well we are accomplishing the program's goals.

While the performance measures will track unsubsidized placements, we will continue to seek improvements in this important measure. The GPRA goal for the program as a whole is substantially higher than the 20 percent required by the OAA Amendments. In fact, it is closer to SCSEP's actual overall placement rate. But we will need to keep doing better. It is unlikely that SCSEP's appropriation will increase significantly. So in order to serve more seniors we need to place more participants in private and public sector jobs. We will need to explore innovative methods to connect SCSEP participants with business. There are many success stories that illustrate how training in IT, health care occupations, and other areas of demand benefits both seniors and businesses in need of trained workers. We need to replicate and expand upon success. How can we do better to meet the demand for workers in high-growth job sectors through SCSEP?

Innovation extends to strengthening the links between SCSEP and One-Stops. SCSEP is a mandatory partner in the One-Stop Delivery System. One-Stops do serve older workers, and those who are work-ready often do not need the community service training that SCSEP offers. Meanwhile, SCSEP participants are eligible for training services available through One-Stops. Yet the relationship between SCSEP and the One-Stops is not always mutually beneficial. Here, too, we need to build on successful examples and share good ideas. How can we make certain that SCSEP participants and other seniors receive training, if training is what they need to find a good job?

We have an ambitious agenda for SCSEP. Filling it will require creativity, imagination, and more hard work. ETA is ready to help SCSEP grantees, national and state, to meet the goal we all share - to provide the best possible services to seniors and to business.