SCSEP, An AARP Foundation Workforce Program: Success Story AARP Foundation SCSEP

SCSEP An AARP Foundation Workforce Program Helped Ken Mace Reclaim His Life and His Hope

By early 2018, Oklahoman Ken Mace had hit rock bottom. Nearing 60, unemployed and homeless, he had given up hope. It was a long and unexpected fall. Before the Great Recession, Ken had worked his way up to be the general manager of a car dealership, with a six-figure salary. He had a wife, a young daughter, a beautiful home, two cars, and a boat. But life doesn’t always go as planned. In 2007, the economic downturn hit the car business hard and Ken lost his job. He also lost his home, his cars and his boat, and drained his retirement savings. He spent years living in his car and extended stay hotels. Most painful of all, he lost his family. But today, Ken is thriving. He’s the assistant produce manager at a local food bank, a position that will become full-time and permanent in October. He now picks up his kids from school every day and has his own place. Best of all, he has “a new lease on life” and loves serving the community at the food bank. Ken credits his new circumstances to the AARP Foundation Senior Community Service Employment Program, or SCSEP, a program funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor. He discovered SCSEP in 2018 through a flyer he found at his local Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program office. SCSEP organizes training assignments for unemployed adults 55 and older that help participants build job skills and earn a livable income through temporary community service jobs with local host agencies, like Ken’s food bank position. With on-the-job training experience and updated skills, participants improve their ability to find permanent employment. Ken says SCSEP gave him structure and helped him get back in the groove of working after years of unemployment. The most important thing it gave him, though, was opportunity. “I had never worked in a food bank or in produce,” he explains. “We sort through millions of pounds of food, and I go through the fruits and vegetables and take out the rotten stuff. If it weren’t for SCSEP, I would never have gotten this position, because it’s a job where they use a lot of volunteers and very few people are actually employed there.” He adds, “They even trained me to drive a forklift!” SCSEP raised Ken’s self-esteem and got him out of the mindset that all he was qualified for was a dead-end job. “There’s a lot of people who, when they hit this age, think they are going to be stuck in a job like fast food forever,” he says. “But SCSEP works with the individual to find out what their strengths are. I just can’t thank SCSEP enough.” Ken is especially grateful for the support SCSEP provided when COVID-19 hit and everything closed down. He thought he would lose his training assignment at the food bank and end up unemployed and homeless again, he says, “but SCSEP kept us on the payroll through the pandemic and then I got to return to my host agency. I was really excited to get back to work because demand for food had gone through the roof. They were so glad that I came back … I have not experienced that in quite a while.” Ken wants to tell other people who might be discouraged to never give up. “Just keep hoping that things will turn around and they will. I’m about to be 60, and it reenergized me to thinking I could contribute to society by doing this job,” he says. “I got to prove that I’m still viable and I’ve got a few good years left in me and I’m still going. I’m just so grateful for that.” Cancel You are leaving AARP.org and going to the website of our trusted provider. The provider’s terms, conditions and policies apply. Please return to AARP.org to learn more about other benefits. Your email address is now confirmed. You'll start receiving the latest news, benefits, events, and programs related to AARP's mission to empower people to choose how they live as they age. You can also by updating your account at anytime. You will be asked to register or log in. Cancel Offer Details Disclosures

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