The Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP), is a community service and work-based training program for older workers. The program provides subsidized, work-experience training for low-income persons 55 or older who are unemployed and have poor employment prospects. SCSEP national grants are awarded through a competitive process; state and territorial grants are awarded through a formula outlined in the OAA-2016 Section 506 (b-c). The dual goals of the program are to promote useful community service employment activities and to move SCSEP participants into unsubsidized employment, so that they can achieve economic self-sufficiency.
The Department is required to collect the information in order to comply with the OAA statutory and regulatory requirements. The information is also necessary for grantee performance accountability and program management.
The PY 2020 national grant competition resulted in a net gain of one national grantee, which impacts both the equitable distribution report and the annual planning and allotment requirements burdens. However, because the modified positions for the program are based on the minimum wage within the state or locality where the positions reside, increasing minimum wages have resulted in fewer modified positions, which means fewer respondent records on which to collect data.
ETA is also reducing the paperwork burden for this ICR by moving the request relating to describing SCSEP grant operations solely to the State Plan (for state and territory grantees) and to responses to the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) submitted by national grantee applicants. The annual planning requirement would be used only to update the information provided in State Plan submissions and FOA responses, as applicable.
Further, the Older American Act Reauthorization of 2020 added a new category to SCSEP priority requirements such that eligible individuals who have been incarcerated within the last five years or are under supervision following release from prison or jail within the last five years are now a priority population for enrollment and an additional category for the most in need characteristics that constitute one of the core performance measures. The Act also allows grantees to add this category to the list of barriers the grantees choose to make eligible for increased periods of participation. This PRA submission adjusts our data collection vehicles to include this added priority.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
SCSEP Participant Data Form