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Urban
League senior programs lose funding By Ervin Dyer Pittsburgh Post Gazette, September
08, 2003 The Pittsburgh Urban League is losing funding for two of its long-standing programs for senior citizens. At the end of June, the league shut down its Seniors in Community Service program, which operates on federal funds. In November, because of state budget woes, it will close its Minority Elderly Outreach Program. "Our city has one of the highest populations of seniors in the country," Pittsburgh Urban League head Esther Bush said. "We have high numbers of black elderly who are poor. We are concerned these cuts can furthur erode their quality of life." Seniors in Community Service was a training program that placed about 119 people 55 and older in jobs as clerks, janitors or assisting with office duties, mostly for nonprofit agencies. Most seniors worked 20 hours a week or less and earned $5.15 an hour. The program cost about $909,000 a year, most of it federal Department of Labor money funneled to the Pittsburgh affiliate by the National Urban League. The National Urban League was given about $6 million a year to administer senior programming in about 24 affiliates. Because of its high standards for job placement and management, for 20 years the National Urban League was one of 11 groups across the country to have funding set aside for senior job programs. That changed last year when Congress decided the process should be more competitive. Urban League officials were notified in May that there would be no grant this year. Instead, AARP received the funding. By July 1, the 119 seniors were working under its umbrella. The three local Urban League staff people who administered the Seniors in Community Service program were laid off. Velma Kelly, of the Hill District, directed the program. "We were a lifeline for so many," she said, "especially for many of our widowed senior women who have never worked outside the home. Without the part-time employment, many can hardly eat, much less pay for their medicines." One reason the Urban League program was successful, said Bush, was because the staff was sensitive to people overcoming lack of formal education, criminal backgrounds and other workplace issues. "We just hope seniors don't fall out of the bottom during re-certification" for programs run by AARP, Bush said. Urban League officials are also worried that seniors will have less information and access to services without the Minority Elderly Outreach Program. The program, funded at $37,000 a year through the state Human Services Development Fund, employs a social worker to go where the seniors are: to churches, social events and high rises. Last year, 2,209 seniors were directed to assistance with medicines, health services, housing, utility aid, and food. The program would have ended earlier due to the state budget crisis, but was extended in August when Allegheny County diverted $1 million to keep 51 social service programs funded through November. "This information is critical," said Bush. "Many of the black seniors in Pittsburgh live on less than $4,000 a year. This program gives them a better way of life." Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging
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