By Stateline.org’s Anna Claire Vollers
Huntsville, Alabama. Mike Leslie, 66, is seated at a desk with his fingertips hovering over his new laptop keyboard under the hum of fluorescent office lights. His eyes crinkle under a battered baseball cap as he smiles. He never thought he would be seated there.
He had never used a computer before last year.
Leslie hadn’t needed one for the majority of his life. He worked for 36 years in the pipe manufacturing industry close to his hometown in North Alabama, doing tasks including welding, forklift operation, concrete mixing, and foremaning crews. He didn’t mind the physically demanding and difficult task.
The COVID-19 pandemic then struck. There were layoffs as a result.
In an era when more prosperous men may consider retirement, Leslie found himself in need of a job to help support himself. Manufacturing was no longer his forte. However, he was also unfamiliar with the technology that runs the internet, email, and Microsoft Office—the tools that are today used for even the most basic activities in almost every modern business.
According to him, many people believe that elderly people are no longer relevant. They have a wealth of information in their brains. All they need is the chance to express themselves and gain new knowledge.
The Senior Community Service Employment Program, a little-known state-federal program, was the catalyst for the start of his surprising second act in late 2023. It offers low-income individuals 55 and older compensated part-time employment at government and nonprofit organizations including the Red Cross, libraries, and senior centers. The goal of its on-the-job training is to get trainees ready for the move into permanent positions.
However, in Washington, D.C., 700 miles away, Congress is thinking about cutting the funds for the exact program that has enabled Leslie to start this new chapter in her life. President Donald Trump has suggested doing away with this and a few other programs that are part of the Older Americans Act, a historic 1965 statute that provide social and meal services to the elderly, in his budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Additionally, the Senate suggested maintaining financing for the job program, while the House of Representatives suggested cutting it.
Experts argue that anything is conceivable at this stage.
Proponents worry that the elimination of this program, which serves over 50,000 senior citizens across the country, may have an impact on communities beyond simply Leslie, displacing tens of thousands of workers from senior centers, city recreation centers, and local libraries.
Uncertain and alone
After being laid off, Leslie sat at home feeling alone and uncertain about what to do. After hearing about the job program from a friend, he ultimately made the decision to apply. He entered.
He currently assists in overseeing the fleet of automobiles at the Top of Alabama Regional Council of Governments, a Huntsville-based multicounty organization that offers assistance to the elderly and disabled. As part of the program, he signed up for a digital certification course that taught him the fundamentals of social media, email, the internet, and the Microsoft Office suite. He also received a laptop and prepaid internet access.
It has given Leslie access to a workforce that seemed to have moved on without him.
He asserts that you have a purpose when you wake up each morning and go to work that you enjoy.
Everyone in the office calls him Mr. Mike, and he is a favorite.
He wore a three-piece suit to the office-wide celebration in April, when he was given a certificate of graduation for excelling in his digital skills classes. As he described to his colleagues how the training restored his confidence, he brought them to tears.
Lost in Washington, D.C.
Some of Leslie’s supervisors at the Top of Alabama Regional Council of Governments, or TARCOG, were gathered around a table in a conference room near his desk on a recent Wednesday afternoon, debating what to do.
The past few months had been hectic. TARCOG is in charge of managing a wide range of services for senior citizens, including transportation, caregiver support, Meals on Wheels, and programs that guard against exploitation and abuse.
The Trump administration started dismantling the federal agency in charge of monitoring these services earlier this year, and his proposed federal budget suggested reducing or freezing funding for them, including the job program.
Local officials who were shocked that Meals on Wheels would be discontinued had been asking questions of Michelle Jordan, executive director of TARCOG. Advocates at similar agencies, both national and local, raised the alarm across the nation. Local organizations such as TARCOG have reported delays in receiving promised federal monies in certain areas.
The Trump administration changed its mind earlier this month and suggested that the majority of the older adult programs remain under a new federal agency.
These folks have dedicated their lives to hard work. However, they are unable to pay the heating bill. They must choose between groceries and medication.Nancy Robertson, the Top of Alabama Regional Council of Governments’ previous executive director
However, funding for certain of the Older Americans Act’s programs would be cut. The elder employment program is among the most extensive.
Sheila Dessau-Ivey, who oversees TARCOG’s aging initiatives, stated, “I think that in D.C., people forget that these are real people.” They simply remark, “Well, we don’t need these,” after seeing the programs and money. However, a human life is truly linked to those dollars.
When compared to fiscal giants like Medicaid and Medicare, the Senior Community Service Employment Program is little. With an annual budget of over $400 million, it provides services to roughly 50,000 senior citizens across the country. Leslie’s slot is one of 86 that are located within the five-county region of North Alabama that TARCOG serves.
A individual must be at least 55 years old, unemployed, and have a family income of no more than 125% of the federal poverty threshold in order to be eligible for the national Senior Community Service Employment Program. At now, that amounts to $19,562 annually for an individual. Priority in the program is given to veterans, persons with disabilities, those living in rural areas, those over 65, and those who are homeless. The U.S. Department of Labor is the primary source of funding.
According to Jordan, there have been employees who were homeless when they first began this program. According to earlier studies, around three out of five individuals nationwide reported being homeless or at risk of becoming so.
You forget that there are people who live with us, sit next to us at church, and accompany us to the grocery store, but they simply lack those abilities or that self-assurance, she remarked.
Additionally, it significantly affects other susceptible groups. According to studies, over 44% of participants were Black in 2019 and approximately two-thirds were women. Most participants said they had only completed high school.
Nancy Robertson, the retired former executive director of TARCOG, came into the office to share her experience with the group on how to campaign for funds, saying, “These are people who have worked hard all their lives, but they can’t pay the heating bill.”
They must choose between groceries and medication.
According to her, the elimination of the program will affect more people than just the participants.
The program is open to participants for a maximum of four years. They labor for public and nonprofit organizations nationwide for more than 40 million hours while they are there. The organizations and community organizations that employ the participants and pay them with program-funded salaries would no longer have those staff members. For instance, a small-town library may only be able to stay open during specific hours due to the efforts of one of its employees.
The closure of the job program would result in the loss of 14 staff at the local senior center in Huntsville. A cherished 91-year-old receptionist at a community recreation center across town would lose her position for which she had received training.
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Chaos in Congress
The population of the United States is aging quickly. Approximately one in seven American workers were 55 years of age or older in 2003. That percentage was almost one in four by 2023. How to keep elderly people healthy and thriving is one of the impending concerns facing legislators and community groups.
Marci Phillips, director of public policy and advocacy at the National Council on Aging, a nonprofit organization that focuses on issues affecting older adults, stated that it doesn’t make sense to cut funding for a work program that is intended to assist older people, especially as Republicans consider adding work requirements to programs like Medicaid.
“There is a disconnect there if people 55 and older have to prove they are employed in order to be eligible for Medicaid, but [lawmakers] are reducing the federal program to assist workers 55 and older,” she added.
There are lawmakers who doubt the program’s effectiveness. According to a 2022 study, only over 38% of program participants who left were hired a few months later in 2019. That percentage fell short of the 42% target set by the US Department of Labor. Additionally, median incomes fell short of statutory targets.
According to Phillips, the program shouldn’t be evaluated based on the same measures that are used to assess the success of a conventional workforce development program.
According to her, these are elderly people who must work, but their health and caring circumstances aren’t improving. The population we are attempting to serve is not adequately recognized by this standard.
The reconciliation bill currently pending in the Senate has sparked public outcry over possible cuts to programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, but Congress cannot cut or eliminate programs funded under the Older Americans Act because they are discretionary.
Although Trump has suggested cutting off financing for the job program, Congress will ultimately decide its future.
The appropriations measure that funds these programs is set to be taken up by the U.S. House the week of July 20. As its members continue to focus on Trump’s reconciliation package, the One Big Beautiful package Act, the Senate’s plans are less clear. Phillips said that it is possible that Congress will instead enact a continuing resolution, which is a short-term measure that maintains the government’s current level of funding.
Leslie, for his part, wants to go to Washington to give a congressional testimony. He reasoned that if anyone knows what older Americans need, it’s them.
According to Leslie, the members of Congress are also elderly, despite society’s perception that they are useless. Why wouldn’t you want an older person to have something or learn something if you’re old?
Prospects for the future
Leslie is now pursuing his private investigator license. He has always desired the job, and he believes he now possesses the abilities necessary to pursue it.
In addition, he is working to plan a workshop this autumn at Beaver Dam Primitive Baptist, where he hopes to discuss services and activities for older persons with some of his TARCOG colleagues.
We’ve contacted each of the 26 churches in our organization, telling them there are certain things they should be aware of, Leslie added. My dad might have had a better life if I had been aware of some of this material when he was alive.
Although he is optimistic, he is unsure if his own program will still be accessible by that time.
The greatest prize, in his opinion, has been more significant than the meager salary and newly acquired computer skills: the realization that his life has once again been open and full of opportunities.
Leslie asserted that elderly people have a function in life and that we cannot disregard them simply because they are elderly. They still know things. I believe we should give them every opportunity to be successful.
States Newsroom, 2025. Go to the website stateline.org. Tribune Content Agency, LLC is the distributor.
