By Cristin Ross

cross@jacksonvilleprogress.com

With today’s uncertain economy, more retirees and senior citizens may be looking at returning to the work force.

How do people who’ve been out of the rat race for a while get back into the swing of things? Jacksonville resident Tony Huddleston recommends the Cherokee County branch of the Experience Works organization.

“The business where I worked in Dallas got sold, and I just didn’t like working for the new owners,” the 61-year-old said. “I’m a college graduate, I thought I had time to find another job after I left, but I soon found myself caught in a very bad financial situation. There just weren’t many jobs in this area. I didn’t want to go back to the Metroplex.

“As it happened, I was reading a trade paper one day and saw something on Experience Works. I called them and they helped get me placed,” he said.

Huddleston started part-time at the Circle of 10 offices in Jacksonville. Once his transition period was up, Circle of 10 officials were able to offer him a full-time position as their Small Business Incubator Coordinator.

“It actually works very well with what I was doing before,” Huddleston said. “I was extremely lucky to find this when I did. I work with some of the best people in the world, all because of Experience Works.”

Circle of 10 Outreach Director Pam Anderson said she and the rest of the staff couldn’t be happier having Huddleston as part of their team.

“He’s a terrific asset to us,” she said. “Since he came aboard, we’ve gotten to add another Experience Works participant to our staff. It’s an excellent program that helps entities like us network with quality, potential employees.”

Experience Works is a national, charitable, community-based organization. Originally named Green Thumb, and chartered in 1965 as a small, rural demonstration program, Experience Works has grown to be the nation’s leading provider of training, employment, and community service for low-income older people.

“In Cherokee County, we’ve placed several people at the Circle of 10 and the Crisis Center, with the city of Jacksonville, even a couple of people with the Alto Housing Authority and the public library at Wells,” said Marilyn Cates, the employment and training coordinator for the county. “When the city first contacted us to become a host agency, we got two people placed there within two months.”

The program’s objectives include giving seniors a chance to gain job-related training, develop new skills and upgrade existing skills, understand safe work practices and healthful work environments, learn effective job search skills and develop good work habits.

According to the organization’s Web site, the largest program offered by Experience Works is the Senior Community Service Employment Program.

“This program, funded under Title V of the Older Americans Act as well as state and local grants, enables us to help thousands of low-income individuals, age 55 and older, throughout the U.S.,” the site states.

The program offers seniors training, counseling and community service assignments at local churches or community organizations before they make the transition into the work force.

The host agency — usually a private nonprofit organization (other than a political party) or a public agency operated by a unit of government — pays participants minimum wage for an average of 20 hours per week during the transition period.

To meet the eligibility requirements of the program, participants must:

• be 55 years of age or older;

• be a resident of the state where he or she will enrolled in the SCSEP program;

• have an annual family income not be more than 125 percent of the established federal poverty income guidelines;

• be eligible to work in the U.S.; and

• be currently unemployed.

“Thirty-eight percent of the Senior Community Service Employment Program’s participants found permanent jobs, notably as teachers’ aides, emergency dispatchers, care providers, and clerical assistants,” the Web site states.

Cates said the program continued to grow slowly in the three years Cates took over managing Cherokee County.

“Word of mouth helps a lot,” she said. “We’ll help someone and they’ll tell their friends about it; then those friends will contact us. As we grow, we get more support from the federal Department of Labor, so the more people we help, the more people we’ll be able to help.”

Any Cherokee County resident aged 55 or older, and living on a limited income, can call 1-800-880-5292 to become an Experience Works participant.