County Recorder and AARP train and employ older workers in high tech office

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Robert G. Montgomery
Franklin County Recorder
373 South High Street, 18th Fl.
Columbus, Ohio  43215
(614) 462-3930
(614) 462-4299, Fax
www.co.franklin.oh.us/recorder

Date: February 25, 2003

  • Today’s high tech office is no longer a barrier for older workers in Central Ohio. The Franklin County Recorder Robert G. Montgomery has made the Recorder’s office a “Host Agency” that provides training for workers age 55 and older using AARP’s Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP).

    The program, which has sites in 33 states, offers older workers an opportunity to develop skills while looking for a permanent job. The AARP/SCSEP allows the older worker to develop current work experience and new skills. This helps them locate a permanent position either in the host agency or with another employer outside the program. It is the goal of the AARP/SCSEP for each of their clients to obtain employment outside of the program.

    Each worker receives up to 20 hours a week of on-the-job training at the host agency where they are paid by the Department of Labor under the authority of the Older Americans Act of 1965. The wages for each of the workers are paid until they find permanent employment.

    Robert Cole, Project Director for the local AARP/SCSEP recently met with Franklin County Recorder Robert G. Montgomery to express his appreciation for his office acting as a host agency.

    “The [Franklin] County Recorder’s office has been a significant factor in our program’s outstanding rate of success in the number of mature workers who have obtained a permanent, unsubsidized job,” Cole said.

    Recorder Montgomery stated, “Our experiences with AARP’s SCSEP program is a wonderful opportunity, not only because Franklin County benefits from the employee costs savings of this program, but our existing staff reflects an appreciation to work alongside more experienced workers that have much to offer.”

    Over the past two years, the Franklin County Recorder’s office has provided a work environment for several members of the program. One of the workers was hired this January in the data entry department in the office on a permanent, full-time basis.

    If you are interested in becoming a host agency, please contact Robert Cole at (614) 849-0003.