From Harford County Government, Department of Community Services:
On Tuesday, March 29, 2011, nearly fifty Harford County senior citizens graduated from Generations Online, a training program designed to introduce seniors to the basics of using the computer to access the internet and navigate email. The Harford County Department of Community Services’ Office on Aging has enrolled 288 seniors in the Generations Online program, 174 of whom have graduated, including those who graduated at the March 29th ceremony.
The Generations Online program is provided as a partnership between Open Doors Career Center, Inc. and the Harford County Office on Aging. Open Doors provides the coordinator/trainer who recruits and trains senior peer coaches for the program. The peer coaches are available to assist seniors through the program and to provide one-on-one guidance to program participants.
Generations Online is funded through Senior Service America, Inc. (SSAI), a non-profit organization that provides civic engagement and employment opportunities for adults over the age of 55 who wish to re-enter the workforce. Under SSAI, the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) began as part of the War on Poverty 40 years ago and was so successful that it became a national program under the Older Americans Act.
Program participants must be at least 55 years old with household incomes no more than 125 percent of the poverty level. Through funding from the U.S. Department of Labor, SSAI provides grants to more than 100 non-profit agencies in 23 states and Washington, D.C. to help them run SCSEP in their local communities.
While in the program, SCSEP participants learn job skills through performing community service assignments at non-profit and government agencies in Harford County, including Open Doors and the Office on Aging’s seven Senior Activity Centers. In one year, SCSEP participants nationwide contributed 60 million hours of service to their local communities.
For more information about Generations Online, contact Rich Bennett at 410-638-0187. For more information about programs, activities and services for Harford County seniors, visit the Department of Community Services’ Office on Aging at www.harfordcountymd.gov/services/aging or call 410-638-3025.
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