Workforce Initiatives Supporting Older Adults

AARP Foundation helped more than 1 million older adults living with low income secure more than $1 billion in income, benefits and refunds. Learn more

You have the power to change the lives of seniors in poverty.

1 in 3 older adults struggle to meet their basic needs. Your gift can help seniors secure good jobs, get the benefits they've earned, and stay connected to their communities.

For more than 60 years, AARP Foundation has been developing and supporting workforce initiatives designed to help older adults with low income return to the workforce or advance to better

jobs. Learn more about our programs:

Funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor, AARP Foundation SCSEP organizes training assignments that help participants build job skills while giving back to their community. The

program does this by matching unemployed adults over 55 with local nonprofits and public agencies so they can increase skills and build self-confidence while earning a modest training wage.

The majority of SCSEP participants end up with unsubsidized employment.

AARP Foundation SCSEP is funded by a $46,889,529 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor. This funding provides 90% of the support for SCSEP, with AARP Foundation matching 10%.

BACK TO WORK 50+ has been doing just what its name says — helping people over 50 get back to work — since 2013. The program works with trained career transition coaches who host in-person

and online coaching sessions that help unemployed older adults build the skills and confidence they need to compete for high-quality jobs, at no cost to them. 

The program is available nationally through webinars with 6 nonprofit organizations and community colleges across five states. 

In 2023, nearly 12,700 older adults living with low income received the career guidance, training, and coaching they needed to seek meaningful employment through AARP Foundation’s BACK TO

WORK 50+. Of those, over 1,200 received group or 1:1 coaching and 463 obtained employment after being in the program. Learn more about BACK TO WORK 50+.

In collaboration with Older Adults Technology Services (OATS) from AARP, we created Digital Skills Ready@50+™ to be part of the solution. Made possible through a generous grant from

Google.org through the Tides Foundation, Digital Skills Ready@50+was designed to meet a pressing need: providing older adults the digital essentials to help them find and secure jobs, change

careers or explore entrepreneurship. 

In 2022, we partnered with 110 community organizations and trained over 9,700 participants across eight states: Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South

Carolina and Texas. Learn more about Digital Skills Ready@50+.

The Work for Yourself@50+ program makes it easy for older adults to explore self-employment options, with free tools and resources that can help them increase their financial stability.

From in-person workshops to online training modules, the Work for Yourself@50+ program features a robust set of offerings that cover the essentials to know when working for yourself. Since

it launched in 2016, Work for Yourself@50+ has served more than 52,000 people across the country.  Learn more about Work for Yourself@50+.

1 in 3 older adults are struggling to make ends meet. As an AARP Foundation donor, you’ll help seniors go from surviving to thriving.

AARP Foundation workforce initiatives can help you keep up with the changing world of work – so you can return to the workforce or advance to a better job. Find the program that's right for

you.