Annual Report Foundation 2009

Tough love in Tough Times “We listen to the clients, and then we tell them what other people we’ve worked with have done, and we say, ‘You can do that, too.’ And you know what? People find out they can.” Charles Talley, a WorkSearch volunteer who had worked as a U.S. Postal Service manager for 35 years.

Two generous grants advanced these and other efforts. West Virginia officials awarded $175,000 to the Foundation to integrate WorkSearch into the state’s Comprehensive Career Centers, and Microsoft donated $100,000 for WorkSearch pilots in New York City and Seattle, Washington.

Quick Action on Job Training

Thanks to our experienced staff, we moved quickly to put lower-income people to work after our Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) received an additional $18 million in federal grant support in February. Within weeks, 1,221 participants had been enrolled in local job-training programs (a number that grew to more than 2,000 by year’s end).

This rapid response enabled participants to gain work experience with nonprofit organizations, local groups or government agencies. With more people helping, the organizations were able to serve their communities better. Clearly, it was a win for all involved.

By the end of the year, 20,127 people had participated in our SCSEP program.

To thrive in the tough job market, a good education is essential for people of all ages. Our Women’s Scholarship Program tackled this problem head-on for the third year. Scholarships were given to 108 outstanding women age 40 and above with low financial resources but high potential. Underwritten by individual donors, members of the AARP Foundation Women’s Leadership Circle and the Wal-mart Foundation, the scholarships helped cover tuition, fees and books at community colleges, technical/ vocational schools and four-year universities.

Tshaye Taylor, 61, of Washington, D.C., was one of the first recipients of an AARP Foundation Women’s Scholarship award. She used it to complete classes in business-application software. Then she gave back by helping to screen the more than 2,400 applications submitted for our 2009 scholarship program.