Cindi Crutchfield

Annette Harris looked for a job on her own for months with no luck.

Once she found help through an Alexian Brothers job training program all that changed. She now works 20 hours a week at the downtown library, and she said couldn't be happier.

Mrs. Harris, 67, retired in 2005 from an Atlanta payroll services company, and at times the job could get crazy, she said.

"It was a very stressful job," she said. "I am in a much more relaxed atmosphere now."

The training program she is participating in is called Senior Neighbors' Senior Community Service Employment Program, and it places people like Mrs. Harris in paid temporary positions with non-profit agencies and government organizations.

Thanks to a federal grant, the program recently expanded to serve six counties in the Chattanooga area and provide more than 200 jobs for seniors. The program expanded to include Hamilton, Rhea, Polk, Bradley, McMinn and Meigs counties, and it currently has about 140 participants and is accepting applications for more.

The grant, totaling more than $1 million, combines funds from both the stimulus package and from the U.S. Department of Labor in cooperation with the Senior Service America, said Cindi Crutchfield, program director.

"What we are trying to do is to give them the bridge between being unemployed and teaching them the skills and giving them the on-the-job training that they need that will help them establish unsubsidized employment," Ms. Crutchfield said.

The group's mission is to help seniors become financially self-sufficient, she said.

While in the program, the seniors learn skills that can help them find work later. The program, she said, is designed to help the most vulnerable population, those over 55 with low incomes.

Jennie Heywood, 65, works as a senior aide as part of her assignment in the SCSEP program. Before she retired, Ms. Heywood worked in private practice as a therapist specializing in treating addictions.

Through the 20-hour-a-week assignment with Senior Neighbors, she is now learning to do office work such as answering phones, working with different computer programs and completing paper work -- all things she had never done in her previous job. She has been taking part in the program since February.

"It's helping people, and I enjoy that," Ms. Heywood said.

The program is designed to allow seniors to learn at their own pace, and also build the self-confidence necessary to put themselves out in the job market, Ms. Crutchfield said. Most participants are in the program for six months to a year.

"What this will hopefully do for Jennie is give her updated skills in the work force," she said.