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Oklahoma News |
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 Seniors
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NSCLC Announces Settlement
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Important Information for Advocates Working with Social Security and Supplemental Security Income Recipients.A settlement agreement which will end the...
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NSCLC - 10/06/2009 |
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Putting Seniors Back to Work - and Footing the Bill
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Julie YatesStaff Reporter
Pryor Creek Recreation Center is hosting a participant in the ExperienceWorks program.
Bettie Armontrout, Pryor, started working at PCRC Monday. Armontrout is working to acquire more office skills so she can find a job after completing the program.
The training program works with rural counties. ExperienceWorks helps senior citizens gain new job skills so they can seek work outside the program. The program is solely for residents ages 55 and up with limited income.
Mary Meriwether, Employment and Training Coordinator for Northeast Oklahoma, handles 11 counties in northeast Oklahoma. Meriwether specified that ExperienceWorks is not a job placement program.
"It's a work site training program for seniors to get them job ready," said Meriwether.
The program is funded through the Oklahoma Department of Labor. Training lasts from six to nine months.
Meriwether said the program is geared to offer seniors training in new skills. She said most seniors need keyboard and computer
experience.
Participants are able to work at host sites as they train. The required work time is 21 hours a week.
"We give free labor to a place in exchange for a training site," said Meriwether.
ExperienceWorks pays the participant's labor and workman's compensation. The program requires a safety check on all host sites.
Host sites must be government agencies such as schools, fire departments or city and county offices. Certain charitable organizations also apply. The organization must have a governmental letter designating them as a true
charitable organization.
Organizations such as Community Action Resource & Development (C.A.R.D.), Salvation Army, American Red Cross and United Way can be host sites. Meriwether said supervisors with charitable organizations get value time for hosting participants. The organizations can record the time and use it for grant requests.
"Sometimes it's a win-win situation and the host site will hire the participant," said Meriwether. "We have had wonderful success stories."
Seniors in the program may possibly be sent to training at technology centers. Any further training is given in addition to the required 21 hours of work at a host site.
"Mayes County is very under served," said Meriwether. She said not many in the county meet the program requirements.
"We sit down and do an extensive interview and see what they would like to do," said Meriwether.
The application includes a background check. Seniors drawing unemployment are not eligible for the program.
"We try to keep congressmen and senators aware of the program," said Meriwether.
To apply for ExperienceWorks, potential participants can contact Meriwether at (918) 462-0867.
Armontrout is one of two participants in Mayes County. If all goes as planned, she will work 21-hour weeks at PCRC until May.
Armontrout said she worked at Mayes County Nutrition Center for two
years through the American Association of Retired Persons. She transferred
to PCRC under ExperienceWorks.
"It's a very good program," said Armontrout.
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Pryor Daily Times - 01/05/2009 |
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Lending Hand to Legal Aid
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During the past year, my husband, Drew, and I have worked with attorneys from across the state to raise money for the statewide program that provides free civil legal aid to low-income and elderly Oklahomans. We have served as statewide co-chairs for the Campaign for Justice and raised more than $700,000.
This holiday season we celebrate the hundreds of law firms, individual attorneys, foundations, businesses and other generous Oklahomans statewide who have decided that legal aid is one of their top personal and professional responsibilities.
The caliber of attorneys working on the Campaign for Justice is impressive. They are prominent members of firms, well-known in the Oklahoma State Bar Association and willing to dedicate the time necessary to raise money to strengthen Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma. William G. Paul, who presided over the American Bar Association in 1999-2000, essentially founded this campaign, serving three years as statewide chair from 2003-05. Since then the annual campaigns have been chaired by retired federal Judge Thomas J. Brett in 2006, Burns Hargis and Mike Turpen in 2007 and this year by Drew and me.
Throughout the year, we met with dedicated groups of Oklahoma City and Tulsa attorneys who strategized about how to make Legal Aid stronger in all 77 counties. The Oklahoma City team, co-chaired by Laura McConnell-Corbyn and John Kenney, and the Tulsa Team, co-chaired by Doug Dodd and Jim Green, met with managing partners of law firms and private practitioners to educate them about the role of Legal Aid in Oklahoma.
The work of Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma is all civil, meaning these are not criminal cases. LASO is part of a network of legal aid programs in every state, which receives funding from the Legal Services Corporation in Washington, D.C. LSC receives its funding from Congress and so it has a list of restrictions for all of the programs it funds. These restrictions include strict prohibitions on class-action cases and cases representing incarcerated persons.
Legal Aid's clients are generally not served by the private bar because of their low income level. In order to qualify for Legal Aid, the basic income eligibility level is 125 percent of poverty, which is $12,762 a year for a single person and $25,812 a year for a family of four. For extremely compelling cases, the income eligibility level sometimes is raised to 200 percent of poverty. Legal Aid's casework deals with family issues such as child support and custody and guardianships; consumer scams; housing problems including wrongful evictions; and problems with Social Security and Medicaid.
Oklahoma's justice community includes the private bar, three law school clinics, a few church legal clinics and Legal Aid's 22 offices around the state. The critical service performed by Legal Aid helps clients keep their families healthy, safe and under one roof despite their low incomes.
I salute Oklahoma attorneys, foundations and businesses for their support of the Campaign for Justice and Justice for All for Oklahoma.
Edmondson is the wife of Attorney General Drew Edmondson.
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The Daily Oklahoman - 12/29/2008 |
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