Igor Kosachevsky didn’t have the work experience he needed to be a truck driver.
That’s why he joined an employment program for seniors through Goodwill of Central and Southern Indiana. As part of the program, Kosachevsky worked part time driving a truck for Goodwill Outlet Store on the east side.
“It was a perfect match,” Kosachevsky told Mirror Indy in May. “I was driving sometimes every day.”
But about two months ago, Kosachevsky said he, and all other workers, were laid off by Goodwill due to a lack of funding for the program.
Kosachevsky was part of the Senior Community Service Employment Program, which helps low-income adults 55 and older learn new skills and get work experience. The program’s been around for decades and is funded by the U.S. Department of Labor. In Indianapolis, the program is run by Goodwill of Central and Southern Indiana.
The senior employment program is one of the only available avenues for older adults to learn new skills and get career counseling that’s tailored to their individual needs. Many participants have been out of the workforce for years before coming to the program.
The senior employment initiative is one of many federally funded programs that have experienced delays in receiving already-approved funding after becoming targets of the Trump administration’s efforts to cut spending.
The government finally unfroze grants at the end of September, and about $2.6 million to fund 272 positions was allocated to Goodwill in Indiana. That funding will pay for the program through next June. But it’s unclear how quickly the organization will receive these funds. And it’s not clear whether funding for the senior employment program will be included in future federal budgets.
Goodwill Indy representatives did not respond to Mirror Indy’s request for an interview. Goodwill officials also did not answer specific questions about when the senior program was paused and when — or if — previous program participants will be hired back.
Instead, Goodwill spokesperson Charnay Evans wrote in a statement that Goodwill is providing resources to program employees to help them through the transition period.
“Resources include a dedicated contact that is helping to connect program participants to community resources, job readiness preparation and general support as needed,” Evans wrote in the statement, in part. “We will continue in this manner until more information is shared about the SCSEP program.”
How has this affected workers?
According to Goodwill Industries International’s website, the organization paused the senior employment program as of July 1.
Goodwill’s local website simply says the program is “not processing applications currently.” Information about the senior program has been removed from the “employment services” tab on the Goodwill website.
In Indy, it’s not clear when exactly the program was paused. But Kosachevsky told Mirror Indy he’s been out of work since mid-August.
In that time, he’s applied for at least 20 jobs and either been rejected or didn’t hear anything back. That’s because in the commercial trucking industry, employers are typically reluctant to hire drivers with less than two years of driving experience because companies are unlikely to insure them.
While laid off, Kosachevsky’s been getting temporary jobs — sometimes for a couple days or weeks at a time.
For months, he worried about how to make ends meet.
But just last week, Kosachevsky accepted a job offer as a driver with a company that’ll offer him a good salary and benefits.
“I just can’t believe my luck,” he said. “I consider it a miracle.”
What’s going on with federal funding?
The Trump administration first floated the idea of cutting all funding for the senior employment program in its budget proposal earlier this year.
The administration, however, doesn’t have sole control over the program’s funding.
It’s ultimately up to Congress to pass the federal budget, which is then signed or vetoed by the president. In July, the Senate proposed giving the program $395 million. That’s a decrease of about $10 million from the previous year.
But in September, the House proposed cutting all funding for the program.
Whether to fund the program is caught up with the rest of the federal budget. Congress is currently deadlocked over the issue as the government shutdown stretches on.
As of Oct. 17, a proposal to continue funding the government had failed 10 times.