Senior Community Service Employment Program worker Corinne Nakashima was assigned to Hale Mahaolu Ekolu in this photo taken in 2021. MEO will be discontinuing the program on June 30 due to the uncertainty of federal funding for the next fiscal year. Photo courtesy MEO

Maui Economic Opportunity will be suspending an on-the-job training program that has existed for three decades and benefited thousands of senior citizens.

The nonprofit agency said it received notification Monday that its contract for the jobs program had been terminated due to the uncertainty of federal funding. The suspension will affect 11 seniors who will be losing their positions.

The Senior Community Service Employment Program, established by the federal Older Americans Act, has benefited thousands of seniors on Maui, the organization said.

It assists income eligible seniors, 55 years or older, who are unemployed.

The participants were placed at Maui Adult Day Care Centers and Hale Mahaolu and helped in gaining marketable skills that will lead to employment in regular jobs.

The eligible seniors work an average of 20 hours a week and are paid the minimum wage or currently $14 an hour with a scheduled increase to $16 on July 1.

Priority is given to veterans and qualified spouses, persons with disabilities, limited literacy and English language proficiency, and those at risk for homelessness or are homeless.

The federal funds are managed and distributed by the Workforce Development Division of the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

Maui Economic Opportunity receives about $235,000 a fiscal year to run the program.

On Monday, the state Workforce Development Division notified the agency of the termination of the contract after June 30 because the division had “not received positive assurance” that the federal funds were “forthcoming.”

“The decision to terminate this contract was not made lightly as the value of this program, fostering and promoting useful part-time opportunities for unemployed, low-income ‘older individuals’ has greatly assisted those who have taken advantage of this training program,” said state labor director Jade Butay in the letter.

“MEO is heartbroken that SCSEP has been suspended. It’s one of our longer running programs,” said agency CEO Debbie Cabebe. “We have helped train and place thousands of kupuna and provided to them a steady income and a sense of worth and hope.

“We will do our best to see if we can keep this important program running.”