Proposed budget cuts by the Republican-led administration in Washington, D.C. could be bad news for local seniors, with a plan to eliminate Foster Grandparent and Senior Companion Programs, a program of the Seniors Council in Santa Cruz County.
Clay Kempf, executive director of the Watsonville-based Senior Council, said the move is daunting to programs that serve older adults.
“While other serious cuts to seniors are also of great concern, the proposed elimination of our Foster Grandparent and Senior Companion Programs are especially devastating,” he said.
Kempf said the two programs became part of the Senior Council about 32 years ago.
The program recruits low-income seniors who visit local schools to mentor and tutor students who are struggling academically and socially, grades K-3. The volunteer program has been around for more than five decades, with more than 1 million seniors mentoring millions of kids in all 50 states.
Senior Companion similarly allows low-income seniors to help other seniors.
Kempf said the volunteers typically run errands, help with socialization, and “even a drive around the neighborhood, or just a friendly visit,” he said.
President Donald Trump recently laid off over 80 percent of staff that oversees all of AmeriCorps, a federal service program that recruits volunteers for a wide range of projects nationwide, in areas that include education, health and disaster relief.
“Then a judge came out and said that the layoffs of AmeriCorps staff were illegal,” Kempf said.
According to a 2020 study by the Inner City Fund, some 275,000 Americans were serving their communities that year through AmeriCorps and Senior Corps.
This includes projects such as helping communities respond to and recover from natural disasters, fighting the opioid epidemic, connecting veterans to job and education resources, supporting independent living for seniors and Americans with disabilities and helping families achieve economic self-sufficiency.
At the Senior Council, around 150 volunteers typically put in around 15-20 hours a week each in helping two to three students in the program.
“The question people need to ask is, ‘why this is being done?’” Kempf said of the proposed cuts. “There is no financial reason, no logical reason. We need to call the White House and your elected representatives. In my 25-plus years, I’ve never seen anything like this. I don’t know why it’s happening.”
