SCSEP stand-alone state plan modifications for 2026–2027

CLASSIFICATION
   EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING ADMINISTRATION                 SCSEP
               ADVISORY SYSTEM                            CORRESPONDENCE SYMBOL
          U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR                        OWI/DNPTTA
             Washington, D.C. 20210                       DATE
                                                          May 28, 2026

ADVISORY:       TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT GUIDANCE LETTER NO. 14-25

TO:             SENIOR COMMUNITY SERVICE EMPLOYMENT PROGRAM
                GRANTEES
                STATE AND TERRITORIAL GOVERNORS
                STATE AND TERRITORIAL WORKFORCE ADMINISTRATORS
                STATE WORKFORCE LIAISONS
                STATE WORKFORCE BOARD CHAIRS

FROM:           HENRY MACK, ED.D.
                Assistant Secretary

SUBJECT:        Modification Requirements, Priorities, and Technical Assistance for Senior
                Community Service Employment Program Stand-Alone State Plans for Program
                Years 2026-2027 for States, Territories, and Outlying Areas

1. Purpose. To provide states, territories, and outlying areas with guidance for submission of
   modification of the four-year Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP)
   Stand-Alone State Plans, including the submission process and deadline for submission. Note
   that, while this guidance generally aligns with the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity
   Act (WIOA) guidance, this TEGL pertains only to states that are submitting a SCSEP Stand-
   Alone State Plan modification for Program Years (PYs) 2026–2027. States that are including
   SCSEP as part of a modification of the Combined State Plan for 2026–2027 must refer to
   Training and Employment Guidance Letter (TEGL) No. 07-25 that the Employment and
   Training Administration (ETA) issued on January 26, 2026, for instructions on submission of
   Combined State Plans modifications.

2. Action Requested. States submitting a SCSEP Stand-Alone Plan must send it via email with
   “SCSEP Two-Year Modification Plan” in the subject line to [email protected], with
   a copy to their Federal Project Officer no later than June 26, 2026. Please include as an
   attachment a letter from the Governor naming the designee. ETA anticipates reviewing and
   approving State Plan modifications so that they are in effect by the beginning of the Program
   Year on July 1, 2026. For plans submitted after the due date, ETA will make every effort to
   approve the plan before July 2026.

3. Summary and Background.
   a. Summary – This TEGL provides information and guidance for submission of the SCSEP
      Two-Year Stand-Alone plan modification for PYs 2026–2027. The State Plan is intended
      to foster coordination among the various SCSEP grantees and sub-recipients operating

   RESCISSIONS                                             EXPIRATION DATE
   TEGL 9-23                                               Continuing

      within the state and to facilitate the efforts of stakeholders, including state and local
      boards under WIOA, to work collaboratively through a participatory process to
      accomplish the SCSEP goals (20 CFR 641.300).

   b. Background – Section 503(a) of the Older Americans Act (OAA) and SCSEP regulations
      at 20 CFR part 641 Subpart C require the Governor or the Governor’s designee to submit
      a SCSEP Four-Year State Plan with an update at least every two years. The modified plan
      includes an updated two-year strategy for the statewide provision of community service
      employment and other authorized activities for eligible individuals under SCSEP and
      describes the planning and implementation process for SCSEP services in the state,
      considering the current relative distribution of eligible individuals and employment
      opportunities within the state.

      This TEGL provides instructions for submitting a SCSEP Stand-Alone State Plan
      modification as an independent document, although ETA encourages states to include
      SCSEP as part of a modification of the WIOA Combined State Plan to foster closer
      coordination with other WIOA core and non-core programs. This planning process
      enables the workforce system to provide a wider range of collaborative, coordinated, and
      streamlined services to shared customers including pre-employment transition services
      and co-enrollment.

      To include SCSEP in a Combined State Plan modification, please refer to ETA guidance
      in TEGL No. 07-25, Modification Requirements for Workforce Innovation and
      Opportunity Act (WIOA) State Plans for Program Years (PYs) 2026 and 2027.

4. Planning Priorities, Requirements, Performance Negotiations, and Public Comment.

   a. WIOA Planning Strategic Priorities.

      On April 23, 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order 14278, titled “Preparing
      Americans for High-Paying Skilled Trade Jobs of the Future,” which directed the U.S.
      Departments of Labor, Education, and Commerce to articulate a comprehensive worker
      investment and development strategy. Subsequently, the Departments published
      “America's Talent Strategy: Building the Workforce for the Golden Age,” which
      articulates a shared vision for America’s workforce development efforts, including the
      public workforce system, with five strategic pillars. States are encouraged to review their
      currently approved SCSEP State Plans and align their strategies and investments to these
      pillars, which are summarized in Section 4.a. of TEGL No. 07-25.

      Note that as states develop their SCSEP standalone plan modifications for PYs 2026 and
      2027, grantees must not use federal funds in any manner that violates the United States
      Constitution, Title VI or Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. § 2000d et
      seq. or 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq.), Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20
      U.S.C. § 1681 et seq.), section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C. § 794), the Age
      Discrimination Act of 1975 (42 U.S.C. 6101 et seq.), Title II of the Americans with
      Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. § 12131 et seq.), or other applicable federal law.

   It is important to note the provisions of Executive Orders 14151, 14168, and 14173, as
   well as the U.S. Department of Justice’s July 29, 2025, non-regulatory “Guidance for
   Recipients of Federal Funding Regarding Unlawful Discrimination.” States and
   subgrantees that have implemented diversity, equity, and inclusion activities, and any
   other initiatives that discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national
   origin may risk violating federal civil rights laws referenced above and jeopardizing
   federal funding.

b. SCSEP Stand-Alone Planning Requirements.

   In the Two-Year Modification, grantees must comprehensively cover any changes in the
   required elements of SCSEP Stand-Alone State Plans specified in the SCSEP section of
   the Information Collection Request (ICR) for Required Elements for Submission of the
   Unified or Combined State Plan and Plan Modifications Under the Workforce Innovation
   and Opportunity Act (OMB Control Number 1205-0522). That complete ICR, including
   the SCSEP-specific section, is available here:
   https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/wioa/resources.

   States are encouraged to review their currently approved State Plans and realign their
   strategies and investments with economic and labor information (LMI) and adjust job
   development plans for what may now be a different set of growing and declining
   industries, occupations, and skills, thereby ensuring the State Plan modification reflects
   changes in the labor market and economic conditions and other factors affecting
   implementation of the State Plan as required by section 102(c)(3)(A) of WIOA and
   SCSEP regulations at 20 CFR 641.302(d). Additionally, state plans must not only include
   the in-demand sectors and occupations, but also the employment needs of employers and
   the associated competencies required in those industries and occupations, and align
   training provided through the workforce system with the hiring needs. LMI informs the
   public workforce system by offering data insights to keep up with a rapidly changing
   economic environment driven by AI, advanced industries, and new national priorities.
   State planners must work closely with the LMI directors within their states to understand
   the current and growing needs of their economy. The State Plan modification must reflect
   any such strategic re-focusing.

   States are also urged to co-enroll SCSEP participants into WIOA programs
   simultaneously to create a comprehensive and nonduplicated service plan. This approach
   leverages WIOA’s training and career services with the specialized and individualized
   paid work experience SCSEP provides, increasing the likelihood of participants
   transitioning to unsubsidized sustainable employment. To that end, the Department
   encourages SCSEP grantees to take advantage of the Additional Training and Supportive
   Services (ATSS) waiver whereby grantees reduce the minimum expenditure on
   participant wages and fringe benefits of 75 percent, required by OAA section
   502(c)(6)(B) to 65 percent of the total grant award amount (see 20 CFR 641.874). This
   additional 10 percent can be used for participant training, supportive services, or a
   combination of both to directly benefit participants. DOL expects that these extra funds

   will be used for the type of training that prepares participants for in-demand jobs in their
   respective communities.

   Lastly, the Department encourages industry-driven training strategies for SCSEP
   participants that are informed by the skill needs of employers, which may include
   engaging with employers and industry groups through sectoral partnerships. In these
   models, the training objective should be to provide a strategic, skill-based bridge to
   unsubsidized employment. Grantees should ensure that the training objectives of a
   participant’s paid community service assignment and any additional training assignments
   are aligned with the specific needs of employers in high-growth industries to help
   participants secure in-demand, unsubsidized jobs.

c. Performance Negotiations for the Senior Community Service Employment
   Program.

   OAA section 513 outlines seven core performance measures that ETA uses to determine
   program success (42 U.S.C. § 3056k(b)(1)(A – F)). As outlined in 20 CFR 641.720,
   before the first program year of the grant cycle, ETA and SCSEP grantees negotiate
   expected levels of performance for the first two years of that cycle. For grant years three
   and four, grantees may request to re-negotiate adjustments to these goals based on factors
   such as populations with barriers to employment, poverty levels, and unemployment in
   the areas served. ETA will use an objective statistical model to account for actual
   economic conditions and participant characteristics. At the conclusion of performance
   level negotiations, ETA will make available for public review the final negotiated
   expected levels of performance for each grantee. Performance level negotiations for the
   Program Years 2026 and 2027 will begin in the Spring of 2026.

d. Advice and Public Comment.

   SCSEP state grantees must make the Four-Year State Plan and Two-Year Modifications
   available for public comment before submission. The Governor, or the Governor’s
   designee, should follow established state procedures to solicit and collect public
   comments on the state plan (20 CFR 641.350) and must seek the advice and
   recommendations of the following organizations and individuals with expertise in older
   worker issues (20 CFR 641.315):
   • representatives of the state and area agencies on aging;
   • state and local boards under WIOA;
   • public and private nonprofit agencies and organizations providing employment
       services, including each grantee operating a SCSEP project within the state, except as
       provided under OAA sections 503(a)(9) and 506(a)(3) and 20 CFR 641.320(b);
   • social service organizations providing services to older individuals;
   • grantees under title III of OAA;
   • affected communities;
   • unemployed older individuals;
   • community-based organizations serving older individuals;
   • business organizations; and

       •   labor organizations.

       The state plan must describe the procedures used to obtain such advice in public
       comments, including the timeline for ensuring an open and inclusive planning process
       (20 CFR 641.325(f)–(g)), as well as the public comments received and a summary of the
       comments (20 CFR 641.325(h)). National grantees also have planning responsibilities
       and must coordinate with state grantees in the states where they operate except as
       provided at 20 CFR 641.320(b).

5. Inquiries. Please direct inquiries to the appropriate Regional Office.

6. References.

   •   Older Americans Act, Title V (42 USC 3056, et seq.), as amended through Public Law
       116-131 (Mar 25, 2020);
   •   Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), Pub. L. 113-128, Sec. 121, Funding
       of One-Stop Infrastructure;
   •   TEN No. 16-22, The Employment and Training Administration is Implementing
       GrantSolutions for Grant Award Processing and the Payment Management System for
       Financial Reporting (Jan 18, 2023), https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/advisories/ten-16-
       22;
   •   TEGL No. 17-20, Senior Community Service Employment Program – Updated Guidance
       on Priority of Service, Durational Limits, and State Plan Submissions (April 15, 2021),
       https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/advisories/training-and-employment-guidance-letter-
       no-17-20;
   •   TEGL No. 14-18, Aligning Performance Accountability Reporting, Definitions, and
       Policies Across Workforce Employment and Training Programs Administered by the U.S.
       Department of Labor (DOL), Senior Community Service Employment Program (March
       25, 2019) https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ETA/advisories/TEGL/2019/TEGL_14-
       18_Attachment-9_Acc.pdf;
   •   TEGL No. 17-16, Infrastructure Funding of the One-Stop Delivery System (Jan 18,
       2017), https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/advisories/training-and-employment-guidance-
       letter-no-17-16;
   •   TEGL No. 12-06, Revised Income Inclusions and Exclusions and Procedures for
       Determining Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) Eligibility (Dec
       28, 2006), https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/advisories/training-and-employment-
       guidance-letter-no-12-06;
   •   Federal Poverty Guidelines, Federal Register 88 FR 3424 (January 17, 2024); or HHS
       website at https://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty-guidelines; and
   •   SCSEP Performance Data Collection Approval (Office of Management and Budget No.
       1205-0040) (expiration date Nov 30, 2024).

7. Attachment(s). N/A