Editor’s Note: The Bulletin’s All Ages section regularly profiles local organizations designed to help families and seniors. To suggest an organization, contact Mac McLean at mmclean@bendbulletin.com or 541-617-7816.

Six years ago, Diane Cable found herself in a tough situation: She was raising a grandchild, getting separated from her husband and had to find a job.

It was a lot to handle for someone who was 59 years old and had been out of the workforce for a considerable length of time.

“I was wondering what I should do,” said Cable, now 65. “I had never worked on a computer before and (going back to work) was scary.”

Cable found the solution when someone told her about Experience Works, a nonprofit employment program that helps low-income seniors develop the skills they need to get a job in today’s workplace. She is now the program’s local employment and training coordinator and, for the past two years, has helped people find work and regain their confidence.

“When you find someone who has succeeded with this program, it is very rewarding,” said Cable, who helps low-income seniors in Crook, Deschutes, Hood River, Jefferson, Linn, Wasco and Wheeler counties find work from her Redmond office.

Even with their age group’s unemployment rate at 5.8 percent — its lowest level since 2009 — more than 1.9 million Americans 55 and older were out of a job and actively trying to find work during the fiscal quarter that ended Dec. 31, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor of Labor Statistics.

There are a number of reasons people end up in that situation, Cable said. They may have been laid off, gone through a divorce or the death of a spouse who was the sole income provider, or tried to retire and realized their Social Security checks alone were not enough to pay the bills.

People in this age group also have a harder time re-entering the workforce, especially once they’ve been out for a considerable amount of time; their skill sets could be out of date and employers may be unwilling to hire them because of their age.

Since it was founded in 1965, Experience Works has helped older people who earn less than 125 percent of the federal poverty guideline – $13,962 for an individual and $18,912 for a couple – by finding them a part-time, minimum wage job at a participating nonprofit or government agency.

“It’s not a lot,” Cable said. “But it’s enough to make a huge difference in someone’s life.”

Cable said the part-time jobs give participants a chance to learn new skills or refresh their existing skills. They can use this experience to find work in the private sector, she said, though they are often hired by the organization they started training with in the program.

“If its a good match and a good job,” she said, “a lot of these agencies will try to find the money to hire someone full time.”

Get help finding work

For more information, visit www.experience works.org or call 541-548-8196, ext. 337.