Committee approves agreement with SCSEP Curative Connections program for senior center position

The New London Park and Recreation Committee voted to enter an agreement with the SCSEP Curative Connections program to host a paid participant at the senior center who will perform dispatch and phone duties, the committee heard at its April meeting.

Ginger, a Park and Recreation staff member, explained the Center for Workforce Inclusion and the SCSEP Curative Connections program place paid participants with local agencies: “they're essentially volunteering for us, but they're getting paid through the Center for Workforce Inclusion,” she said. The participant would fill a dispatch-style role answering calls, recording names and ride times, and relaying information to drivers.

Staff said the agreement includes a requirement that if a division-level vacancy opens in the senior center, the SCSEP participant must be considered through the same hiring process as other candidates; that provision does not require the city to hire the participant but requires equitable consideration. The senior center has had an unfilled dispatch position since the COVID pandemic, staff said.

Committee member John Hassett moved approval of the agreement; John Shea seconded. The motion carried by voice vote. No financial commitment beyond the agreement was recorded in committee remarks; staff described the arrangement as a “win-win” because the program compensates the participant while providing the center with staffing assistance.

Staff did not provide a start date in the recorded discussion; they said they would proceed with the necessary administrative steps to place the participant through the SCSEP program.