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ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT ITEM NOI1 <br /> MEETING DATE JANUARY 4, 1988 <br /> 082 <br /> SUBJECT: Resolution regarding -JTPA <br /> eligibility determination method • <br /> DEPARTMENT: Commission for Women J I PUBLIC HEARING: YES Y NO <br /> ATTACHMENT(S) : Resolution INFORMATION CONTACT: Andi Reynolds <br /> PHONE NUMBERS: HILLSBOROUGH - 732-8181 <br /> HILLSBOROUGH - 732-9361 <br /> • CHAPEL HILL - 967-9251 <br /> . = MEBANE -- 227-2031 <br /> DURHAM - 688-7331 <br /> PURPOSE: To transmit a resolution to the Board. <br /> • <br /> • <br /> . Background: The Commission for Women is studying issues of women <br /> and aging. The Employment Committee of the Commission has learned <br /> that the NC Job Training Council 's Older Workers Committee will <br /> soon consider the issue of determining income eligibility of <br /> persons aged 55 and over for participation in the Job Training <br /> Partnership Act. The current method of determining eligibility for <br /> JTPA in North Carolina does not include Social Security and Title V <br /> . payments, the income of separated or divorced spouses, and the <br /> income of adult children living with and primarily supporting the <br /> potential participant. However, the income of spouses is still <br /> counted. <br /> For many women of the particular generation now aged 55 and over, <br /> this presents a considerable barrier to participating in the JTPA <br /> Older workers Program (also known as the "3 percent" program) . <br /> . Crucial to understanding the dilemma is recognition of the <br /> - demographic fact that the average age of widowhood is 59, and that <br /> most women currently 55 and over do not possess either the work <br /> ' history or. occupational skills to be self-- or family-supporting in the case of their husband's death or disability. The ultimate -- <br /> effect of the current income eligibility is to require women (and <br /> some men) to wait until they are widowed and/or in poverty to <br /> become eligible to learn how. to support themselves. <br /> Nineteen other states, including South Carolina, have changed their <br /> state income eligibility determination methods to allow persons <br /> aged 55 .and over to be considered as a "family of one," thus <br /> excluding their spouse 's income and making them eligible earlier, . <br /> more preventively. <br />