The good news is that there are some assistance programs available for seniors. The next post I will discuss some of the specific senior assistance programs that are currently available in the United States and Canada.

Assistance can be classified into a few different categories. You can get some sort of monetary assistance. This can take the form of some sort of welfare program, loan, grant, or even a scholarship. Monetary assistance can be either a gift (grant) which will not require repayment or some sort of loan which does require payment in time.

There are also other assistance programs that aim to help people help themselves. These programs are often the best in the long run because they aim to give people the skills and ability to fix their own problems in the long run. Such assistance might be available in the form of schooling to teach job-ready skills or even direct job assistance programs that help people find jobs.

If you want to get help as a senior, you are going to have to look at all the assistance programs available and decide which is best for your needs.

The economy has forced many seniors to come out of retirement and start working again. Indeed, this may be the right choice for you. While the thought of another 10 years of work might scare more than a few seniors, such a thing should be considered if you are a fairly young senior. If you are in your 60’s, it is possible that you can still get a job. There are job training programs for seniors that can assistance seniors to get jobs. There are also agencies that can directly find temporary work for people looking for that work.

If you are too old to work (in your late 70, 80’s or you have health problems) then working another few years to restore your 401k might not be possible. You might want to look to see what sort of welfare or senior financial assistance programs you can look at.

You also want to look at controlling your budget. If you tinker with the way you live, you might be able to spend less money and thereby avoid having to work.

Financial Help for Seniors Through Grant Programs

It’s true that the federal government offers a variety of funds to those who will implement an activity that’s approved of by the federal law. There are more than 25 federal agencies that provide upwards of 100 grants each year in a variety of different areas. Some of these grants are designed just to help the senior citizen.

There are also many large corporations, charities, and private foundations that give out cash prizes to help support well-regarded activities. From the more than 70k foundations in the USA, there have been given out a total of 40 billion dollars in grant funding in just 2007 alone.

A grant can be given out for specific purposes or the grant can be what’s called an unrestricted grant – the funds can be used for practically any purpose by the organization on the receiving end.

Grants for Senior Citizens

For the senior, here are a number of different types of grants that you can apply for. There are grants to help a senior meet nutrition, housing, and even education needs. There are also private foundations that do provide specialized grants to non-profit organizations that work with seniors, helping to support and promote health, affordable housing, education, and nutrition among seniors.

There are, unfortunately, only a few grants that are given directly to an individual who needs money. No matter what sort of commercial that advertizes senior citizen grants or what sort of online website you find that promotes senior citizen grants, there is not some massive, mysterious bank that’s brimming with free money which every senior citizen needing food, medical, or monetary help can tap. Most individuals who need assistance will need to work with specific government grant-funded agencies and organizations to get access to this free help.

Federal Grants

Some of the more popular (and legit) federal grants include:

• Capital Assistance Program for Elderly Persons and Persons with Disabilities – this provides the money for seniors to meet their transportation needs where public transportation is not readily available.
• The Foster grandparent Program – this grant is designed to help promote volunteer service with over 60 persons.
• Mortgage Insurance Rental housing for the elderly – helps to provide housing for seniors. This is funded by mortgage insurers.
• Nutritional Services Incentive Program – gives state agencies access to a number of programs to help deliver meals to aging ethnic groups (Native American primarily)

Foundations

Foundations are small organizations that do provide assistance to the needy, usually educational, health, and housing. You can find a list of foundations here. http://foundationcenter.org/findfunders/statistics/pdf/08_fund_pop/2000/50_found_pop/pop_b1_f.pdf

Virtually anyone can apply for a specific grant for senior citizens. Some people who do qualify for this type of grant can include:

• Non Profit Organizations
• A government agency
• Private or Public Schools
• Small Business
• Individuals

The application process is first started by the written grant proposal. This proposal must be towards the organization that is offering the senior citizen grant. The basic purpose of the proposal is to present a convincing case for why you actually need the grant. You are going to need to describe in every detail how you are going to use the fund. It’s important for you to first:

1. Do Research – You should understand the purpose of the grant, what the grant is ultimately designed to accomplish, and any sort of procedures you must follow as well of a list of the required forms, and supplementary documents you might be required to send in. You also want to look at the deadline too.
2. Justify Your Reasons for the Grants – Despite what you read online from grant websites, grantors are not just tossing out money for free. You are going to have to prove that there is going to be a tangible benefit to the community or the target audience that the grant aims to help, either yourself or the people your organization is trying to help
3. Demonstrate Results that can be proved – you are going to need to provide some concrete assessment of how the grant is actually helping, usually after a agreed upon period of time.
4. Learn to Write a Proper Grant Proposal—You should do your research for how to do this. There are plenty of online websites that give grant-writing tips. There are also plenty of books you can find in your library that will help you with this.

Tips on Writing a Senior Citizen Grant Proposal

Make sure you keep in steady contact with the organizations that give out the grants

Follow the application instructions very carefully so you complete the application correctly

1. Aim for an easy-to-read, simply grant proposal
2. Keep each paragraph short and specific to your goals
3. Be sure to include the overall goals of your grant objective
4. The beginning of your proposal should include a basic summer of your needs and your overall plan
5. Include a detailed budget plain in your proposal
6. Include information about how you will decide whether the grant program was a success or not
7. Be sure to talk about what you will do after the grant funds are depleted

And Finally…Watch out for Grant SCAMS

It’s important that you watch out for grant scams. There are plenty of websites that will offer to give you a grant, but charge you 20 to 100 dollars for the application fees and to help with the proposal. If these companies don’t just take your money outright and return nothing, you may only end up with a simple list of grant programs and addresses.

Many community colleges and universities offer free tuition for senior citizens. This makes going back to school for many seniors an attractive option. It could be you’ve always wanted an education but life has intruded. Or maybe you want to get an education and re-enter the workforce. It’s true that an unprecedented number of senior citizens are indeed heading back to work, due in no small part to the Great Recession we are currently experiencing.

However, not all educational programs are free for seniors. The good news is there are scholarships for seniors available out there. These scholarship programs are specifically designed to help senior citizens afford getting some type of education or retraining. Keep in mind that these programs are not common, but they do exist.

If you are a senior looking for some financial aid, you might want to start off with looking at getting some Federal financial aid. You can fill out a financial aid form at any college office. This form will give you access to various financial aid programs and grants.

You can also look at a college financial aid website or talk to a financial aid councillor at a college or university. You should be able to find a comprehensive list of different scholarships that you can apply for. There is a very real possibility that some of these scholarships specifically target certain age groups, including a senior’s age group.

You might also want to use some of the online scholarship and grant searching websites to aid in your search. Scholarships.com is one such website. You can easily search for scholarships based on a number of search criteria. You may just turn up the perfect scholarship.

It should be noted that there are many scam websites that will offer to “sell” you a guaranteed scholarship. These are complete scams and unfortunately, you need to keep a sharp eye out for these scam sites when you look for any sort of scholarship or grant program online. Stick to the bigger, reputable scholarship and grant searching websites and you should be fine, however.

For a help video on how to apply for federal financial aid (which you can qualify for even if you are a senior) look at the video below:

The truth is that it’s not easy to get a job these days, for anyone. You may have heard that as a senior citizen, you face an uphill battle to get a job. This is a world where youth, not age, is rewarded. Many hiring managers are hesitant to hire the elderly, for fear of potential health problems that may reduce productivity.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t find a job for seniors. However, you are going to have to explore the different options out there to make it work. This article will give you a list – and not a comprehensive list by any means – with some of the potential jobs you can work as a senior citizen.

Work From Home Jobs for Seniors

The work at home market is popular these days. In fact, when people can’t find regular work, they often turn online to see what sort of jobs they can round up. There are a lot of job opportunities online that you can indeed seek out. But you do need to be careful. There are a lot of work at home scams out there that take advantage of desperate people. So make sure you do research about any specific work from home job before you commit to it! Here are some of the following work from home jobs you might look at:

• Data Entry – You are responsible for entering data into spreadsheets or other data software programs
• Website Development – It’s never too late to learn how to design websites. For qualified individuals, there are quite a few opportunities.
• Programmer – If you have programming experience in the past, there are plenty of programming opportunities to work from home as a senior. You might want to check out elance.com. You can bid on projects online and work from home too!

Article Writer – With more and more websites being developed each day, there is a keen demand for content. Whether it’s niche related content that people need for some websites they are developing or highly specialized topics that you have an interest or education about, there is a demand for writing. Typically, most people charge 3-5 dollars per article. For high quality, specialized articles, people are willing to pay anywhere from 20-100 dollars per article!

Retail Industry Jobs

It’s possible to work as a senior in the retail industry. Note that some of these jobs can be more physically intensive – you may be required to stock store shelves for example. If you think you can handle money all day long, you may want to consider some type of cashier position. Retail jobs pay low, typically a bit above minimum wage. However, if you are a senior on a fixed income, then even just a bit of extra cash can make a difference.

Telemarketing

If you are good with words and you have a thick skin, you might want to try your luck as a telemarketer. Telemarketing firms are always recruiting people who are willing to do this job. You can search for telemarketing positions online.

The next question you might have is how to actually get a job. If you pursue a job where you work for a company, you are going to need to have a resume set up. You should visit a dedicated job site like Monster.com to find out how to do so.

If you are looking for senior jobs, you might want to try a specific site that’s geared just for senior jobs. One such site is seniorjobbank.org.

The best way to get financial help for senior citizens is to spend some time looking for the help online. There are different sources of aid that you can avail yourself of. You might, for instance, look at applying for the federal welfare program. This program is to enable people who don’t have enough money to survive a means to survive. Welfare is not a long terms solution, so it’s best not to think of it as a solution but more like an emergency solution.

You can look at getting help for seniors from the numerous private non-profit organizations out there. You might be able to get free clothing, food, and other basic necessities. Some organizations may even offer some sort of financial aid as well.

The government does have a few housing subsidy programs that you might try applying for if you are renting a home. A housing subsidy is basically where the government agrees to pay for part of your rent, provided that you qualify for the subsidy. You will need to show the government you have a great deal of need and these programs tend to be very competitive due to the sheer amount of people who apply.

If all else fails, you may need to consider going back to school. There are quite a few jobs for seniors that you can find. It’s a myth that seniors can’t get jobs — there are jobs to be had. It’s a good idea to search online to see what jobs for seniors you can find out about.

So if you are a senior citizen looking for some finanical help, there is help available — you are just going to have to spend the time looking for it. Whatever you do, don’t panic if you find you don’t have enough money to stay ahead of your bills. You can modify your budget and seek to get the help you need online.

Government Housing Assistance for Seniors

The federal government (Department of Housing & Urban Development) established a special housing program for seniors. This program is called the HUD.

The HUD helps to provide funding for seniors to stay in their homes, rent apartments, or join car facility programs. The government seeks to give out both medical and non medical support for the senior sector of society, as seniors are sometimes forgotten by the mainstream health concerns. One common complain among seniors is that there preference and sense of choice when it comes to senior housing is often ignored. They are often shelved off at low quality home care centers and conveniently forgotten.

However, the HUD program attempts to give seniors some choice as to where they want to be housed.

The way the HUD works is that if seniors have family members helping to support them, the family can apply for assistance through a HUD approved counselor. The councilor will provide information about the various programs and housing communities available.

Those who have the money will be able to contact private institutions that construct special senior homes or apartments – either as single or attached units. These units are all based in a special community for seniors, allowing those who have reach the golden years to interact with each other in a special seniors community.

Seniors do have the options of residing in their own homes and taking out a credit line of equity. There are various programs like the HECM which help seniors stay in the comfort of their own homes.

Previously, nursing homes were the main option for seniors. Now, the housing programs allow seniors to live a normal and comfortable life in a senior housing community. These communities have a full assortment of medical assistance – doctors, nurses, and care givers. The point of these communities is to facilitate as normal a life for seniors as possible while having the necessary medical infrastructure.

For seniors who lack the money for housing, the government gives housing aid though the Housing Choice Voucher program. Essentially, low income persons are given vouchers to help pay the cost of rent. The vouchers won’t cover all the rent costs, but will pay for a significant portion of rent.

Private Senior Grants

Besides government financial assistance for seniors, there may be private financial help for seniors as well. Grant aid may be found by searching online. Private organizations sometimes make available free money for seniors who need financial help. There are websites online that will assist you in finding senor housing grants. You can also simply do your own research and check out any senior grant offers you find online.