Course Catalog

Learning Objective: The learner will get a better understanding of the importance of the Older Americans Act and how it relates to their work. Course Significance: Every senior center director or senior nutrition program manager and staff are probably familiar with the Older Americans Act in some way. It governs the management of Title III congregate nutrition programs and authorizes at least part of the funding for their operations. Those same individuals may not be familiar with the Act’s history - which is important for understanding its purpose and focus - as well as some of the recent changes in the law. There have been many modifications over the years since the Older Americans Act was first signed into law, and understanding what has changed and what remains the same should help guide senior center and senior nutrition program management in their daily work. This course is designed to give a brief history of the law and to highlight those specific issues to which the law directs congregate nutrition programs to give particular attention.

Learning Objective: The learner will get a better understanding of the fundamentals of communicating the importance of the issue of raising community awareness of the role that the senior center and congregate nutrition program plays in providing nutrition and socialization for for seniors in their community. Course Significance : The role of the senior center and its nutrition program is vital in maintaining a relevant organization in the community. But if large segments of the community, namely seniors themselves, do not even know that the senior center is there for them, then the center becomes irrelevant. This course will teach the basic fundamentals of raising public awareness, public relations, marketing and getting the message out in the community about the center and its many offerings.

Learning Objective: The learner will get a better understanding of the importance of the critical role that preventing food waste and wasted food plays in the operations of senior centers. Course Significance: Having a minimal amount of food waste should be a part of your meal service operations planning and is critical component of running a congregate nutrition program. Food waste is important because it directly impacts the bottom line — your ability to serve more seniors in need. Food waste also directly impacts your clients; health. It also impacts the environment. By understanding why and how food waste occurs and committing to talking steps taught in this course, you can virtually eliminate food waste in your congregate nutrition program. Eliminating food waste in your senior center and congregate nutrition program has to become routine, standard operating procedure.

Learning Objective: The learner will get a better understanding of the fundamentals of raising funds for their senior center and congregate nutrition program in order to expand programming and serve more seniors. Course Significance: Fundraising should be considered a major component of the mission of your center and nutrition program. There are not many nonprofit organizations that have the luxury of not having to raise outside funds in order to remain solvent. The economic climate of today and into the future will necessitate that all nonprofits (and that even includes senior centers and congregate nutrition programs) must view fundraising as an opportunity to engage their local community and its citizens as partners in the great work they do. Fundraising brings together an entire community and ignites the passions of those who would otherwise take the services that you are offering for granted.

Learning Objective: The learner will get a better understanding of the significance of how important the three components of food safety are in congregate nutrition programs. Proper food safety measures in storage, preparation and serving will be addressed in this course. Course Significance: Food safety is important for everyone. It is especially important for those working in congregate nutrition programs because the clients are seniors. It is a fact that older adults are at a higher risk for hospitalization and death fro food borne illness. This increased risk of food borne illness is because organs and body systems go through changes as people age. For example: the gastrointestinal tract holds onto food for a longer period of time, allowing bacteria to grow. The liver and kidneys may not properly rid the body of foreign bacteria and toxins. The stomach may not produce enough acid. The acidity helps to reduce the number of bacteria in our intestinal tract. And, underlying chronic conditions, such as diabetes and cancer, may also increase a persons risk of food borne illness.

Watch this introduction to HR content before tackling the HR courses. It will help give you a quick background on HR and why these courses are so critical to your work.

Learning Objective: The learner will be getting a better understanding of employee handbooks and their importance Course Significance: It is critical that employers, managers and employees are on the same page. An important HR tool that helps to make this a reality is the employee handbook. In this course, you will learn about personnel policies, employee benefits, working conditions, work rules, and why having everything spelled out in an employee handbook is good for everyone.

Learning Objective: The learner will be getting a better understanding of the entire screening and hiring process from identifying a need through new hire orientation. Course Significance: Filling needs within your organization is not simple. From defining the role you are trying to fill, identifying candidates, interviewing potential hires, to new hire orientation, screening and hiring can be a long and difficult process. This course will give you best practices for navigating this entire process including how to stay ADA compliant and do reference and background checks. Successfully mastering this course can help you attract and hire great new team members.

Learning Objective: The learner will be getting a better understanding of basic employment law. Some of the areas that will be discussed are: ADA compliance, unemployment, and hourly versus full-time employees. Course Significance: Laws like the Federal Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) impact every company in this country, including your organization. This course will help you with a basic understanding of these regulations and how they may impact your organization. This course not only helps you learn what you need to know, it will help you to identify where and when you need to ask more questions of a legal professional.

Learning Objective: The learner will get a better understanding of the preparation and planning that goes into employee performance management. Course Significance: Coaching your employees, including proper discussions about their performance can lead to great individual success and advancement. This type of coaching throughout an organization translates to team success. The unfortunate flip side is that a lack of coaching or poor coaching can lead that same individual down a path that leads to their termination.

Learning Objective: The learner will get a better understanding of financial literacy, how cash flows through their organization and the importance of maintaining an operating surplus. Course Significance: Every senior center director or senior nutrition program manager has felt the pressure of not having enough money to do what they think needs to be done. They often feel helpless, or powerless, not knowing how to make things better. That helpless feeling is almost always a result of not knowing what to do or how to make things better. This series of courses will help address that feeling of helplessness. It is designed to give you additional knowledge about your organization’s finances, new skills to help you manage those finances, and change your perspectives and attitudes about finances. With improved knowledge, skills and attitudes, we can change our behaviors and those of the people we work with in order to make sound financial decisions for our organizations.