Project director characteristics in the Elderly Nutrition Program

The federally funded Elderly Nutrition Program (ENP) began in 1972, authorized under Title 7 of the Older Americans Act. Its purpose was to serve elders, targeting those in greatest social and economic need. This article describes the characteristics of the Nutrition Project Directors in the ENP through data gathered by a questionnaire completed by a random sample of 430 directors across the nation. One important finding was that directors of programs serving large numbers of low-income or minority elders tended to have less education and commanded lower salaries than directors serving fewer poor and minority elders. In addition, while a higher proportion of these directors were minority members, numbers of nonwhite Nutrition Project Directors remains low.