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After 20 years in private sector marketing, Gina Cassinelli jumped at an opportunity to learn more about the nonprofit sector.

She took a part-time, paid Encore Fellowship with Citizen Schools, a group that engages volunteers to help low-income students succeed. Now she’s there full time.

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City Managers Focus Talents on Encore Careers

Posted 03/11/2010 - 2:23pm

Editor’s note: Dr. Frank Benest is the retired city manager of Palo Alto, Calif. Read about his own encore journey here.

More than 50 active and recently retired city managers and their partners participated in a workshop called “Crafting Your Next Life Phase: Strategies for Self-Renewal,” a first effort to develop an encore manager initiative for city government managers.

The workshop was conducted by the California City Management Foundation (CCMF) last month at its convening in Carlsbad, Calif., and was cosponsored by the California chapter of the International City/County Management Association (Cal-ICMA).

by: Frank Benest | Read more >>

Act On Your Passion

Posted 03/05/2010 - 7:05pm

By Guest Blogger and Purpose Prize fellow, Ellen Silber

Encore careers are motivated by passion! Look closely at your immediate world and the larger one around you, and you’re almost sure to find a problem, a cause, a group of people that need the kind of help that you can give. Take stock of your lifetime of experience and the skills you have developed. Then comes the most difficult part: taking action! Find some like-minded people or begin on your own; others will follow.

Prior to my encore career as the founder of Mentoring Latinas, a support program for local Latina students, I was teaching women’s studies, doing gender equity research and running a leadership workshop for adolescent girls.

by: Ellen Silber | Read more >>

Encore Careers Telebriefing Available as Podcast

Posted 03/08/2010 - 12:08pm

The Encore Careers Telebriefing held March 3 is available to download for free here.

The 45-minute session offers practical tips on finding an encore career that combines continued income doing work that has personal meaning and social impact. It features Marci Alboher, our in-house encore careers specialist; Erin O’Connor Jones, an expert on transitions to the nonprofit sector with the Nonprofit Professionals Advisory Group; and Mark Noonan, whose encore career involves working at Elders in Action in Portland, Ore.

by: Terry Nagel | Read more >>

Mobilizing Encore Talent to Accelerate Energy Efficiency Retrofits

Posted 03/04/2010 - 5:03pm

Energy efficiency retrofits are the win-win of the fabled green economy: the easiest way to reduce energy costs and carbon output and the centerpiece of any job-creation strategy.

But the great retrofit mobilization has been slowed by a shortage of skilled workers, trained contractors, certified auditors and other support businesses.

Such a shortage of talent suggests an encore opportunity – for people to move into encore careers as green-collar trainers, contractors, program managers, entrepreneurs and other enabling roles.

by: David Bank | Read more >>

Get Ready for Encore Careers of the Future

Posted 03/03/2010 - 6:50pm

They aren’t household terms yet, says Phyllis Segal, vice president at Civic Ventures, but many jobs are emerging that are a natural fit for people seeking careers in midlife that combine continued income with social impact.

“Many of today’s new encore careers build on multiple work and life experiences, so they are a good match for older adults who’ve spent decades in the workplace,” Segal told Elizabeth Pope of The New York Times. She urges individuals to get up to speed for coming job opportunities through community colleges, online courses and workshops.

One person who did just that is Mark Davis, 51, of Washington, D.C., a former title company owner. When he found out there weren’t many solar installation companies in his city, Pope writes, he decided to start one. He attended the Green Encore solar training at Ohlone College in Fremont, Calif., this year, then launched WDC Solar in his encore career.

by: Terry Nagel | Read more >>

Encore Entrepreneurs: A Fast-Growing Group

Posted 03/03/2010 - 7:00pm

Cinde Dolphin of Sacramento thought it would be easy to get another job after she took a buyout from her marketing position with Coors. After months of searching, she started her own marketing and public relations firm. Norberto Bogard created a Spanish entertainment guide to New York City after he lost his job as a reporter for a Spanish-language financial news program.

Both are among the fast-growing group of entrepreneurs over age 55 that are the focus of a March 4 report in The New York Times by Steven Greenhouse. According to the Small Business Administration, the number of self-employed people ages 55 to 64 rose 52 percent between 2000 and 2007.

Marc Freedman, founder of Civic Ventures, told Greenhouse that would-be entrepreneurs shouldn’t be deceived by money magazines that make it look as though “all you need is a new idea, that you wander out there, you run your own B&B, you start your nonprofit and all the birds are singing.”

by: Terry Nagel | Read more >>

Six $25,000 Grants Available to Encore Colleges

Posted 03/01/2010 - 5:00pm

Is your two-year institution preparing boomers for encore careers in education and health care? It could be one of six community colleges nationwide to be awarded a 2010 Encore Career Community College grant. Apply online. The deadline is April 12, 2010.

Each $25,000 grant supports programs that match the skills and interests of experienced adults with high-need careers in education and health.

by: Jennifer Coate | Read more >>

Speeding Certification for Encore Teachers

Posted 02/26/2010 - 4:57pm

Community colleges are creating new and more flexible pathways to becoming second-career teachers. That’s good news for prospective encore teachers who balk at the requirements of traditional teaching colleges, many of which require four years of full-time study even for those who already have a college degree.

Four-year teaching institutions are still the norm for most, but more alternative pathways to teacher certification are popping up around the country. Many are run by community colleges. These alternative programs often move candidates into their own classrooms after a shorter period of training while continuing studies on nights and weekends. Many pack other benefits as well, such as increased flexibility.

by: Cal Halvorsen | Read more >>

Community College Training Can Boost Worker Pay

Posted 02/16/2010 - 12:01pm

A new report, Graduated Success, shows how one- and two-year community college credentials can, in many cases, deliver graduates higher salaries than four-year degrees. That’s good news for older Americans looking for employment, including millions who want purpose-filled work in the second half of life.

Recognizing that this training paves a vital pathway to an encore career, Civic Ventures and MetLife Foundation award grants to community colleges that are creating programs to retrain experienced adults. Click here to learn about these programs.

by: Terry Nagel | Read more >>

Encore Careers Opportunities and Resources

Posted 02/16/2010 - 1:30pm

A web site that lists 97 nonprofit job boards, fellowships for “education entrepreneurs” and a scholarship program for women over age 40 seeking new job skills and training are among the new opportunities and resources available to individuals seeking encore careers.

Full-Time Fighter for Climate Protection

Posted 02/12/2010 - 6:42pm

Protecting the climate has been Doug Grandt's full-time job for three years. He figures his green encore career might span another 10 or 15 years, as he homes in on where he can have the most impact. At 62, he's just getting started fighting climate change.

He wants to combine his engineering background and his new skills in leadership and public speaking to help take clean energy solutions to scale. "Solar on every rooftop," is his goal.

Are you in a green encore career? Tell us about it!

by: David Bank | Read more >>

Chris Farrell: Living Frugally Frees You to Live Better

Posted 02/10/2010 - 4:19pm

Chris Farrell is drawing big crowds as he tours the U.S. to promote his new book, The New Frugality, which paints a picture of a seismic shift in our society away from unfettered spending, toward healthier financial habits. In a conversation with Civic Ventures Senior Fellow Marci Alboher, he explains why changing your attitude toward money can also help you live a good life that reflects your personal values and may help you find your true calling – in, perhaps, your encore career.

Marc Freedman, founder of Civic Ventures, calls Farrell’s book “a roadmap to a better life and a better future.” Freedman recently heard Farrell address a crowd in Northern California. “Speaking in front of a roaring fire,” says Freedman, “Farrell laid out his vision for the great changes, already under way, that will produce a more sustainable lifestyle in America over the coming decades.

by: Marci Alboher | Read more >>