Randal Charlton has had a long, colorful career with plenty of ups and downs. In his 71 years, he’s done everything from tending dairy cows for a Saudi sheik to starting a jazz club in Florida. Charlton, who for years has worked to help budding entrepreneurs in Detroit, has just been recognized with a 2011 Purpose Prize.
Architect Edward Mazria and his crusade to make the building sector more friendly to the environment has gotten a major boost: The 70-year-old architect was named one of five winners of The Purpose Prize. The $100,000 award is given by Civic Ventures to promote innovative, socially responsible work among people of traditional retirement age.
Also published in Green Source Magazine.
Randal Charlton, the former head of a Detroit business incubator, is figuring out how to best put his $100,000 Purpose Prize to use to further local baby boomer entrepreneurial ventures. The options include a microenterprise loan fund or a local jobs center website.
Nancy Sanford Hughes, founder of StoveTeam International, is one of five social entrepreneurs this year to win a $100,000 grant from Civic Ventures' annual Purpose Prize. The award is for “making an extraordinary impact in an encore career.” She says: “I feel humbled. I did not choose to do this work – it chose me."
Each year, Civic Ventures awards The Purpose Prize to individuals over 60 who are combining their passion and experience for social good. The only grant of its kind in the nation, the prize awards $100,000 each to five people who advocate for new ways to tackle tough social problems.
When Edward Mazria discovered the building sector gobbles nearly half of all energy production, creating about half of all greenhouse gas emissions, he went to work. The Santa Fe-based architect created Architecture 2030, a program for transitioning to carbon neutral development. For his work, Mazria has a $100,000 Purpose Prize.
Architect Edward Mazria has won The Purpose Prize, a $100,000 prize affectionately known as the “genius award for retirees.” Long committed to sustainable design, Mazria committed himself full time to advocating for a more sustainable future through Architecture 2030, a nonprofit organization that he founded.
Our sputtering economy needs more workers with entrepreneurial spirit. Civic Ventures suggests they might come from an unexpected demographic: workers who are approaching middle age or their retirement years. The group found that one in four Americans between 44 and 70 want to build an enterprise, and nearly half of them want it to be a business with a strong social impact. (This article also appeared on Dowser.)
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| Gerald L. Hill , Indigenous Language Institute |
| Visit Indigenous Language Institute's website |
| Contact Gerald L. Hill |
Indigenous Language Institute
Purpose Prize Fellow 2011
The doors of the Los Angeles County prison closed behind Gerald Hill in 1972 when as a college senior he was sentenced to 90 days following a protest against an art museum exhibit of the scalp of a Cheyenne Indian and a burial display using actual human skeletons. Hill’s first — and last — criminal conviction convinced him that Native Americans can be most effective from the right side of the justice system.
Architect Edward Mazria has been recognized for his work to move the building sector to a more sustainable path. He has done this by setting voluntary targets via his nonprofit Architecture 2030. Now he has won a 2011 Purpose Prize, an award given by Civic Ventures to social entrepreneurs over 60.
