For those interested in switching careers to become a teacher, community colleges are a quality (and affordable) stop along the way to earning certification. More than 90 percent of community colleges in the United States offer teacher education coursework, and nearly 50 percent have teacher education programs. That’s a lot, considering that there are nearly 1,200 community colleges in the nation.

However, some myths associated with community colleges undermine the importance of the work they are doing in creating tomorrow’s teachers. A report by the National Association of Community College Teacher Education Programs helps to dispel some of them. Here are some key points from the report:

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.

With more than 100 million citizens over the age of 65, China is one of the fastest-aging countries in the world. The demographic shift, an unanticipated (if entirely predictable) result of the country’s one-child policy, is typically considered a liability – a brake on the country’s economic growth.

But the country’s older adults represent a pool of human capital that can be tapped for important and meaningful roles, according to participants at a recent conference in Shandong, China’s first national conversation about productive aging.

Whether you are a nonprofit employer interested in further developing your workforce or someone who is interested in an encore career but has not previously worked at a nonprofit, a new report, “A Perfect Match? How Nonprofits are Tapping into the Boomer Talent Pool”, by Jill Casner-Lotto of The Conference Board, provides “actionable advice” for both.

“When you look at us, you see we’re all different: We’re male and female, black and white and Hispanic. But we all speak with one voice: We all want to work!” said Rosa Hannah, 60, of Rochester, New York.

Hannah was among five other panelists at Experience Works’ press event to highlight its new study, “Overlooked and Underserved: An In-depth Look at the Challenges Facing Low-income Older Job Seekers.”

At recent gatherings in Yonkers, N.Y., and Lexington, Ky., encore careerists cited financial and family support and continued training as key factors contributing to the success of encore careers. But the most important ingredient, they said, was passion for a cause.

For 2006 Purpose Prize winner Robert Chambers, who was honored June 30 by President Obama at the White House, the urge to serve was generated by his frustration at seeing low-income people being offered bad deals at car dealerships. Encore careerist Mattye Willis was tired of women not knowing their health risks and options with breast cancer, and former nonprofit employer Kathy Gannoe was tired of seeing too few advocates for long-term care facility residents and their families. Gannoe helped the Nursing Home Ombudsman Agency of the Bluegrass, Inc. win a 2007 BreakThrough Award for creating encore career opportunities.

At 78, George Wolf needed a job. “My resume garnered many calls, some quite urgent. But once the in-person interviews made my age apparent, the excuses not to hire me were laughably imaginative,” the New Yorker recalls.

After he perused Encore.org and attended an inspiring presentation by Purpose Prize winners at the New York Public Library in February 2009, he discovered his own encore career doing work far different than any he had done before. The former garment industry entrepreneur, who narrowly escaped the Nazis during World War II, now feels valued and appreciated doing marketing and public relations for a Jewish charity.

Older workers are more likely to have higher levels of workplace engagement than younger workers, according to a new study by the Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College.

This is important because “engagement” — defined as “a positive, fulfilling work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption,” is an important factor that contributes to workplace productivity and innovation, according to the study, Engaging the 21st Century Multi-Generational Workforce: Findings from the Age & Generations Study.

Join Building Movement Project members Frances Kunreuther, Helen Kim and Robby Rodriguez, authors of Working Across Generations: Defining the Future of Nonprofit Leadership, in Washington, D.C., to celebrate the release of their book and talk about the type of leadership we need to move forward in these historic times.

A new survey found that mature adults of all ages and financial status ranked meaning in life above money, medicine and place in defining what makes up “The Good Life” – a powerful indicator of the strong appeal of encore careers for individuals 45 and older.

The MetLife Mature Market Institute’s study, Discovering what Matters: Balancing Money, Medicine and Meaning, found that older adults tend to describe “the Good Life” in terms of being healthy, having financial freedom, and having the time to do what is important to them.