Mobilizing Encore Talent for Education, Health and Environment

06/09/2010 - 05:04:07pm

Hundreds of thousands of boomers and others are poised to work on proven innovations and cost-effective interventions to help kids succeed, improve people’s health and protect the environment.

That's why is makes sense to make modest investments in advancing encore careers - investments that will be recouped in the added success of targeted, high-priority initiatives that deploy this windfall of experienced, talented people. Encore talent is early talent, “venture human capital” that can help take promising models to full-scale solutions.

Creating Jobs in Solar, Including His Own

05/16/2010 - 05:14:06pm

Mitchell Smith says he learned long ago if you don't have a job, make one for yourself.

Smith, a longtime educator, spent the last 15 years with a variety of educational technology and software companies, working primarily in sales. Amid the economic downturn, he was laid off a year ago, his third layoff in two years. "That's it," he told himself.

Now, the 50-year-old resident of Richmond, Calif. is the training manager and job placement coordinator at Solar Richmond, a pioneering training center that prepares disadvantaged residents for jobs in the growing solar industry.

The Encore Equation: From Crisis to Opportunity

04/29/2010 - 05:50:06pm

Editor's Note: This piece is adapted from comments by David Bank, a vice president of Civic Ventures, in a panel discussion, "What will the future look like," at Alumni Weekend at the University of California at Santa Cruz on April 17, 2010. Bank, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, is a 1982 graduate of UCSC. Follow him at Encore Equation.

I learned as a journalist that when you can latch on to a big story and get out in front, you can get your articles on the front page – which was a good thing when there still was such a thing as newspapers.

One of the big stories I covered was Microsoft in the late 90s. So I spent a lot of time watching Bill Gates, and one of the things I learned from him was: “Track the inevitable.”

Learn More About Green Encore Careers

04/27/2010 - 03:23:05pm

The recent report, "How Baby Boomers Can Help the Nation Go Green," details eight growing job categories that are a good match for the skills and interests of people seeking encore careers.

The authors of the report, the Council on Adult and Experiential Learning and Encore Careers, offered a free webinar on green encore careers in honor of Earth Day on April 21, 2010. Here are links to information shared during the webinar:

• PowerPoint of slides shown during webinar (PDF)
• Audio recording of webinar
• More resources on green encore careers. (You must be a member of Encore.org to access)

Full-Time Fighter for Climate Protection

02/12/2010 - 07:42:17pm

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!

Purpose Prize Summit: Ellen Goodman Lets Herself Go

11/10/2009 - 06:23:36pm

Ellen Goodman is headed straight for the semicolon, that pause between her long career as a Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper columnist - and whatever comes next. Goodman has just told her editor that she will wrap up her column at the end of this year.

"I love the phrase 'encore careers,'" Goodman said in a funny and deeply personal keynote that opened the Purpose Prize Summit. "Life is a stage. We are all, always, only in a stage of life. The words are full of showmanship and applause."

In talking about her own plans, however, she said, "The phrase that kept running around in my head was, 'I'm letting myself go.'"

Purpose Prize Summit: Robert Egger on the Historical Moment

11/03/2009 - 05:18:13pm

Glass Half-Empty or Half-Full for the Over-65?

10/28/2009 - 01:58:58pm

From health reform to Social Security to the job market, there's a lot of talk recently about the economic status of Americans over 65.

Steven Greenhouse of the New York Times reports that there are more Americans 65 and older in the job market today than at any time in history -- 6.6 million compared with 4.1 million in 2001 -- and nearly half a million workers 65 and over who want to work but cannot find a job.

Have You Seen the Purpose Prize Videos?

10/27/2009 - 01:57:24pm

This year's Purpose Prize winners all have compelling stories to tell in these 10 short videos.

James Smallwood tears up when he tells the story of the woman who had her kids waiting in the car as she took a course at The Choice Is Yours, the hands-on training program he runs in the Philadelphia area. Eventually, Smallwood realized they were living in the car.

Retirement USA: Looking Beyond the 401(k)

10/20/2009 - 02:17:44pm

USA Today reports on the meeting today of Retirement USA, a coalition that is "working for a universal, secure, and adequate retirement system to supplement Social Security."