It seems to me there are many opportunities for Boomers and elders to contribute to the fabric of our society--and still clear the way for career opportunities for those coming behind them.

My suggestion is to develop a Knowledge Corps similar in scope to the WPA in order to achieve knowledge transfer to benefit the public and private sector.

Boomers/elders have life experiences and successes to share. The need is great to feel needed, contributory and passing on gathered knowledge. And perhaps a way to earn a few bucks to supplement devastated IRA's and 401K's (for those fortunate enough to have them). What better way to make use of these life skills and desire to contribute than setting up a Knowledge Corps? What would the Knowledge (or Wisdom Corps) do?

Mentoring for small business incubation. Many elders have valuable know-how in running successful businesses from all different perspectives--marketing, accounting, administration, sales, R&R, technology, etc. There's already SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives), but I think there's a distinct need to greatly expand these helping-hand, knowledge-based organizations. Perhaps stipends and consulting fees could be paid to these business mentors.

Mentoring for latch-key kids as bridges between schools and parents. Helping tutor kids on literacy, math, science, history. With so many couples or single parents working one or two jobs to survive--or job-hunting to replace the lost job, we've created a large number of latch-key kids and over-worked, distracted parents. Could elders be employed and paid for their one-on-one mentoring of kids as education coaches?

Garden mentors. There's a huge interest in gardening among elders. Many have gone through the Master Gardener programs sponsored by Ag Departments. Could these skills be used to mentor kids and adults interested in community gardens--raising vegetables and flowers for private and public use? Lessons on composting, propagating, fertilization, organic practices.

Peace mentors. Personally, I have a compelling desire to be a peace keeper--to travel to places where we Americans have been viewed as the evil enemy and form alliances to show we're all the same--we're all in this together. I'm sure other Boomers/Elders share this desire to broker peace.

I could further expand on this, but I think you catch the drift? Boomers/Elders have a desire/need to contribute to society, to share their knowledge, and it would be very advantageous to society to utilize their skills and passion for positive change and public benefit.

Sincerely,

Pat Frank

aka SeaSage

Generally fine as far as it goes, which isn't very far.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/seniors_and_social_security/

David Bank
Editor, Encore.org

Hello David,
I am a big fan, and hope that you or someone would write about the counter argument, that will come up sooner or later. "What if older people do not retire?"

There are about 4 million 18 year old people and 3.5 million 62 year old people. If the 3.5 million 62 year old people do not retire and get out of the way, so to speak, our nation would need to create 3.5 million more jobs, just to break even. Add this to the recent millions of jobs lost and the goal for the Obama administration will need to double.

I am not a history expert, but I believe that the original intent of social security payments was just for humanitarian reasons to care for the elderly, but also to entice them to retire and get them out of way, so to speak. Unfortunately, social security payments do not cover the cost of living today, making the "bait" to retire a less feasible option for most. So perhaps the real issue is to create new ways for elders to live inexpensive lifestyles that enables them to contribute to society with encore careers?

What if we invested in new infrastructure on college campuses and created "university lifestyles" for those to prepare for those encores?