Millions of people are living out a distinct and compelling vision of work in the second half of life, and thousands of them are part of Encore Nation. This is the group where Encore.org members can interact with the whole community, introduce themselves, post general comments, make suggestions about the site and share news.
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READY TO LEAD? Intergenerational alliances for nonprofit leadership
03/07/2008 - 02:35:51pm
First, the good news. There are plenty of young, ambitious and talented people eager and ready, or almost ready, to take leadership roles in the nonprofit sector.
The large pipeline of younger leaders should help mitigate fears that organizations that provide crucial services and social support could be crippled by a “leadership deficit” in the next decade as members of the baby boom generation change gears, according to a new report conducted by CompassPoint Nonprofit Services, Idealist.org, the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation.
Now, the bad news. Many of those potential leaders are leaving the nonprofit sector because of pay, long hours and what they perceive as limited chances for training and promotion, according to the report, “Ready to Lead? Next Generation Leaders Speak Out.”
- by: Terry Nagel | More >
GENERATIONAL CHALLENGE: 10 million person-years of talent and experience
03/04/2008 - 03:51:17pm
Marc Freedman, author of Encore: Finding Work That Matters in the Second Half of Life.
Baby boomers know and fear that they are part of the first generation in American history in danger of leaving the world worse than they found it, writes Marc Freedman in the lead editorial in the March 3 issue of The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
"At the same time, the nation — and the world — today face serious problems that need to be reversed in the three or four decades the boomers have left," says Freedman. "Our challenges in education, poverty, health, and the environment all require a massive infusion of human capital, experience and ingenuity.
- by: Terry Nagel | More >
DAY CARE AT THE RACES: A techie's encore
03/03/2008 - 04:00:55pm
Stuart Chenkin raises funds to provide day care for children of backstretch workers at Belmont Park.
Stuart Chenkin hadn’t planned on resuming work so quickly. At age 67, he was enjoying his retirement after a long career in the computer industry. Then his wife, Donna, asked him to fill in for a missing worker. Before he knew it, he was hooked.
- by: Jenny Griffin | More >
FROM COMBAT TO CLASSROOM: Ex-Marine Teaches Special Ed
02/29/2008 - 03:38:01pm
Bill Mimiaga, a former Marine drill sergeant, says it was "easy" to transition from training new recruits to teaching children.
A retired Marine Corps major who now teaches in San Diego is featured on CBS-2 in Los Angeles as an example of the growing trend of retiring boomers who are launching second careers as teachers.
In the TV news story, Major Bill Mimiaga is shown teaching special education students at Stevens Middle School in Long Beach. The decorated combat veteran transitioned to the classroom through a federal program called “Troops to Teachers” and was named the organization’s “Teacher of the Year” for 2006.
- by: Terry Nagel | More >
ENCORE COLLEGES: Back to school for Broward boomers
02/28/2008 - 02:36:24pm
As interest in encore careers increases, a community college in South Florida has launched a counseling program aimed at older residents who want to do “purpose-driven” work.
In an article distributed by Tribune Media Services, Jerry Enloe of Broward Community College in Fort Lauderdale, says the three-hour “Encore” seminar is attracting a “real mix” of mature adults: “We’re seeing a lot of people who may be stressed out with their current jobs or were downsized. Others just don’t want to quit working and are looking to try something new or give back to the community through volunteering. Some boomers are retiring and realizing that it doesn’t work financially, or they just want to stay busy.”
The program is one of 10 funded through a Community College Encore Career Project of Civic Ventures, which is working to redefine the second half of life as an opportunity to do meaningful work.
- by: Terry Nagel | More >
CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: Experience Corps makes 'significant difference'
02/27/2008 - 02:27:27pm
The value of one-on-one mentors in schools was the subject of a panel discussion featuring, l. to r., Kim Glodek of EducationWorks, Jessica Graham of Citizen Schools, Ayanna Rutherford of Sports4Kids, Shirley Sagawa of Center for American Progress, Stephanie Wu of City Year and John Gomperts of Experience Corps and Civic Ventures.
The Washington, D.C., think tank Center for American Progress is calling for the expansion of Experience Corps and other national service programs that help struggling students and schools.
The preliminary results of CAP's study indicate that groups receiving federal AmeriCorps funding make "a significant difference building a positive environment for learning, help students achieve," and represent "a cost effective way to improve the quality of education and supplement overworked teachers."
- by: Sarah Priestman | More >
SERVICE FIRST: Schwarzenegger creates nation's first cabinet post for community service
02/26/2008 - 02:51:14pm
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is helping expand pathways to encore careers by creating a high-level position devoted to community service.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger raised the profile of community service in California service, naming a Secretary of Service and Volunteering, the first such cabinet-level post in the country.
Schwarzenegger's move is part of a growing movement to expand national and community service. Such opportunities can be valuable pathways to encore careers, enabling individuals to try out new ways to put their talent and experience to work before making long-term commitments.
“I want to move civic engagement to the highest levels of state government,” the governor said at a press conference at California State University at Northridge.
- by: Terry Nagel | More >
ELDER CARE ANGUISH: Trying Experience Turns Into Second Career
02/25/2008 - 03:01:32pm
Julie Groshens is launching an Elder Care Expo in St. Paul, Minn., to make it easier to explore options for aging relatives.
Frustration with patching together care for her aging mother prompted one baby boomer to start a second job bringing together elder-care resources in one venue.
- by: Terry Nagel | More >
ARIZONA REPUBLIC: Tailoring Content to Boomers
02/22/2008 - 03:28:43pm
Jean Colfer is profiled on the 'Boomers' page in The Mesa Republic.
A “Boomers” section has debuted in an Arizona newspaper, providing a forum for experienced workers to connect with one another and get involved.
Meanwhile, in another section of the paper, readers are carrying out a lively exchange about whether boomers are ready to hand the torch to the next generation.
- by: Terry Nagel | More >
States Tapping Boomers' Skills
02/22/2008 - 07:41:18am
A front-page story in USA Today features a new policy paper from Civic Ventures that describes new state policies and programs to engage experienced adults in meaningful work and community service.
“The most interesting and innovative policy work on the aging of America is taking place at the state level," said John Gomperts, president of Civic Ventures, a nonprofit think tank that issued the report. "From Sacramento to Annapolis, state legislatures are shifting the focus from the same old doom and gloom scenario to a much more complex and hopeful picture.”
- by: David Bank | More >
SHERRY LANSING ON HUFFINGTON POST: 60 is the new 60
02/21/2008 - 03:18:48pm
"We're young and we're healthy," Sherry Lansing, the former head of Paramount Pictures, writes in an item on today's Huffington Post. "The question is, how will we spend our time?"
"If we are, as the saying goes, defined by our work, then I want my work to really mean something," Lansing says. "To me, the second half of life is the time to plow experience, skills, time, and compassion into work that gives back."
- by: David Bank | More >
IN MEMORIAM: SARA GONZALEZ, ADVOCATE FOR HISPANIC ENTREPRENEURS
02/19/2008 - 12:34:23pm
Sara Gonzalez, a 2007 Purpose Prize Winner, died unexpectedly yesterday in her adopted hometown of Atlanta, Georgia.
Gonzalez, 72, was selected from among more than 1,000 nominees to win a $10,000 Purpose Prize for her breakthroughs as President and CEO of the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. During her tenure, she incubated hundreds of Hispanic businesses, all after she turned 60, in a tremendously fruitful encore career.
- by: Alexandra Kent | More >
WALL STREET JOURNAL: Purpose Prize Innovators Tell Their Stories
02/19/2008 - 12:16:34pm
Winners of the Purpose Prize tell how they got involved in life-changing work in the February 16 "Encore" section of The Wall Street Journal. The Purpose Prizes are awarded annually by Civic Ventures, publisher of Encore.org.
- by: Terry Nagel | More >
ENCORE BOOK CLUB: Retire Retirement
02/19/2008 - 11:57:31am
We're looking forward to this new book from Harvard Business School Press, which expands on Tamara Erickson's excellent 2004 article in the Harvard Business Review.
From the advance promotional material:
"Good news: there is no need to retire. There is no need to pack up your desk or attend one more retirement party. Why? With the widening gap between the number of workers and the demand for talent, employers are looking to keep smart, productive workers in the workplace. The growing talent shortage will allow you to re-negotiate your relationship with "work."
- by: David Bank | More >
GARDENERS FOUNDATION: Growing the next generation
02/15/2008 - 05:43:07pm
Catalino Tapia. Photo by Terry Nagel/Civic Ventures.
Catalino Tapia, 63, crossed the border from Mexico in 1964 with $6 in his pocket. In 1982, he started his own gardening business. For his encore, he is gathering his fellow gardeners together in the Bay Area Gardeners Foundation to help dozens of low-income students go to college.
The idea for the foundation came to him while he watched his son accept a diploma from Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley. Beaming with pride, he thought: What can I do to help other students go to college?
- by: Terry Nagel | More >
ENCORPS TEACHERS: Seeking career-switchers to teach math and science
02/14/2008 - 09:01:00pm
The EnCorps Teachers Initiative kicked off a campaign to help career-switching baby boomers from a dozen companies become math and science teachers.
The innovative program hopes to place 200 new teachers in California classrooms this September. Applications are due by March 14.
The public-private partnership, announced last June by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sherry Lansing, former chair of Paramount Pictures, is intended to help address the need for an estimated 33,000 math and science teachers in California over the next decade.
- by: Terry Nagel | More >
ENERGY ENCORES: Oil and gas vets go green
02/11/2008 - 04:42:29pm
Richard Haut left the oil industry to join a nonprofit working on environmental sustainability.
A growing number of energy industry veterans "are reinventing themselves as protectors of the earth," The Wall Street Journal reports.
"They are taking what they learned in the oil and gas fields and using it to develop and push greener drilling and production technologies," writes Isabel Ordonez. "Some have formed their own companies for that purpose, while others have joined environmental nonprofits."
The emergence of green encore careers in the energy industry is the result of the intersection of two trends -- the industry's large number of baby boomer engineers and others who are nearing traditional retirement age with a passion for continued contribution; and a change in the perception of environmentalism as issues like climate change and energy security come to the fore.
- by: David Bank | More >
MARC FREEDMAN IN THE NEW YORK TIMES: Second Acts in Sustained Working Lives
02/11/2008 - 11:13:21am
A fitness trainer at the YMCA in Rochester, New York.
Marc Freedman challenged employers to invest in older adults who want meaningful work in the second half of their lives.
"Employers need to recognize, particularly those facing talent shortages, that there is more than one place to look when filling these gaps," Freedman says in an interview in today’s online edition of The New York Times. "While many young people have an enormous amount to offer, there is another vast and growing pool of talent and commitment.
"And employers need to correct some misconceptions," he told reporter Marci Alboher. "They often assume that people in their 50s and 60s have one foot out the door. But an accumulation of evidence supports the fact that turnover is less with this population than with young people. So it is worth investing in these individuals."
- by: Terry Nagel | More >
AARP FOUNDATION: New center to champion nursing in America
02/08/2008 - 05:00:27pm
Each year nursing schools turn away thousands of qualified applicants because they don’t have enough skilled faculty members to teach them. By 2020, the American health care system is expected to face a shortage of more than one million nurses.
Trying to expand the pipeline, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has awarded a $10 million grant to the AARP Foundation to pursue an aggressive agenda to elevate the visibility of the nursing shortage.
- by: Terry Nagel | More >
JIM GIBBS: Teaching a love of reading
02/08/2008 - 12:04:36pm
Jim Gibbs and Eugene Jennings. Photo by Pauline Lubens/Mercury News.
It's not every third grader who gets a Stanford professor of cultural anthropology as his personal tutor.
Eugene Jennings, eight years old, is lucky to have James Lowell Gibbs, Jr., helping him improve his reading. "This is their second year together, and they have developed a comfortable rapport that resembles a friendship more than it does a teacher-student relationship," writes San Jose Mercury News reporter Jeff Thomas in an article headlined, "Learning a Love of Reading.".
- by: David Bank | More >
