Whether they know it or not, the BreakThrough Award winners are at the vanguard of a rare historical opportunity: They are helping to invent a new stage of life. That might
sound grand, but consider this: Life stages involve physical realities, of course, as people are born, develop, grow, and age, and stages are solidified by family patterns such as
parenting or grandparenting. But life stages are also social constructions, based on our collective expectations for what people should be doing at various ages (“adolescence” is a recent invention) and what opportunities they have to contribute. Assumptions about age-appropriate behavior go far beyond physical capacity.

The aging of America represents a demographic shift of massive proportions. With an elongated lifespan and healthy aging, today’s and tomorrow’s maturing Americans will often enjoy two or three productive decades of life following the time that social convention once identified as “retirement.” What will be our definition of this stage of life? Will it be a second childhood of leisure and self-indulgence, as depicted in commercials for cruises and theme parks or envisioned by developers of golf resorts? Or will it be a time for service, for giving back, as so many Americans indicate on surveys that they want it to be?

Does advancing age mean an end to learning, so that new knowledge and innovative thinking must come from the young? Or can learning truly be life-long, as boomers match experience to new opportunities and seek “encore careers,” in Marc Freedman’s felicitous term? Will maturing adults be thought of only as needy recipients of services, consuming societal resources? Or can they be seen as givers of services, providing additional human resources to improve communities?

These questions can represent false choices, as the BreakThrough Award winners make clear. For example, organizations such as the Allied Coordinated Transportation Services and the Nursing Home Ombudsman Agency of the Bluegrass provide peer-to-peer services, showing that needs and solutions co-exist among mature Americans. As the pool of elderly needing services expands, so does the pool of healthy elder peers available to help, whether as their advocates in nursing homes or their drivers in rural neighborhoods.

Another winner, Cleveland Metroparks, shows that outdoor experiences without golf clubs can co-exist with productive work. And health systems, like Leesburg Regional Medical Center and The Villages Regional Hospital, demonstrate the value of keeping experienced care providers, who can refresh their knowledge at any age.

Civic Ventures, home of the BreakThrough Award, is dedicated to the proposition that the new later-stage of adult life should be defined by social purpose work. That’s why this award focuses on nonprofit organizations and how they might ride the wave to improve their own ability to serve.

For full report on the MetLife Foundation/Civic Ventures BreakThrough Award, see attached PDF.