New York Times: Sharpening Your Mind in Midlife
01/31/2012 - 02:15:13pm
If you're thinking about going back to school, consider this: “For those in midlife and beyond, a college degree appears to slow the brain’s aging process by up to a decade, adding a new twist to the cost-benefit analysis of higher education – for young students as well as those thinking about returning to school.”
So says a recent New York Times article, which makes the case that education in the encore years boosts mental agility.
- by: Michele Melendez | More >
(NOTE: The number of community college programs that help boomers prepare for encore careers for the greater good will grow dramatically, thanks to this news from the American Association of Community Colleges and the Deerbrook Charitable Trust.)
WASHINGTON – Baby boomers have struggled since 2007 in a job market plagued by record unemployment. Now they can train for meaningful jobs that improve communities and get back to work, thanks to a $3.2 million grant over three years to the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) provided by the Deerbrook Charitable Trust.
Working Past 50 Can Bring More Satisfaction
01/20/2012 - 07:26:01am
If you’re over 50, chances are that continuing to work – and being truly engaged in what you do – will boost your well-being.
Researchers at the Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College found that people 50 and older are more likely than younger adults to feel more deeply engaged in paid work, volunteering and education.
- by: Michele Melendez | More >
The folks at the Southwest Initiative Foundation in Minnesota had a hunch. The population it served was aging, and those older than 55 were hardest hit by the recession. So the foundation, which makes microloans and counsels new business owners, began to target encore entrepreneurs. One such entrepreneur is 2011 Purpose Prize fellow Andy Wells, who helps Native Americans and their neighbors train for factory jobs. The prize honors social entrepreneurs 60 and older.
Fast Company: Encore Fellowship Suits Career Shifter
01/11/2012 - 07:42:21am
The decades-long career is in decline. And for many, that’s a good thing.
“Tacking swiftly from job to job and field to field, learning new skills all the while, resembles the pattern that increasingly defines our careers,” writes Anya Kamenetz in Fast Company magazine.
How swiftly?
According to federal statistics, as of 2010, the median number of years U.S. workers had been in their jobs was 4.4 years.
- by: Michele Melendez | More >
Larry Hara, 56, an engineer at Intel in Cupertino, Calif., isn't ready to retire, but he wants a break from his high-pressure job. Like many boomers, he wants to use his talents to make a difference. Hara will get a chance to take that step without walking off a cliff. In conjunction with Civic Ventures, Intel will match interested workers with nonprofits, where they'll work for six months to a year. Intel retirees admitted to the Encore Fellowship program will get a $25,000 stipend and health insurance.
Purpose Prize fellow Andy Harris is finding fulfillment in his encore career. He developed a college course designed to give U.S. medical professionals a chance to provide care in poor countries overseas. It also enables them to provide care locally – in free medical clinics for the uninsured where course participants volunteer one evening per week.
In this video, Lyle Hurst – network developer for the Encore Fellowships Network – discusses how Civic Ventures started the Encore Fellows program with support from the David and Lucille Packard Foundation and Hewlett-Packard. Encore Fellows generally have spent the majority of their careers in the private sector; the network matches the fellows with a nonprofit organization, government agency or private firm with a social purpose.
Nine million Americans between ages 44 and 70 are in encore careers, up from roughly 8 million in 2008, according to Civic Ventures. Encore careers are attractive options in the United States and Canada, where boomers approaching retirement face pension shortfalls and longer life expectancies. (This article also ran in the Canadian publication Money.)
