Want to know where your fellow boomers stand? On politics? On the economy? On social change?

The folks at the Pew Research Center – gearing up to welcome the first boomers to age 65 in the new year – have put together a collection of reports that use survey data to show what boomers are thinking.

When Mark Goldsmith agreed to serve as principal for a day in a local school, he never dreamed it would lead to spending many days behind bars in Rikers Island Jail.

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has gotten the message from his readers: changing the world is not just for young people.

“Seniors, dig out your anti-malaria mosquito netting now,” Kristof wrote in his Sunday column, in which he announced that for his fifth annual “Win-a-Trip Contest” he’ll for the first time take someone over 60 along with a college student.

Ed. Note: Here is feedback from Encore.org member Laura Westenkirchner on her difficulty in finding an encore career. Do you have any advice for her?

I have been through part of your website, and I agree with the premise that people are looking for meaningful employment at retirement or close to it, but I have my doubts about it happening.

Encore!Hartford, a Nonprofit Leadership Program offered by the University of Connecticut's Center for Continuing Studies, is accepting applications now through January 3, 2011, for the Spring 2011 class. Twenty-five Encore Fellows will be selected to participate in the highly competitive program, which is geared toward seasoned corporate and public service professionals seeking to transition into nonprofit sectors.

If you spend any time with David Bornstein, as I have been lucky to do recently, you will likely start thinking that the world is a place filled with altruistic people who dedicate their time and talents to fixing what’s wrong. As one of the leading experts on social entrepreneurship and social innovation, Bornstein, a senior fellow with Civic Ventures, has written three books and interviewed hundreds of leaders in the field.

Editor's Note: This opinion piece by Rosabeth Moss Kanter is from the Harvard Business Review, via Bloomberg.

Keep up with the latest news from Civic Ventures' Vice President, Michelle Hynes. Her current work focuses on encore careers in education and youth development and national service as a pathway to encore careers.

Civic Ventures announced Launch Pad today, an online contest to find five people with great ideas for transforming their community.

Check it out.

The rules are simple: Anyone 45 and over can enter. All people have to do is submit their idea online for improving their community by December 20. Civic Ventures will narrow down the list of submissions to 25 semifinalists, then the public will be able to vote for five winners starting in January.