“In real estate, I just helped rich guys get richer. Now, I help people get a life,” said Larry Sykes, one of several individuals featured in “Baby boomers find meaning in ‘encore careers’ at nonprofit groups” in today’s Dallas Morning News.

Writer Bob Moos reports that approximately 1.1 million boomers have left corporate jobs to work in the nonprofit world and that many more will follow. “We’re seeing the beginnings of a large workforce for social change,” Phyllis Segal, vice president of Civic Ventures, which publishes Encore.org, told Moos,

How might we … do something we really love?

Encore.org members Howard and Marika Stone have a provocative post on their 2Young2Retire blog, describing the power of asking questions that begin, “How might I (or we)...” And they suggest it might be a useful exercise for people contemplating the next stage in their life journey.

“These three little words suggest that there is always an answer even if it is not immediately apparent,” the Stones write. “It’s a radical, mind-opening approach that costs nothing and can lead to big breakthroughs.”

Austin Polytechnical Academy in Chicago will welcome 258 students this fall in its high-tech manufacturing training program — a triumph at what was one of the city’s most violence-scarred schools.

The academy is also a triumph for Dan Swinney, a former machinist who helped create the new school within the public school system in 2007. The academy is intended to deliver a “two-fer”: help for beleaguered manufacturing firms and an economic jolt to struggling communities.

Rusine Mitchell Sinclair left a 25-year career at IBM last year “to bring my experiences as an IBM executive to thousands of girls across North Carolina.”

Now, IBM is helping other executives and managers follow Sinclair to the nonprofit sector. The Financial Times calls IBM’s program a “Retirement Plan with a Difference.”

“I want an encore career, but how do I find one?” That’s a question asked by many members of Encore.org.

Kerry Hannon talked with Marc Freedman of Civic Ventures and other experts in midlife career planning for “Six Tips on Planning a Second Career” in the latest issue of U.S. News and World Report.

Freedman, author of Encore: Finding Work That Matters in the Second Half of Life, said few people start a second career purely for the money. “They’re searching for work that is fulfilling and gets them out of bed in the morning,” he told Hannon.

At age 67, traveling, reading and tennis aren’t enough for Simon Lazarus. “I like to go to the theater and do other things, but I do have one serious focus. I feel that’s better than puttering around the house,” he says.

For a good portion of each week, he works as a public policy counsel for the National Senior Citizens Law Center (NSCLC) in Washington, D.C., on legal and public issues of importance to older Americans. He is motivated by a desire to counteract what he says are “the evident efforts of somewhat conservative justices to find back-door ways of undermining progressive federal laws” that protect the rights of older citizens.

Finding employers that value older workers can be a challenge. But today AARP introduced a job search engine powered by RetirementJobs.com that lists openings posted by “age friendly certified employers.”

The portal at www.aarp.org/jobs locates part-time, full-time and flex-time positions by keyword and location. Searches can be targeted within a radius of up to 50 miles. To be certified as age friendly, employers must maintain policies, practices and programs consistent with employing people age 50 and older based solely on their proficiency, qualifications and contribution.

A growing number of boomers are choosing encore careers with the Peace Corps. Spokeswoman Josie Duckett says in USA Today that applications of those age 50 and older have increased 50 percent since it launched a campaign targeting boomers last September.

Part of the appeal of the Peace Corps is that it was established by President John F. Kennedy, who was a role model for many boomers in their youth. The current campaign directed at boomers is called “Still Asking What You Can Do for Your Country?”

Loyci Stockey, 64, who recently left Seattle to start a Peace Corps assignment in Uganda, told USA Today that she never forgot JFK’s message when she heard it during high school. “I tucked it away in the back of my head to act on someday,” she said. “Today is my someday.”

Experienced workers in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area are following in the footsteps of Al Gore and Bono in transitioning to encore careers, reports Debra O’Connor in “Baby Boomers Pursue Encore Jobs” on TwinCities.com.

Like the former vice president-turned-environmentalist and U2 musician who now works as an anti-poverty activist, Minnesota residents are embracing careers that provide personal satisfaction and help improve their communities.

After working for 20 years in the field of nuclear medicine, Sharon Burns decided to take some time off so she could volunteer in school alongside her son, who had some learning issues. Little did she know that the experience would lead to her encore career.