Apr 22, 2008
ENCORE AGENDA: Opportunities for national and community service
A growing coalition of organizations is seeking to overcome recent legislative setbacks to win federal support to increase national service opportunities and incentives for older adults, reports the Chronicle of Philanthropy..
The GIVE Act, a bill that would have extended national service programs, H.R. 5563, recently missed the required two-thirds majority in the House by a single vote. But the strong bipartisan support shows “there’s the beginning of serious interest,” said John Gomperts, president of Civic Ventures.
Legislation proposed by Experience Wave, an ally of Civic Ventures, would allow older volunteers to deduct the value of their charitable work from their income taxes, help charities develop systems for managing unpaid older workers, support lifelong-learning programs through community college and senior centers, and help train people in midlife to go into public service.
Gomperts told writer Suzanne Perry that advocates are hoping to persuade lawmakers to shift focus from the current negative emphasis on Social Security and health care costs to the positive contributions of older Americans.
He said the movement is looking for a strong political leader, “somebody in the federal system, a new president or a member of Congress, who gets passionate about this issue and sees the opportunities to engage this generation, someone who says, ‘We have to do something big and bold; we’d be crazy to let it go.’”
Groups are also using the Older Americans Act as a vehicle for boosting civic engagement projects during the coming fiscal year.
Camp Fire USA, Easter Seals, Experience Wave, Generations United, Lutheran Services in America and Youth Service America, lost their battle last year to get Congress to allocate about $10 million for grants to organizations that would create opportunities for older people to work on multigenerational projects and other activities to meet critical community needs.
This year they’re hoping Congress will award about $9 million for continuing service grants to people age 55 and older, national service programs and other measures.
Among the specific proposals they are pushing are “Silver Scholarships,” which are supported by President Bush, and provide a $1,000 education voucher to older Americans provide 500 hours of national or community service.
Separately, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, also reports that “States Seek to Tap Into Growing Resource: Older Volunteers,” highlighting the progress that some states are making in keeping older Americans involved in meaningful work.
The Chronicle’s Regeneration section, offers articles and resources to help experienced adults get involved in nonprofit and civic activities.
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National and Community Service
What we really need is to look at all the different players that need to be at the table to make this work and invite them to play. We need to look at civic and national service work in a different way—free it from what has been done in the past and take a bit from private and public areas to create truly meaningful work.
We need a head hunting or search firm or innovative workforce alliance group to take the lead in building a database and training opportunities/needs
We need colleges/jr.colleges/comm.colleges to build classes and training and alliances with business/nfp/civic organizations to provide talent and community for experienced learners.
We need to find a way for folks to have skin in the game—-so the work to be done must be meaningful and have repercussions if not done but yet align with the flexibility of boomers to fulfill their myriad of psychic and physical needs.
The work that needs to be done in the next two decades—to preserve our world and our economy and our own peace of mind cannot be accomplished unless we redefine the roles of private, public and nfps.
Since we seem to have trouble creating magic in a small container, ie community, and ramping it up to larger scale, maybe we should work on this at multiple layers—big city, national entity, little town, one block, one building etc.