SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Civic Ventures, a think tank on boomers, work and social purpose, and MetLife Foundation awarded seven new grants today to seven community colleges helping adults over 50 prepare for encore careers in health and education.

An integral part of Civic Ventures’ Encore Colleges Initiative, the $25,000 grants seed innovative higher-education programs that identify social-purpose jobs available in the community –  such as teachers, adjunct college instructors, caregivers,and clinical nursing instructors – and prepare older adults to fill them.  Program innovations geared toward older students include flexible scheduling, intensive, fast-track programming, and courses on technology and social media.

While many job sectors are tight right now, recent studies by Northeastern University labor economist Barry Bluestone and others show that after the recession ends, there will likely be more health and education jobs than people to fill them, and that despite high unemployment, the health and education sectors continue to be in demand.

“This is a good time for older adults to train for the important public-service jobs of today and tomorrow,” said Dennis White, president and CEO of MetLife Foundation. “We commend these community colleges for having the foresight to offer training that matches the experience of older adults with new skill sets.”

To date, Civic Ventures and MetLife have partnered to award a total of 25 grants to a diverse group of community colleges nationwide.  The seven grants awarded
today go to:

The Community College of the District of Columbia (Washington,
D.C.), which will offer an  eight-week program training older adults as “community living support professionals” who work with adults with physical, developmental or age-related disabilities in a variety of settings.  Classroom instruction will be augmented with hands-on learning, networking and an employer job fair.

Florida State College at Jacksonville, which will adapt existing
programs to provide fast-track certification, customized support and job placement assistance suited to the needs of older adults who want to become home-based and community-based health care assistants.

Middlesex Community College (Bedford, Mass.), which will offer a semester-long certificate program to train people for adjunct teaching jobs in developmental English, math and clinical nursing at Massachusetts community colleges.

Northampton Community College (Bethlehem, Pa.), which will
train older adults to become home health aides, nurse’s aides and home care aides by providing a 100-hour training course designed to help older adults learn more about technology, ergonomic safety and customer service.

Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City, which will train 40
retiring business professionals as Developmental Studies instructors helping students who are underprepared for college  improve their reading, writing or math skills. Instruction for the adult educators will include courses on working with a range of diverse students, learning classroom management skills and using social networking.

Polk State College (Winter Haven, Fla.), which will help people over 50 with bachelor’s degrees become teachers by adding individual mentoring, computer training, peer support programs and math instruction to an existing K-12 alternative teacher certification program.

Westchester Community College (Valhalla, N.Y.), which will offer a 60-hour curriculum for primary care nurses who want to become clinical nursing instructors. The pilot "Nursing Encore Career Center" program will train veteran nurses to supervise students in a wide range of health care settings.

“Too many experienced workers are trying to figure out what’s next without help, support or retraining,” said Judy Goggin, vice president
at Civic Ventures. “With help from these seed grants, community colleges are developing new approaches targeted just for boomers seeking jobs with meaning.”

For more information on labor projections in social sector jobs and emerging jobs in health and education, go to www.encore.org/research. For more information on previous Civic Ventures/MetLife Foundation grants to community colleges, go to www.encore.org/colleges.

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About Civic Ventures (www.encore.org)
Civic Ventures is a national think tank on boomers, work and social purpose.

MetLife Foundation (MetLife.org) was established in 1976 by MetLife to carry on its long-standing tradition of corporate contributions and community involvement. The Foundation has been involved in a variety of aging-related initiatives addressing issues of caregiving, intergenerational activities, mental fitness, health and wellness programs, and civic involvement.