ELDER CARE ANGUISH: Trying Experience Turns Into Second Career

02/25/2008 - 03:01:32pm

Julie Groshens is launching an Elder Care Expo in St. Paul, Minn., to make it easier to explore options for aging relatives.

Frustration with patching together care for her aging mother prompted one baby boomer to start a second job bringing together elder-care resources in one venue.

ARIZONA REPUBLIC: Tailoring Content to Boomers

02/22/2008 - 03:28:43pm

Jean Colfer is profiled on the 'Boomers' page in The Mesa Republic.

A “Boomers” section has debuted in an Arizona newspaper, providing a forum for experienced workers to connect with one another and get involved.

Meanwhile, in another section of the paper, readers are carrying out a lively exchange about whether boomers are ready to hand the torch to the next generation.

States Tapping Boomers' Skills

02/22/2008 - 07:41:18am

A front-page story in USA Today features a new policy paper from Civic Ventures that describes new state policies and programs to engage experienced adults in meaningful work and community service.

“The most interesting and innovative policy work on the aging of America is taking place at the state level," said John Gomperts, president of Civic Ventures, a nonprofit think tank that issued the report. "From Sacramento to Annapolis, state legislatures are shifting the focus from the same old doom and gloom scenario to a much more complex and hopeful picture.”

SHERRY LANSING ON HUFFINGTON POST: 60 is the new 60

02/21/2008 - 03:18:48pm

"We're young and we're healthy," Sherry Lansing, the former head of Paramount Pictures, writes in an item on today's Huffington Post. "The question is, how will we spend our time?"

"If we are, as the saying goes, defined by our work, then I want my work to really mean something," Lansing says. "To me, the second half of life is the time to plow experience, skills, time, and compassion into work that gives back."

WALL STREET JOURNAL: Purpose Prize Innovators Tell Their Stories

02/19/2008 - 12:16:34pm

Winners of the Purpose Prize tell how they got involved in life-changing work in the February 16 "Encore" section of The Wall Street Journal. The Purpose Prizes are awarded annually by Civic Ventures, publisher of Encore.org.

ENCORE BOOK CLUB: Retire Retirement

02/19/2008 - 11:57:31am

We're looking forward to this new book from Harvard Business School Press, which expands on Tamara Erickson's excellent 2004 article in the Harvard Business Review.

From the advance promotional material:

"Good news: there is no need to retire. There is no need to pack up your desk or attend one more retirement party. Why? With the widening gap between the number of workers and the demand for talent, employers are looking to keep smart, productive workers in the workplace. The growing talent shortage will allow you to re-negotiate your relationship with "work."

ENERGY ENCORES: Oil and gas vets go green

02/11/2008 - 04:42:29pm

Richard Haut left the oil industry to join a nonprofit working on environmental sustainability.

A growing number of energy industry veterans "are reinventing themselves as protectors of the earth," The Wall Street Journal reports.

"They are taking what they learned in the oil and gas fields and using it to develop and push greener drilling and production technologies," writes Isabel Ordonez. "Some have formed their own companies for that purpose, while others have joined environmental nonprofits."

The emergence of green encore careers in the energy industry is the result of the intersection of two trends -- the industry's large number of baby boomer engineers and others who are nearing traditional retirement age with a passion for continued contribution; and a change in the perception of environmentalism as issues like climate change and energy security come to the fore.

AARP FOUNDATION: New center to champion nursing in America

02/08/2008 - 05:00:27pm

Each year nursing schools turn away thousands of qualified applicants because they don’t have enough skilled faculty members to teach them. By 2020, the American health care system is expected to face a shortage of more than one million nurses.

Trying to expand the pipeline, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has awarded a $10 million grant to the AARP Foundation to pursue an aggressive agenda to elevate the visibility of the nursing shortage.

JIM GIBBS: Teaching a love of reading

02/08/2008 - 12:04:36pm

Jim Gibbs and Eugene Jennings. Photo by Pauline Lubens/Mercury News.

It's not every third grader who gets a Stanford professor of cultural anthropology as his personal tutor.

Eugene Jennings, eight years old, is lucky to have James Lowell Gibbs, Jr., helping him improve his reading. "This is their second year together, and they have developed a comfortable rapport that resembles a friendship more than it does a teacher-student relationship," writes San Jose Mercury News reporter Jeff Thomas in an article headlined, "Learning a Love of Reading.".

Push for "encore accounts" gaining steam

01/31/2008 - 04:28:46pm

“Encore accounts” to finance individuals’ transition to their encore careers are getting increased attention from presidential candidates on the campaign trail.

To be fair, none of them are actually mentioning “encore careers” in their proposals, at least not yet. But the attention could spur support for incentives directly aimed at helping people prepare for work that matters in the second half of their lives.