In 2017, when Encore and researchers from the Stanford Graduate School of Education were beginning the Pathways to Encore Purpose project, Anne Colby, a psychologist at the Stanford University Graduate School of Education who has studied purpose across the life cycle, interviewed Hanmin Liu, co-founder of Wildflowers Institute, who made connections to informal elder leaders from three diverse Bay Area communities. “The Power and Purpose of Informal Community Leaders,” tells the stories of these community leaders and illustrates how each exemplifies purpose beyond the self, reveals the joy they gain from this work for the common good, and shows how the commitments of individuals can help create shared collective purpose in their communities.

This paper will examine the meaningful roles that adults 50+ can play to help improve the quality of childcare for young children 0-5. It will show that intergenerational approaches to child care have the potential to create brighter futures for currently underserved youth; benefit older adults seeking purpose, income and connection; and unlock doors to economic prosperity for small business owners (mostly low-income women of color) currently running home-based and family childcare centers.

Aging and racial diversity – the two great demographic dramas at the root of much of today’s political divisiveness – can also become sources of economic vitality and national renewal, according to a new essay by Encore.org Senior Fellow, author and former Washington Post reporter Paul Taylor.

Topline results on interest in encore entrepreneurship from the 2011 Encore Careers Survey.

Jim Emerman reflects on the future of purposeful aging

In June 2014, the Stanford Center on Longevity, Encore.org and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation joined together to convene the “Pass it On” conference of national experts, to explore how experienced adults can play critical roles in the lives of our children and youth, and to elevate generativity as a norm for the second half of life. This monograph builds on the key recommendations that emerged from the “Pass it On” conference to propose practical strategies for engaging encore talent to meet the needs of youth. It explains what organizations and communities can do, and encourages leaders and individuals alike to support and join efforts to mobilize experienced adults to work with children and youth. Two demographics — children in need of support and adults with the time and inclination to step into roles that provide it — fit together like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

Generation War? In a year awash in political, racial and economic polarization, a nationwide survey by Encore.org has found that the American public values the interdependence of younger and older generations.

National service for encore-stage adults is a robust (and replenishing) human resource that can improve lives, communities and society, according to Shirley Sagawa and John Bridgeland, Service Year Alliance President/CEO and Vice-Chairman, respectively.

To better understand how Encore Fellows deliver impact in the organizations in which they serve (usually 1000 hours over a one-year period in stipended roles to improve organizational capacity, Jacquelyn James, Co-director of the Center on Aging & Work at Boston College, interviewed fellows, executive directors and other key staff at three organizations across the U.S. that worked on issues advancing the needs of children and youth. The study highlights commonalities among these three organizations in how bothfellows and the nonprofit leadership approached the fellowship, with exceptional impact for the organizations and fellows alike.

In 2015 Encore.org and six study partners surveyed nonprofit organizations that had used people in encore roles and asked about the kinds of impact they had observed and the personal characteristics of the individuals that might have contributed to that impact. The results – from volunteers to stipended roles, people in encores deliver unexpected types of impact across the board.