Purpose Prize

Marc Freedman Portrait

The Latest from CoGenerate

New Survey Reveals Benefits of Older-Younger Tutoring Teams

New Survey Reveals Benefits of Older-Younger Tutoring Teams

For the past year, Ampact, with support from CoGenerate’s Generations Serving Together program, placed cogenerational pairs of AmeriCorps members in elementary schools. The older and younger adults worked side by side to improve students’ reading and math skills. A...

The Billionaire Who Gave Away His Fortune Took a Big Chance on Us

The Billionaire Who Gave Away His Fortune Took a Big Chance on Us

We at CoGenerate (formerly Encore.org) are mourning the loss of Chuck Feeney this week. Without Chuck's vision and generosity we likely would not exist as an organization. Twenty-five years ago Atlantic Philanthropies took a chance on our start-up, playing a...

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Ecleamus Ricks

Macon-Bibb County Health Department
Purpose Prize Fellow 2006

When Ecleamus Ricks retired from a career in public service, his intent was to relax and do some farming. But the social challenges surrounding him were too big to ignore.

When Ecleamus Ricks, 62, retired from a career in public service, his intent was to relax and do some farming. But the social challenges surrounding him in Macon, Georgia, were too big to ignore, and so in 1997 he joined the Macon-Bibb County Health Department as an administrator.Ricks used a comprehensive approach to address local poverty and its underlying contributing factors — teen pregnancy, health disparities, violence, and educational limitations. He designed the Resource Mothers and Fathers Outreach Program to provide education, referrals, and follow-up to help youth and adults improve physical, mental, educational, and socioeconomic outcomes for themselves and their families. Since 1997, the program has employed 45 people, all welfare recipients, saving an estimated $450,000 in public assistance. More than 9,000 youth and families have received health and social services, and the community has seen significant decreases in school absenteeism and discipline problems. Ricks also initiated a health department program providing dental care for the low-income and chronically ill and started a free summer camp for youth.