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Purpose Prize

Marc Freedman Portrait

The Latest from CoGenerate

Join the fight to save AmeriCorps

Join the fight to save AmeriCorps

AmeriCorps is in jeopardy.  Like so many other critical programs and services, AmeriCorps is at risk of being dismantled by DOGE, with programs shuttered and 85% of agency staff now on administrative leave.  As a result, nearly 40,000 communities across the nation may...

Can Intergenerational Connection Heal Us?

Can Intergenerational Connection Heal Us?

The problems of social isolation and loneliness have been well documented.  We know that too many Americans, particularly young adults and older ones, feel lonely too much of the time. We know how we got here – the decline in membership groups, civic and community...

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Jerry Conover

Hope for Generations
Purpose Prize Fellow 2006

Redirecting the resources of the oldest generation to help the youngest

To Jerry Conover, a retired trial lawyer and mediator, the Social Security checks he began receiving in his sixties were nice but not necessary. Financially secure, he, like many of his friends, had no real need for the government entitlement. The challenges facing America’s poorest children – particularly in health care and education – pushed Conover to act. In 2002, at age 68, Conover started Hope for Generations to provide adults who could afford it with a way to redirect a portion of their unneeded Social Security payments to an investment in the poor and marginalized, particularly children. Today those who choose to donate to Hope for Generations give all or part of their Social Security benefits, redirect pension payments, or simply donate from their bank accounts. Hope for Generations works with the Denver Foundation, which provides fund management and helps to select the groups that receive the donations. In three years, Hope for Generations has invested $250,000 in a total of 11 organizations serving the needs of the very young in the Denver and across the state of Colorado.