California's Aging Opportunity
Resources — Organizations & Special Initiatives
The following organizations and initiatives are working on issues and ideas to engage more older adults in community service and volunteering:
AARP
AARP is a national nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization dedicated to improving life for people ages 50 and over. AARP promotes community service and volunteering for its members.
American Society on Aging's Civic Engagement Program
The American Society on Aging's Civic Engagement Program advances discussion of civic engagement within the field of aging and fosters best practices for professionals that relate to older adults as a social and economic asset for the benefit of society. Recently, ASA's journal Generations featured an examination of the past, present, and possible future role civic engagement can play in later life.
Bridgestar
Bridgestar, an initiative of the Bridgespan Group, is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to developing leadership in the nonprofit sector in order to increase its effectiveness and social impact.
Center for Intergenerational Learning
The Center for Intergenerational Learning at Temple University is a national resource for intergenerational programming.
Civic Ventures
Civic Ventures is a national nonprofit organization that advances ideas and initiatives to help society achieve the greatest return on experience of older adults. Its Web site provides in-depth information on current trends.
Corporation for National and Community Service
Corporation for National and Community Service is an independent federal agency dedicated to improve lives, strengthen communities, and foster civic engagement through service and volunteering. The Corporation operates Senior Corps, which includes a set of national service programs specifically geared to older adults. It also operates AmeriCorps and Learn and Serve America - programs that provide opportunities for a wide range of Americans, including older adults.
Experience Corps
Experience Corps is a signature program of Civic Ventures that engages people over 55 in meeting their communities' greatest challenges.
Experience Wave
Experience Wave is a project supported by The Atlantic Philanthropies that advances federal and state policies that will make it easier for mid-life and older adults to stay engaged in work and community life.
Generations United
Generations United is a national organization focused on improving the lives of children, youth, and older people through intergenerational strategies, programs, and public policies.
Harvard School of Public Health-MetLife Foundation Initiative on Retirement and Civic Engagement
This initiative, sponsored by the Harvard School of Public Health's Center for Health Communication and funded by the MetLife Foundation, is working to change public attitudes toward aging and motivate boomers and retirees to engage in community service.
Independent Sector
Independent Sector is a national coalition working to strengthening nonprofits, philanthropy and citizen action. The organization publishes reports on the volunteer and charitable activities of older adults.
National Academy on an Aging Society's Civic Engagement in an Older America Project
The Academy is a non-partisan public policy institute and is a division of the Gerontological Society of America. The five-year Civic Engagement in an Older America project seeks to advance research, practice, and policy that support older adults as a civic resource.
National Council on Aging's RespectAbility Project
RespectAbility is a collaborative initiative designed to help community organizations and decision makers find ways to empower the growing population of older Americans to use their abilities, experience and energy to help address community problems through volunteer work and employment.
Points of Light Foundation 50+ Volunteering Initiative
The Points of Light Foundation is a national nonprofit organization committed to engaging people more effectively in volunteer community service. The 50+ Volunteering Initiative intends to help build the expertise and capacity of individuals and organizations to mobilize older adult volunteers.
Purpose Prize
The Purpose Prize is a three-year initiative of Civic Ventures to identify and invest in older social innovators working for the greater good. It is funded by Atlantic Philanthropies and the John Templeton Foundation.
Resource Center on Aging, University of California, Berkeley
The Resource Center on Aging is the coordinating mechanism for activities in aging on the UC Berkeley campus, and a clearinghouse for information on aging activities both on and off campus.
Senior Corps
A program of the Corporation for National and Community Service, Senior Corps is the umbrella for three large federally-funded programs - Foster Grandparents, Senior Companions, and RSVP (Retired and Senior Volunteer Program). The first two provide stipended service opportunities for low-income older adults; the third (RSVP) coordinates and facilitates the unpaid older volunteers.
SeniorNet
SeniorNet is a national nonprofit organization that provides older adults education for and access to computer technologies to enhance their lives and enable them to share their knowledge and wisdom.
The Urban Institute's Retirement Project
The Urban Institute is a nonpartisan economic and social policy research organization. The Retirement Project focuses on assessing how retirement policies, demographic conditions, and private sector practices influence older Americans.
White House Conference on Aging
The last White House Conference on Aging took place in late 2005 and resulted in recommendations to the President and Congress to help guide national aging policies for the next ten years and beyond.