The Voice of Experience
JULY-AUGUST 2007
in this issue
MEMBER PROFILE
still making change

Jeanne House, former credit union manager, Baltimore City

I joined Experience Corps because: I was working on a research project with the United Methodist Women to understand why children fail in school. One day a letter from AARP came, announcing the need for tutors in local schools. "Why is this coming to me?" I thought. I knew the right place for me was in the classroom, helping children to succeed.

The best part of tutoring is: Helping children to know that someone really cares. Children really do want to learn, even though some people say they don't. I know that if you let a child feel that someone really cares, they will learn.

I like to tell the story about: a young boy, Michael. He was very disruptive. He didn't want the other kids to know he was smart, which was part of why he made trouble. I always talked to him in a quiet voice. After a few weeks, when we sat together reading, he let his voice be quiet, too, and stayed at the table until we finished each book. I had to leave that school, and one day when I visited he put his arms around me and said, real gentlty, "I miss you so much, Miss House."

I'm sticking with Experience Corps because: I love it. If I am helping one child, I know that makes all the difference.

A Letter from the CEO
It's summer and my thoughts turn to...Baltimore. Let me explain.

First, former Oriole Cal Ripkin was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame last week. I always loved and admired Cal. But as great a player as Cal was, his encore career coaching kids is just as significant. "Games were and are important," he said in Cooperstown, "but people and how you impact them are most important...We should all try to make this world a better place for the next generation." Gotta love that...and the rest of Cal's speech. Check it out.

Thinking about Baltimore also takes me to the Experience Corps project there, now one of the biggest Experience Corps sites in the nation. In the last few years, the project has doubled in size to more than 300 members, working in 16 schools to help nearly 5,000 students succeed. As icing on the cake, the Johns Hopkins Center on Aging has produced exceptional research documenting the benefits of Experience Corps for students and for the Experience Corps members themselves.

And that brings me to Congressman John Sarbanes from Baltimore, who paid a visit last month to Experience Corps's national meeting. Before he was elected to Congress in 2006, Rep. Sarbanes worked for seven years as special assistant to the State Superintendent of Schools, serving as liaison to the Baltimore City Public Schools. So when the Congressman said, "Experience Corps members in Baltimore are serving students in ways that are unmatched," it meant a lot!

All that makes me glad Experience Corps members and Congressmen and women are getting a well-deserved recess. Wherever you are, I hope you, too, get to enjoy a short recess this summer. It won't be long before Experience Corps members will be back on the job, doing what Cal made famous—showing up day after day, doing their best to serve a bigger purpose.

Warm best wishes,

John S. Gomperts
jgomperts@experiencecorps.org

Cleveland Experience Corps Member Meets President Bush

Experience Corps member Gerris Farris met the President when Air Force One landed in Cleveland last month. She was chosen for her volunteering work—and she lobbied for the cause. "I'm going to ask him for much more money for books. Each child should have books to take home so they can do their homework," Farris said. "His concern should be my concern and my concern should be his concern, and our concern should be the children." Read more: NewsNet5.com or The Cleveland Plain-Dealer

Mandela Launches Global Elders

Former South African President Nelson R. Mandela recently launched the Global Elders to engage older leaders, including former President Jimmy Carter, former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, and human-rights activist and former Irish President Mary Robinson, in solving the world's most pressing problems. Mandela says he chose to use the term Elders not because of people's ages, "but because of their individual and collective wisdom. They do not have careers to build, elections to win, constituencies to please. They can talk to anyone they please, and are free to follow paths they deem right. We will work to support courage where there is fear, foster agreement where there is conflict and inspire hope where there is despair."

Experience Corps Affiliate Receives Gates Foundation Award

Metropolitan Family Service, the host to Experience Corps in Portland, Oregon, recently received a $150,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Experience Corps currently reaches more than 1,900 students in Portland. "This support will help us to identify, recruit and train volunteer leaders to help in Experience Corps, Portland," said Cindy Rapp, with Metropolitan Family Service.

Policymakers Look to Experience Corps

The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices invited several Civic Ventures staff to present at their National Policy Academy on Older Adult Civic Engagement, a gathering of 75 state policymakers from nine states (AL, AK, AZ, CO, FL, ME, NM, OH, and WY). Michelle Hynes, director of Experience Corps, and Phyllis Segal, director of the BreakThrough Awards, presented at a session entitled "Improving the Lives of Older Americans Through Civic Engagement." John Gomperts, Experience Corps CEO, spoke at the event's closing dinner. States benefit from volunteering and other types of engagement (like extended worklives and lifelong learning) because these activities reduce health care costs, increase tax revenues, and allow all generations to benefit from older adults' expertise.

Adults 55+ Want to Volunteer

Great Expectations The opportunity for "the right fit" has a direct impact on a nonprofit's ability to retain volunteers. And yet, more than half of all adults over age 55 who are interested in volunteering have trouble finding a fit, according to the recently released VolunteerMatch report, Great Expectations: Boomers and the Future of Volunteering. The report recommends nonprofits recruit online, as this allows potential volunteers to self-select for time, interest and activity. VolunteerMatch is a free, nonprofit online service that showcases national volunteer opportunities. "We're trying to do for volunteering what eBay did for garage sales - make it easier to find what you're looking for," said Greg Baldwin, the organization's president. The report was funded by the Atlantic Philanthropies and the MetLife Foundation, and was recently featured in the Wall St Journal.

Message to Nonprofits: Experience Needed

Boomers are Ready for Nonprofits, But are Nonprofits Ready for Them? A recent report, Boomers are Ready for Nonprofits, But Are Nonprofits Ready for Them?, provides strategies for tapping into an aging workforce to fill nonprofit jobs and an extensive literature review on managing this workforce in the nonprofit sector. "Nonprofits are seriously lagging behind the government and private sectors in efforts to both retain highly skilled potential retirees within their organizations and actively recruit older hires from other industry sectors," says the report's author, Jill Casner-Lotto. The report, published by The Conference Board, a business membership and research organization, suggests strategies to reach professionals in midlife career changes, to add flexible work models, and to share best practices with other nonprofits.

Boomer Retirements Call for Policy Changes

Senator Herb Kohl, Chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, recently introduced the following legislation addressing workforce issues related to boomers' retirement: These acts were discussed during a recent Congressional briefing entitled "Deferring Retirement: How Baby Boomers are Inventing a New Phase of Work...and How Policymakers Should Respond," which included Civic Ventures CEO Marc Freedman and Vice President Phyllis Segal.

About Experience Corps

Experience Corps, an award-winning program, engages people over 55 in meeting society's greatest challenges. Today, in 23 cities across the country, 2,000 Experience Corps members tutor and mentor elementary school students struggling to learn to read. Independent research shows that Experience Corps boosts student academic performance, helps schools and youth-serving organizations become more successful, and enhances the well-being of the older adults in the process. Experience Corps is a signature program of Civic Ventures.

Learn more about Experience Corps in these cities: Annapolis, MD, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, MD, Beaumont, TX, Boston, MA, Cleveland, Evansville, IN, Grand Rapids, Greater New Haven, Marin County, Mesa, Minneapolis, New York City, Oakland, Philadelphia, Port Arthur, TX, Portland, OR, Revere, MA, San Francisco, St. Paul, Tempe, Tucson, AZ, Washington, DC.

Questions or comments? Send an email to info@experiencecorps.org

Experience Corps is a signature program of Civic Ventures.
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