"It's like a job. You have goals. You see results" -Yuriy, Experience Corps Member

"If you take just one thought away from this hearing, I hope it is this: people who have finished their midlife careers can be a workforce for good in the 21^st century,"
Experience Corps CEO John Gomperts said in formal testimony before the House Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities today.

Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), chair of the committee, opened the hearing by noting that "service and volunteering lowers dropout rates among teens, lowers costs associated with the aging population, and improves the health and lowers the rates of depression" among older adults.

Gomperts spoke about the positive impact Experience Corps has on students, schools, volunteers, and communities, then suggested four policy innovations that will allow the government to seize the opportunity presented by the retirement of millions of baby boomers who want to work for the greater good.

The four policy ideas are:

• An Experience Fellows program that would create a pathway and structure for people who have completed their midlife careers but seek a way to enter into a period of work for the public good. Modeled on the best aspects of the White House Fellows Program, VISTA, and the Coro Fellows, Experience Fellows would receive a voucher that enables them to go to any nonprofit organization or public agency and seek an assignment.
• A Reverse GI Bill that would help people who have finished their midlife careers get the education and training they need to move into work or service in the nonprofit sector. Modeled on ROTC and Public Health Service Corps, the Reverse GI Bill would provide tuition assistance, then allow people to repay loans with a period of service in a high-need profession like education or health care.
• An expansion of Troops to Teachers, a highly successful federal transition program that has trained and placed some 9,500 veterans into teaching and administration jobs in high-need areas. Gomperts recommended expanding the program in education, opening it to retirees from the federal government (not just the military), and expanding the program to other high-need fields. (Read a UPS/Civic Ventures policy paper on this topic here.)
• An Organizational Innovation Fund that would provide federal grants to nonprofit organizations that adopt new and creative ways to engage older Americans in service and volunteer work. Through the operation of a matching grant requirement, these funds would bring additional private investment in older adult civic engagement.

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Experience Corps, an award-winning program, engages people over 55 in meeting their communities' greatest challenges. Today, in 20 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.