By Ruth A. Wooden,
Chair, Civic Ventures

Shift Happens. It’s probably happening to you right now

My big shift started when I retired last year, and it’s still going. I’m not sure where I’m headed, but it’s been a pleasure to hit the pause button while I ponder. Lately, certain life moments have hooked my attention, turning points that mark shifts not only in the world around me but in the way I view it.

Marc Freedman, Founder & CEO
Civic Ventures, THE BIG SHIFT: Navigating the New Stage Beyond Midlife

What is so special about Marc Freedman’s new book, THE BIG SHIFT is that it shares a vision for a new stage of life that will be rich and full for both the people entering their fifties and sixties and the society at large.

It also shares stories of people who have entered that Encore stage. I always think one story is worth a thousand words. Here is Anne Nolan’s from THE BIG SHIFT…

By Ruth Wooden

President, Public Agenda & Chair of the Board, Civic Ventures
There’s a new chapter required in The Etiquette Handbook:  “What to say to someone who is retiring.”
I can’t get over some of the things people have said to me after a routine announcement that I plan to retire as President of a NYC-based nonprofit later this year.  By the time I retire, I will be 64 and will have served more than seven years in this position after a working career of more than …

“ENCORE CAREERS – Recession Prompts Reinvention”

By Terry Nagel, Managing Editor
Encore.org
As the economy forces people to rethink their careers, a vanguard of the adventurous and the desperate is navigating an unrecognizable landscape that has little to do with resumes and contacts.
In the June issue of San Francisco magazine, Nina Martin tells the stories of more than a dozen Bay Area residents who have discovered that all the rules about job hunting have changed. Landing a job these days requires reinvention – “a do-it-yourself proposition,” according …

Civic Ventures and Encore.org in the News – Again!
Photo Credit: Angela Jimenez for The New York Times
Ever since the June, 2009 White House hosted an event salute to social innovators who are in their Encore Careers, Civic Ventures www.civicventures.org and Encore.org have been in the news.
On March 3, 2010 The New York Times (by Elizabeth Pope) reported on “Matching Life Experience With New Careers:”
“HEALTH navigator? Conflict coach? Pollution mitigation outreach worker? These emerging jobs aren’t household terms yet, but they are a natural fit for older people looking for …