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 …

Ann Higdon
MEET ANN HIGDON
2009 PURPOSE PRIZE WINNER
“The Purpose Prize gathering is revolutionary,” said Ellen Goodman the newspaper columnist and herself, the winner of a Pulitzer Prize. “I am looking at you as my mentors,” she told the audience in her keynote address at the recent Purpose Prize Summit.
I have to agree. It was a room filled with inspiring people and stories.
I met Ann Higdon, winner of a 2009 Purpose Prize ($50,000.) and was impressed by her strength, warmth, and humor. Ann is the fist to admit that in high school …

Marcy Adelman: 2009 Purpose Prize Winner
BRINGING EXPERIENCE TO SOCIAL INNOVATION CHANGES EVERYTHING
In a culture that often seems to thrive more on “creating” villains than honoring heroes, it is especially rewarding to report on people who are changing the world. THE PURPOSE PRIZE – announced by Encore Careers and Civic Ventures – celebrates and honors people over 60 who are bringing experience to social innovation (read the press release).
I was proud to have been a judge for this Award, and I can tell you the candidates and winners are a …

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month
I know that I am not the only one who thinks of Fall as the beginning of the New Year. It’s that embedded back-to-school schedule – ours then and our children’s now. I am much more inclined to get going in October than in January.
What’s more, while my January resolutions have more to do with self-improvement (or self-criticism) – perennially “go on a diet” – my October plans are more about taking care of business and beefing up the rewarding parts of my life. …