Suzanne Braun Levine » THE PURPOSE PRIZE

“ENCORE CAREERS – Recession Prompts Reinvention”

glenlevy — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 03:50:50 +0000

“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 to Marc Freedman, founder and CEO of Civic Ventures, who is quoted in the article.

Martin writes, “Over the past few months, I’ve spent a lot of time at Starbucks and Peet’s, talking with men and women who used to have stable careers but now have migraines, insomnia, depression, and the gnawing realization that most of what they know about earning a healthy living is, or will soon be, obsolete. Often, during a pause in the conversation — maybe we’re talking about how companies in Chapter 7 bankruptcy don’t have to offer COBRA, or what it’s like for someone with 10 or 20 years of experience in user interfaces or mortgage banking, earning a great deal of money, to start from scratch, competing with kids who will work for peanuts — I look around and notice that the place is full of other people talking about the same things, in the same stunned way, trying to pretend they’re fine when in reality, they are scared to death.”

Among those she interviewed is Gina Cassinelli, 53, a former vice president of technology-systems marketing at Hewlett Packard who found her calling as an Encore Fellow working for a nonprofit called Citizen Schools. She made the switch to the nonprofit sector, she told Martin, because after 26 years the tech industry “just didn’t hold the same freshness and fun.”

Another is Penny Mudd, 55, a 20-year tech veteran who is training to become a middle-school math teacher through her local community college.

Read their stories and others here.

Join Encore Careers and visit Terry Nagels blog www.encore.org

ABOUT Encore.orgEncore.org is published by Civic Ventures, a nonprofit think tank that is leading the call to engage millions of experienced individuals in becoming a force for social change. Civic Ventures focuses on creating pathways to encore careers that provide continued income doing work that is personally fulfilling and helps address some of society’s biggest challenges.

While Encore.org is not a job placement service, it provides free, comprehensive information that helps individuals transition to jobs in the nonprofit world and the public sector.

To find your Encore Career, visit:

www.encore.org

‘A Revolutionary Gathering’ of Social Entrepreneurs – The Purpose Prize Summit

glenlevy — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:21:42 +0000

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 she had “a big mouth and a bad attitude.” She will also tell you that one teacher made a difference. She was a D student, but the teacher saw something more and wrote across the top of an essay — “You are profound and eloquent.”

It changed everything, and at age 69, Ann was honored for creating three charter schools, and a program for high school dropouts that has evolved into a successful organization (ISUS) that teaches nursing, construction, computer operations, and manufacturing skills in Dayton, Ohio.

Union and civic leaders call her a ‘magician, but her biggest fans are ISUS graduates. “Progress means staying nimble,” says Higdon. “We’re agile… We change.”

Learn more Ann Higdon and ISUS (Improved Solutions for Urban Systems)
http://bit.ly/7SfH0p

Want an Encore Career?
www.encore.org

MEET “THE PURPOSE PRIZE WINNERS” – Encore Careers & Civic Ventures Honor Change-Makers Over 60!

glenlevy — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:34:09 +0000

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 diverse, talented and impressive group of people dedicated to change. Each one of them had asked themselves the familiar Second Adulthood Question: “What shall I do with the rest of my life?”

Each identified a social problem that their First Adulthood had prepared them to solve. Then they took the risk. Their stories are truly inspirational.

Congratulations to all the social entrepreneurs who entered or were nominated for The Purpose Prize in 2009. Civic Ventures awarded $100,000 to five winners, $50,000 to another group five people and recognized the accomplishments of many other
change-makers.

Read about Encore Careers, this year’s winners, their big ideas and watch the videos. And, for 2010, nominate yourself or someone you know.

http://www.encore.org

http://www.encore.org/prize/nominate?ref=winners.cfm