Civic Ventures, which awards The Purpose Prize, is a think tank on boomers, work and social purpose. The organization introduced the concept of encore careers, which combine meaning, continued income and social impact. They provide  social entrepreneurs over 60 $100,000 each for using their experience and passion to make an extraordinary impact on some of society’s biggest challenges. Now in its sixth year, the $17 million program is the nation’s only large-scale investment in social innovators in the second half of life.

Learn more about this winner below!

Edward Mazria (pictured), 70, Architecture 2030, Santa Fe, NM

An award-winning architect in Santa Fe, Mazria had a 40-year record of innovation and advocacy in sustainable building. But even he was surprised when in 2002 his analysis of U.S. government data revealed that the building sector consumes approximately half of all energy production and causes about half of all greenhouse gas emissions each year. In 2003, Mazria founded Architecture 2030 to change those practices. The group issued the 2030 Challenge – a set of benchmarks for reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in the built environment (buildings, homes and other man-made structures) to “carbon neutral” by 2030. The American Institute of Architects, U.S. Conference of Mayors, U.S. Green Building Council and National Governors Association immediately adopted the challenge. Legislation followed. Mazria will soon release the 2030 Palette, a global set of comprehensive guiding principles, which will be translated into multiple languages for application internationally.

photo and video courtesy of Civic Ventures

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Civic Ventures, which awards The Purpose Prize, is a think tank on boomers, work and social purpose. The organization introduced the concept of encore careers, which combine meaning, continued income and social impact. They provide  social entrepreneurs over 60 $100,000 each for using their experience and passion to make an extraordinary impact on some of society’s biggest challenges. Now in its sixth year, the $17 million program is the nation’s only large-scale investment in social innovators in the second half of life.

Learn about this winner below!

Wanjiru Kamau (pictured), 69, African Immigrant and Refugee Foundation, Washington, D.C.

When Kamau, a former Penn State University administrator and adjunct professor, met survivors from the Rwandan genocide, she saw that some were illiterate and bewildered by modern city life. Seeing them took her back to her own childhood in rural Kenya, growing up without running water or electricity, and carrying loads on her back that left her permanently scarred. An expert in mental health and intercultural communication, she had the credentials to help. So in 2000 she decided to quit her job, withdraw $10,000 from her retirement account and move to Washington, D.C., home to many African immigrants, to start the African Immigrant and Refugee Foundation. The organization has since provided services – including mentoring, tutoring, assistance with human trafficking and domestic violence cases, and mental health care – to more than 6,000 immigrants from 45 countries.

Read about prize winner Nancy Sanford Hughs

Read about prize winner Randal Charlton

Read about prize winner Jenny Bowen

photo and video courtesy of Civic Ventures

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Civic Ventures, which awards The Purpose Prize, is a think tank on boomers, work and social purpose. The organization introduced the concept of encore careers, which combine meaning, continued income and social impact. They provide social entrepreneurs over 60 $100,000 each for using their experience and passion to make an extraordinary impact on some of society’s biggest challenges. Now in its sixth year, the $17 million program is the nation’s only large-scale investment in social innovators in the second half of life.

Learn about this winner below!

Nancy Sanford Hughes (pictured), 68, StoveTeam International, Eugene, OR

Hughes, a stay-at-home mom, was at a loss after her husband’s death in 2001. Yearning for adventure and purpose, she volunteered to cook for a medical mission in Guatemala. As she worked, thousands of people came for treatment – as many as 80 percent of them injured by open fires in unventilated homes. Entire families suffered chronic coughs, respiratory infections and horrific burns. According to the World Health Organization, smoke exposure from traditional cookstoves and open fires causes more than 2 million premature deaths annually – twice as many as malaria. Hughes was intent on finding a way to prevent those injuries. Since 2008, Hughes’ organization, StoveTeam International, has manufactured and sold the affordable, fuel-efficient Ecocina stove. Portable, smokeless, cool to the touch and needing just a few pieces of kindling to cook a meal, the stove has replaced the open cooking fire in more than 15,000 homes across Central America, reaching more than 90,000 people.

Read about prize winner Randal Charlton

Read about prize winner Jenny Bowen

photo and video courtesy of Civic Ventures

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It’s a question Purpose Prize winner Randal Charlton of Detroit asked himself at one point in his career. His story is really inspirational, as he’s experienced many ups and downs personally, but has been working to help create jobs and opportunities in Detroit.

Civic Ventures, which awards The Purpose Prize, is a think tank on boomers, work and social purpose. The organization introduced the concept of encore careers, which combine meaning, continued income and social impact. They provide  social entrepreneurs over 60 $100,000 each for using their experience and passion to make an extraordinary impact on some of society’s biggest challenges. Now in its sixth year, the $17 million program is the nation’s only large-scale investment in social innovators in the second half of life.

Learn about this winner below!

Randal Charlton (pictured), 71, TechTown, Detroit

In his lifetime, Charlton has bought and sold 14 companies, worked as a journalist, tended dairy cows for a Saudi sheik, started a jazz club and consulted for a world bank. For four years, he served as executive director of TechTown, a business incubator aiming to recruit local entrepreneurs to revitalize Detroit’s economy. Charlton transformed TechTown from a nearly empty industrial building with few resources into a thriving hub, currently supporting 250 companies. More than 2,200 entrepreneurs have received training at TechTown, which has helped clients raise $14 million. On November 1, Charlton will transition from leading TechTown to focusing his expertise on BOOM! The New Economy, a TechTown-affiliated venture that offers training, one-on-one mentoring and internships to people over 50 exploring second acts.

Read about prize winner Jenny Bowen.

photo and video courtesy of Civic Ventures

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Civic Ventures is a think tank on boomers, work and social purpose. The organization introduced the concept of encore careers, which combine meaning, continued income and social impact. Civic Ventures awards The Purpose Prize, which provides “five social entrepreneurs over 60 $100,000 each for using their experience and passion to make an extraordinary impact on some of society’s biggest challenges.” Now in its sixth year, the $17 million program is the nation’s only large-scale investment in social innovators in the second half of life.

(The Atlantic Philanthropies and the John Templeton Foundation, funds the prize, a program of Civic Ventures.) Twenty-eight judges – leaders in business, politics, journalism and the nonprofit sector – chose the five winners from a pool of more than 1,000 nominees.

I’m delighted to be an invited guest to The Purpose Prize awards ceremony in December in Sausalito, CA. The organization will host approximately 300 attendees of the invitation-only ceremony. We will hear from Purpose Prize judges, including NBC’s Jane Pauley and Sherry Lansing, CEO of The Sherry Lansing Foundation and former chair of Paramount Pictures Motion Picture Group.

Over the next few days, I’ll be sharing information and videos about Purpose Prize winners. I hope their stories will inspire you…While you may not want to create a non-profit organization yourself, these successes remind us that age is not a true barrier to accomplishing your career goals.

Purpose Prize Winner: Jenny Bowen (pictured), 66, Half the Sky Foundation, Berkeley, Calif.

Winner of The Purpose Prize for Intergenerational Innovation, sponsored by AARP

When Bowen, a screenwriter, saw a photo in The New York Times in 1996 of a starving girl in a Chinese welfare institution, she took immediate action. Within 18 months she and her husband had adopted a 20-month-old girl named Maya from Guangzhou, China. Maya couldn’t walk or talk, but after a year of loving care, she was a happy, healthy child. In 1998 Bowen launched Half the Sky Foundation to radically transform the way China cares for its 800,000 orphans. Today the organization operates in 51 Chinese cities, providing infant care, preschool programs, free medical services for disabled children and financial support for foster families caring for AIDS orphans. So far, the group has improved care for more than 60,000 orphans.

photo and video courtesy of Civic Ventures.

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I hope these stories of people who might otherwise be retired, but are instead working hard to improve their communities and the world may help many job seekers realize that nothing is impossible. The prize winners I met are dedicated to their causes and to using their skills in a way that makes a broad impact, but in many ways, they are no different from any person who is willing to overcome obstacles and has a passion for a cause.

Civic Ventures, “a think tank on Boomers, work and social purpose” awards these Purpose Prizes that recognize and reward extraordinary efforts. Five people received $100,000 and five receive $50,000. Read my earlier profile of a prize winner Inez Killingsworth HERE.

Dr. Judith B. Van Ginkel won a $100,000 prize for her work with Every Child Succeeds. The program “provides in-home services for first-time, at-risk mothers – including parenting support – to improve the lives of young families.” Upon accepting her award, Dr. Van Ginkel commented on the “strength of the human spirit to go on in spite of hardships.”

(Learn more about Judith and her work here and read about her program, Every Child Succeeds.)

Take a look at the video (below) about Judith from Civic Ventures. (See more videos at Civic Ventures’ site.) I will be sharing stories from winners and other remarkable people I met during the weekend in Philadelphia on my blog in the next few weeks. I hope their stories help inspire you if you are a job seeker to begin to think about how you can use your time and expertise. No matter what your age, there is something out there for you to do that makes good use of your skills.

Maybe you don’t want to start your own non-profit or launch a movement in your community, but there is sure to be some place or organization that needs you. You never know when that something may turn into a paid position.

If you are 45+ with an idea about how to make a difference in your community or in the world, consider applying for Civic Venture’s new Launch Pad award. It provides $5000 and support and mentorship to get your program started. Read more HERE.

Learn more about Judith below:

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Each winner will receive $5,000 and resources and support from the Encore.org community to put his or her idea into action.

Jim Emerman, executive vice president of Civic Ventures, explained, “The Launch Pad is a new contest to spur people’s thinking about how they can make a difference in an encore career.  We’re looking for five people, 45 and over, with great ideas for transforming their communities.  Each will win $5,000 to get their ideas off the ground.”

He continued, “Experienced adults with the passion and know-how to make a real difference in the lives of others offer a windfall of talent in our communities. The Launch Pad is about tapping their ideas for improving education, health, environment, social services and more.”

Launch Pad contenders from around the country can submit their ideas on how they want to make a difference in their communities at http://launchpad.encore.org/ through December 20.

On January 17, 2011, Civic Ventures will name 25 Launch Pad semifinalists. From January 17 through February 14, people will be invited to vote online for the idea they’d like to see realized.

The announcement of the Launch Pad contest follows last week’s news of the 2010 Purpose Prize winners, 10 people over age 60 who are making extraordinary contributions in their encore careers. The Purpose Prize, an award of up to $100,000, is given annually to individuals who are using their experience and passion to tackle society’s biggest challenges.

For more information on the Launch Pad contest, visit http://launchpad.encore.org/.

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In fact, I didn’t hear anyone mention the word “retirement” without it being followed by a laugh. As if to say, “Like there is time to relax. There is too much to do.”

Inez Killingsworth won a $100,000 prize for her work heading Empowering and Strengthening Ohio’s People. The organization helps homeowners avoid foreclosure by negotiating with banks for more favorable terms on mortgages. When receiving her award, she commented, “if you know something is wrong and you don’t try to do something about it, why are ya’ here?” (Learn more about Inez and her work here.)

Take a look at the video (below) about Inez from Civic Ventures. (See more videos at Civic Ventures’ site.) I will be sharing stories from winners and other remarkable people I met during the weekend in Philadelphia on my blog in the next few weeks. I hope their stories help inspire you if you are a job seeker to begin to think about how you can use your time and expertise. No matter what your age, there is something out there for you to do that makes good use of your skills.

Maybe you don’t want to start your own non-profit or launch a movement in your community, but there is sure to be some place or organization that needs you. You never know when that something may turn into a paid position.

Learn more about Inez below:

photo courtesy of Civic Ventures.

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