Awarding the 'Encore Career'
Nominations are open for the 2014 Purpose Prize, which honors Americans over 60 who have created an "encore career" in which they "pursue second acts for the greater good." The Philadelphia region has had a number of Purpose Prize fellows.
I share this information from the folks at Encore.org, a group administered by Civic Ventures, a nonprofit based in California.
Encore.org, according to its website, "is building a movement to make it easier for millions of people to pursue second acts for the greater good. We call them "encore careers" – jobs that combine personal meaning, continued income and social impact – in the second half of life."
It's not a job agency, just a group that encourages people over 60 who are interested in switching from mid-life careers to nonprofit and public sector jobs. To that end, the group awards prizes annually to people who fit that criteria who craft a new, purposeful career using the experiences they have acculumated.
Nominations for 2014 Purpose Prizes are now being accepted, Top winners get $100,000 each.
The Purpose Prize honors individuals making a monument out of what many consider the leftover years, not only finding personal meaning but doing creative and entrepreneurial work aimed at solving fundamental problems facing the nation and the world today.
All in their 60s and beyond, these pioneers have built upon the experiences that have shaped their lives to improve the lives of others.
Barbra Young - 2013 Purpose Prize winner Barbara Young ... spent years as a nanny and now organizes domestic workers and won legislation to protect their rights in New York state and beyond; Ed Nicholson is a former Navy captain who built Project Healing Waters, a nationwide network to teach wounded veterans how to fly fish; and Elizabeth Huttinger is an international aid worker who is curing river blindness in Senegal.
Who will be next?
Nominations are now open for the 2014 Prize, which will award up to $100,000 to social innovators 60 and older. You may nominate a colleague, a friend, even yourself – anyone whose creative endeavors in the second half of life are making a big difference to society. You can find answers to the most frequently asked questions about The Prize here. The deadline for submissions has been extended to January 31, 2014 and the narrative application must be completed by nominees no later than February 7th.
Please spread the word about the 2014 Purpose Prize nominations by sharing this 3-minute Purpose Prize video with your network.