About the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS)

2. About the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) • Federal Agency - nation’s largest grant maker supporting service and volunteering. • Provide opportunities for Americans of all ages and backgrounds to serve through three programs: Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America.

3. Senior Corps • Foster Grandparents – age 60+ who serve children with special or exceptional needs. • Senior Companions – age 60+ who help their peers live independently. • RSVP- 55+ who address critical community needs in numerous ways.

4. CNCS – Harnessing the Experience of Baby Boomers • Strategic Initiative to engage an additional 3 million Baby Boomers in national service programs. • The Corporation and the HHS Administration on Aging (AoA) unveiled at the National Conference on Service and Volunteering a multi-year partnership to engage more 55+ adults in addressing the needs of vulnerable populations through volunteer service. • The Corporation is collaborating with the AoA and the National Council on Aging to create new innovative opportunities for Baby Boomers and other older adults to support vulnerable populations through multi-generational programming. Senior Corps programs were encouraged to apply for funding and/or collaborate with recipients of grant funding to support needy populations in your area. For more information on these projects visit www.ncoa.org. • A new guidebook, Boomer Volunteer Engagement: Collaborate Today, Thrive Tomorrow, from VolunteerMatch, provides a step-by-step practical guide for engaging Boomers as volunteers who can help build organizational capacity. This book, developed for nonprofits and published in 2008, contains downloadable PDF worksheets, including organizational assessments, work plans, and progress report templates. These documents can be accessed at no charge atwww.volunteermatch.org/nonprofits/boomerbook. • In 2008 Temple University’s Center for Intergenerational Learning launched a new online course called “Capturing Experience: How People 50+ Can Help Your Organization” to help organizations learn how to make more effective use of Baby Boomers.

5. Keeping Boomers Volunteering • Boomers have different volunteer interests. • The greater the time commitment, the higher the retention rate. • Retention related to type and nature of volunteer activity. • Volunteer retention related to how Baby Boomers become involved.

6. Making the Case–The Benefits of Older Adult Volunteering • Huge pool of potential volunteers. • Positive public benefits. • Improved health and well-being of older citizens.

7. Challenges States Face • Outdated volunteer management systems to recruit and retain volunteers. • Insufficient training and incentives to attract older adults. • Transportation and Cost Issues.

8. Government Policy Considerations • Facilitate collaboration at the national, state, and local levels of organizations involving older adult volunteers and paid workers – such as the Area Agencies on Aging, Volunteer Action Centers, the National Council on Aging programs, and AARP – especially as it concerns long-term care and independent living. • Provide seed funding to nonprofit agencies to foster the growth of new models to engage older Americans in their communities. • Identify and remove barriers to engagement of boomers in providing professional services such as medical and legal assistance on a volunteer basis. • Subsidize use of public transit to enable seniors to overcome one of the most significant barriers to their participation: getting to and from volunteer activities. • Provide subsidies, tax credits, and other incentives to nonprofits that substantially engage more seniors, to seniors who volunteer significant amounts of time, and to companies that provide older employees with time off for volunteering. • Encourage states to explore Medicare reimbursement for volunteer projects that provide independent living services • Creating networks to connect older adults with volunteer opportunities. • Supporting transportation options that encourage volunteering.

9. Resources • Keeping Baby Boomers Volunteering (A Research Brief on Volunteer Retention and Turnover) • The Health Benefits of Volunteering • www.getinvolved.gov • www.volunteermatch.org

10. Sample Senior Corps Programming Initiatives • Experienced Volunteer Executives and Professionals (EVEP) Program engages experienced executives and professionals in pro-bono work. This program, which is part of RSVP of Westchester Co. allows these Boomer executives to serve the local nonprofit and school communities by offering legal, accounting, marketing, publishing and financial advice. One of the new projects “Board Resource Team” uses EVEP volunteers to provide tools to help nonprofit organizations overcome certain obstacles, advance their mission, increase name recognition and attract new leadership. • Montgomery County RSVP Pro Bono Consultant Program (Maryland). The Pro Bono Consultant Program of the Montgomery County RSVP and Volunteer Center grew out of discussions with local nonprofits on how the community could tap the rich resources of the area’s skilled professionals, particularly baby boomers. This program, which has served as a model for others across the country, places skilled professionals with short-term projects that utilize the talents, wisdom and experience that the volunteers bring from their current and prior professions. The volunteers appreciate not only the personal and professional flexibility and limited time commitment of the projects, but the chance to have a volunteer opportunity that has a real impact on the nonprofit and their community. Boomer volunteers use the Pro Bono Consultant Program to transition, whether to retirement or to an “encore” career, while enjoying the satisfaction that comes from seeing their skills and talents make a difference in the lives of others.

11. Samples (cont’d) • Community Service Society (CSS) and New York City RSVP created the Boomer+ Program, an effort to create volunteer assignments that tap into the professional and leadership abilities of baby boomers. CSS and RSVP received a $40,000 grant from the National Council on Aging and a $17,000 grant from the Alliance for Children and Families to pilot this program. Over 22 Boomer+ Program RSVP volunteers serve in capacities such as RSVP Ambassadors to recruit additional RSVP volunteers by making presentations to outside agencies, and staffing information booths at volunteer fairs and other community based events; Strategic Planning volunteers who help with strategic planning for the Boomer+ Program, as well as, the new CSS/RSVP Financial Coaching Corps; Volunteer Interviewers who interview and place prospective RSVP volunteers; Marketing Specialist assisting with editing the RSVP & Boomer marketing materials; Evaluator volunteer assists with updating the RSVP volunteer application forms, developing a confidentiality agreement form and evaluation plan for the Boomer+ Program, editing survey questions for RSVP’s nonprofit partners to ascertain their training and technical assistance needs; and Computer Instructor assists RSVP volunteers with Microsoft Office programs and other computer questions.

12. Samples (cont’d) • Mentoring Children of Incarcerated Parents: • RSVP of the Capital Region, SUNY School of Social Welfare, Albany- Mentoring Ageless Gifts in Children – MAGIC program focuses on mentoring children of prisoners.  RSVP mentors use art, stories, poetry, letter-writing, performance, games, and theater in order to foster creative expression.  They also provide assistance with homework, reading, writing, and science in order to support their students academically. The mentors help students with building confidence and trust, as well as building decision-making, communication, and listening skills. • The Community Service Society (CSS)/RSVP Mentoring Children of Incarcerated Parents Program (MentorCHIP) is a site-based mentoring program with an academic and asset building focus, designed to build the academic confidence and social skills of children ages 6–16 whose parents are incarcerated. One of the biggest successes of the MentorCHIP Program is that it taps into the strengths of both the older adult and the young person

13. Samples (cont’d) • Foster Grandparents Serving Children in Foster Care: NYC Department for the Aging FGP, New York City in partnership with the Administration for Children’s Services trained Foster Grandparents as “Visit Coaches” who worked with families and children in the foster care system at The Jewish Child Care Agency and Concord Family Services, both located in Brooklyn. The Visit Coach program, improves the quality of life for children in foster care and their families. The Foster Grandparents interact with parents and children in their visits, so that quality time can be spent in preparation for hopeful reunification of the family unit outside of the foster care system. The Foster Grandparents are confidants, for children and parents alike; they coach parents in activities such as reading, singing, drawing and interacting with their children. The Visit Coaches provide valuable feedback to parents as well as social work staff.

14. Corporation for National & Community Servicewww.nationalservice.gov New York Office Contact Information: Corporation for National and Community Service Leo O’Brien Federal Bldg, Suite 900 1 Clinton Square Albany, NY 12207 518/431-4150 NY@cns.gov