Encore: Work that matters in the second half of life.

With the original Sun City, Arizona pioneered the model for “the golden years” vision of retirement as leisure. Now the state is pioneering a new model for the second half of life, in which experienced adults use their time and talent for the benefit of the community and themselves.

The center of activity is Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix and contains more than half of the state’s population. By 2030, Maricopa expects a population of more than 6 million people – of whom more than 1.3 million will be over 60.

Rather than seeing those older adults as needy recipients of services, Arizona is tapping them as contributing providers. The Arizona Mature Workforce Initiative, with the motto, “Experience is Our Business!” has connected over 500 mature workers to employers, and has laid the groundwork for much greater impact, with job fairs, a job bank, a workforce transition center at a local community college and a program that certifies “mature worker friendly” employers.

“People want to be involved in something that is bigger than themselves,” said Melanie Starns, director of Gov. Janet Napolitano’s Office on Aging. “The trend of boomers looking for encore opportunities is going to be huge, not just here in Arizona, but across the country.”

Starns’s audience knew of what she spoke. They were representatives of Experience Corps projects from around the country, gathered in Phoenix for their national meeting. Experience Corps members working as reading tutors and mentors in elementary school classrooms are a key part of the movement to define aging as an opportunity rather than a problem.

In Arizona, Experience Corps members can even receive college credit for their tutoring activities, through the Maricopa Community College District, which is one of the leaders in preparing boomers for encore careers in the social sector.

One college in the district, Rio Solado Community College, provides a series of workshops to help baby boomers understand the current workforce climate and offers them tips on how to successfully present themselves and their experience to prospective employers. A companion workshop helps employers understand the benefits of hiring older workers.

In addition, Gateway Community College hosts a Career Transition Center and Mesa Community College is helping boomers make the transition to their post-midlife years by leading that city’s Mesa Life Options program. The initiative, a set of programs that provide life planning, service, work and other civic engagement opportunities to boomers is one of four Next Chapter initiatives in Maricopa County. Other projects include Chandler Boomerang, Tempe Connections and Scottsdale Boomerz.

“It’s all work, whether it’s a salaried position or service,” said Bernie Ronan, Maricopa Community College District’s associate vice chancellor for public affairs. “The encore career idea is about staying engaged in one’s community and in one’s life and community colleges are an important connecting link in that process.”

Rhian Evans Allvin, a consultant with The Brecon Group, outlined efforts to align all the social purpose efforts in Maricopa County under the banner of “Experience Matters,” an initiative funded by the Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust. The initiative has identified workforce needs in the county that include secondary math and science teachers, special education and ESL teachers, nurses and other health care workers and child health and welfare case workers.

Boomers looking for meaningful paid and unpaid opportunities in the health care, education and social service sectors need better ways to connect with organizations that recognize boomers as an important and available talent pool, said Judy Goggin, vice president of Civic Ventures.

Successful national and local models to engage boomers will be encouraged to link up and present their opportunities in a unified collaborative effort so that organizations and the larger community can take advantage of baby boomers ready to help stem talent shortages in the social sector.

Starns said Arizona is more than happy to share what it has learned. “This Mature Workforce Initiative can be a model for other states,” she said. “What took us three years can take others six months.”

To view a video of Marc Freedman’s address at the Arizona Governor’s Conference on Aging on May 15, 2008, click here.