“You don’t have to be a lottery winner to make a difference in your community or halfway around the globe,” writes Kelly Greene says in her “How to Change the World” column in today’s The Wall Street Journal. “People who are winding down first or primary careers and looking for new directions are discovering that for the cost of a weekend getaway, they can help change the world. Or start to.”
With service programs like AmeriCorps, Greene says, “you actually can get paid while you’re helping to make a difference.” AmeriCorps volunteers are paid federal stipends averaging $11,800 for a commitment of 10 months to a year. They can also receive education grants of as much as $5,350, which, starting this year, they can transfer to their grandchildren.
“Work varies from part-time service in a volunteer’s own community to full-time opportunities across the country. Options include helping to rebuild communities on the Gulf Coast and installing solar-electric systems in low-income California neighborhoods,” Green writes.
AmeriCorps, one of the largest national-service programs, is aiming for 10 percent of its 85,000 participants to be at least 55 years old—up from 4 percent in fiscal 2009. A new law, the Serve America Act, advances service opportunities for people 55 and older through a 10 percent encore service target for AmeriCorps, education award transferability, expansion of term limits and inclusion of encore service in state service plans.