Project Background
Learners to Leaders: Civic Engagement of Older Adults Initiative, a pilot project undertaken by The Montgomery County Foundation, Inc., assumes a paradigm shift from the traditional perception of adults 55-plus as a population of need, vulnerability and net resource consumption to one which recognizes their voluntary efforts as a critical source for community improvement and enrichment.
Phase One of the project was based on the findings of The Montgomery County Foundation’s earlier collaboration in the groundbreaking, region-wide BoomerANG study. The Foundation subsequently undertook an intensive asset mapping process which involved widespread discussions and interviews.
In late summer 2008, the Learners to Leaders: Civic Engagement of Older Adults Initiative was formally launched to a large, diverse, highly responsive group of public, private and county stakeholders eager to involve themselves in this challenging pilot project. Facilitated workshops related to previously identified, dire community needs were subsequently launched in fall 2008. Convenings on the status of the environment and on both children’s and new immigrant population literacy in Montgomery County were presented with a focus on older adults’ options to engage in volunteer and “encore career” opportunities.
Learning Lab – The Training of Regional Nonprofits
In the spring of 2009, The Montgomery County Foundation partnered with Coming of Age at the Intergenerational Center at Temple University which facilitated a comprehensive three-day training series for regional nonprofit organizations. The Foundation chose to test the benefits of limiting the pilot study to agencies and to potential volunteers who share a common mission-based interest—in this case, addressing the support of those in Montgomery County seeking personal and economic self-sufficiency with regard to housing, hunger, literacy, domestic violence, workforce development and advocating for seniors.
An additional condition of participating in this training was the willingness on the part of the nonprofit organizations to play an ongoing role in a subsequent collaborative venture to test what they had learned. This group in fact met during the summer of 2009 to hone skills introduced in the Learning Lab—initiating volunteer job descriptions, developing promotional presentations to attract volunteers at community events and preparing to successfully engage and retain selected 55-plus prospects who were simultaneously being trained how to work within the nonprofit field most effectively.
Learners to Leaders – The Training of Prospective Volunteers
The Foundation invited a wide range of Montgomery County members 55-plus interested in being part of a community-building pilot project in Montgomery County in September 2009, where they would learn how to apply their energy and expertise to support citizens of Montgomery Counties in need of significant attention and learn how to use their skills in a way that would both meet these organizations’ missions and be deeply satisfying to them personally.
In conjunction with Coming of Age, a challenging agenda was designed that included exploration of the changing world of volunteerism, identifying motivating interests and skills, negotiating one’s role in an unfamiliar arena, dealing with misunderstandings and conflict, and appreciating the nonprofit culture and how best to navigate its unique characteristics.
Trainees also committed to attend the Learners to Leaders Matching Event and the opportunity to hear presentations from previously trained nonprofit agencies where they would highlight their volunteer opportunities for consideration. And lastly, attendees each agreed to participate in follow up evaluations focused on modifying the pilot project for potential replication in the county and beyond. It was further understood that the Foundation would track voluntary experiences from the perspective of both parties at the three- and six-month mark in a comprehensive manner.
The Learners to Leaders Matching Event
In October 2009, the Foundation brought together the previously trained nonprofits and the previously trained prospective volunteers to explore whether there was mutual immediate and/or long-term benefit in both parties being readied to support each other. The agenda included a state-of-the-county presentation with regard to the shared mission of the organizations—the self-sufficiency of the region’s most vulnerable residents. The session also included the invaluable, insightful testimonial observations of a highly experienced volunteer, carefully crafted presentations by each of the participating agencies regarding their mission and volunteer opportunities, and the chance to confer with each other at information tables displaying current and potential ways to play a meaningful role.
Next Steps
Phase Three focuses on the development of a Civic Engagement Task Force and the formal implementation of a refined training model that will test the validity of the lessons learned earlier (full report is available upon request). The first Task Force project has been chosen as the result of a pervasive, key finding of the Phase Two pilot wherein the need for regional nonprofit organizations to institute formal volunteer management structures and procedures in order to take best advantage of the assets and resources of older adult volunteers was made clear by all stakeholders. The Task Force will in time also identify and address the collaborative resolution of a wide range of identified community challenges such as the creation of a region-wide arts council, the tackling of urban planning and environmental concerns, and perhaps the exploration of early childhood and new immigrant literacy issues.
The Montgomery County Foundation is confident that the evolution of the Civic Engagement Task Force will mark a crucial turning-point in the support of the ongoing capacity building of the region’s agencies and institutions and the care with which the myriad calls for specific attention to community needs are met. The reputation for bringing together the best 55-plus population has to offer—intellectually, professionally, personally, politically and socially—combined with a strong will to be a meaningful part of the solution is certain to render a blueprint for positive social change in Montgomery County and beyond.
