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Experience Corps: Design of an Intergenerational Program to Boost Social Capital and Promote the Health of an Aging Society
Published: March 2004
In the future, Americans will spend one-third of their lives in retirement. As the oldest baby boomers prepare to leave the work force, policy-makers are concerned about the strain on the nation's resources, especially if many of the retirees are in poor health. This article describes a new program called Experience Corps, a model for senior service that draws on the best volunteer program practices and scientific evidence for effective health promotion for older adults. Experience Corps has developed over the past 10 years and as of 2004, the program expanded operation to 18 cities. Experience Corps recruits seniors to help in underserved public elementary schools where volunteers agree to work for at least 15 hours a week for at least one year. The volunteers are trained in teams and sent into elementary school classrooms to assist in tasks identified by school teachers and principals. The program tries to field enough volunteers (around 25 to 30 per school) to achieve a "critical mass" that will be able to positively affect the entire school. The authors note that future research is needed on the Experience Corps' long-term impact on the health of the volunteers, the academic achievement of the children, and the overall climate of the schools and their communities.
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- Growing Bigger Better (Reports)
- Short-Term Impact of Experience Corps Participation on Children and Schools (Journal articles)
- A Social Model for Health Promotion for an Aging Population (Journal articles)
- Modeled Cost-Effectiveness of the Experience Corps Baltimore Based on a Pilot Randomized Trial (Journal articles)
- Teaching and Learning: Elaine Davis, Philadelphia Experience Corps Volunteer (Grantee profiles)
- Evaluation of the Expansion of Experience Corps (Evaluations)
Growing Bigger Better
By:
Kotloff LJ and Jucovy L
Publication date:
June 2008
Summary:
This report describes the various challenges involved in expanding or "scaling up" the Experience Corps program that enrolled older American volunteers in schools in low-income neighborhoods to improve children's reading abilities. Sustaining the program...
Short-Term Impact of Experience Corps Participation on Children and Schools
By:
Rebok GW, Carlson MC, Glass TA, McGill S, Hill J, Wasik BA, Ialongo N, Frick KD, Fried LP and Rasmussen MD
Publication date:
March 2004
Summary:
The Experience Corps is a national program that sends older volunteers into the schools, primarily to assist teachers in grades K-3. This article reports preliminary findings on the program's first year in Baltimore, Maryland.
A Social Model for Health Promotion for an Aging Population
By:
Fried LP, Carlson MC, Freedman M, Frick KD, Glass TA, Hill J, McGill S, Rebok GW, Seeman T, Tielsch J, Wasik BA and Zeger S
Publication date:
March 2004
Summary:
This study tested the hypothesis that intensive volunteer work can sustain or improve the physical and mental health of seniors.
Modeled Cost-Effectiveness of the Experience Corps Baltimore Based on a Pilot Randomized Trial
By:
Frick KD, Carlson MC, Glass TA, McGill S, Rebok GW, Simpson C and Fried LP
Publication date:
March 2004
Summary:
This article analyzes the cost-effectiveness of a promising intergenerational initiative, the Experience Corps program in Baltimore, Maryland, which recruits and trains teams of older volunteers to help in classrooms and libraries in elementary schools. The authors...
Teaching and Learning: Elaine Davis, Philadelphia Experience Corps Volunteer
By:
Austin E
Publication date:
February 17, 2003
Summary:
Arthritis forced Elaine Davis to retire at age 53, but she didn't retire from life. Through Experience Corps, she has touched many young lives in Philadelphia's public schools.
Evaluation of the Expansion of Experience Corps
Publication date:
August 14, 2008
Summary:
Experience Corps is a program run by Civic Ventures, a nonprofit organization, that recruits and places teams of volunteers in elementary schools in low-income neighborhoods to work with children who are having difficulty learning to read.