Experience Corps - Expansion

Expansion

Beginning in 1997-98, after the two-year pilot, the Corporation for National and Community Service provided additional funding for an expansion of Experience Corps (called the Seniors for Schools initiative). This new round of activity brought with it two key changes from the pilot phase. First, non-stipended opportunities were added for volunteers to serve on a less intensive basis than the 15-hour-a-week positions that were at the core of the program. As a result, an older person interested in becoming part of Experience Corps was provided greater choice in selecting a role within the program. Second, the program moved more significantly toward a focus on improving reading for low-income students in kindergarten through third grade. The Seniors for Schools program included the original five Experience Corps pilot projects and expanded to include projects in Boston; Cleveland; Kansas City, Missouri; and Leesburg, Florida.

Meanwhile, in January 1998 Public/Private Ventures helped spin off Encore.org (known as Civic Ventures at the time) as a new nonprofit organization to focus specifically on developing Experience Corps, and more broadly on creating new civic roles for Americans 50-plus in our society. Encore.org quickly raised funds to further expand Experience Corps, including two ongoing demonstration projects: One initiative adapted the in-school Experience Corps model to the non-school hours, working in YMCAs, Boys and Girls Clubs, and other community youth organizations. The second tested the use of seed grants to expand the elementary school model to new cities, including San Francisco; Washington, D.C.; Indianapolis; Phoenix; and Durham, North Carolina. Since 1999, two additional Experience Corps projects, focused on the in-school model, began operating in Baltimore (through Johns Hopkins Center on Aging and Health) and New York City (through United Neighborhood Houses).