Letter to Congress

Dear Member of Congress,

The undersigned organizations are working together to seize a golden opportunity.  We are advancing federal and state policies that will enable the country to address the opportunities presented as the next generation of older people or “baby boomers” born between 1946 and 1964 continues to reach retirement age.  This cohort represents about one-quarter of the U.S. population.  They are healthier and better educated than previous generations, making them a tremendous resource of experience, talent, and knowledge for the public, private, and nonprofit sectors.

We call this effort the Experience Wave and it has quickly become a movement to help older people stay engaged in work, volunteer, and civic life.  To that end, we stand ready to work with you to develop and pass federal legislation that will:

1. Provide incentives for and remove barriers to the full participation of older people in purposeful paid, charitable, or pro bono work.

2. Enable older workers to stay in the workforce or re-enter the workforce following retirement by creating wider opportunities for older workers with respect to affordable  health care coverage, phased retirement options, and opportunities for retraining.

3. Improve education and career training for older people by tailoring federal programs to meet the unique needs and preferences of a mature and older workforce and support community-based organizations that provide comprehensive lifelong-learning opportunities for older people.

Our success will have broad and positive social impact.  Older people engaged in work and civic life will be healthier and more financially secure, and may rely less on federal and state programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.  If they continue working past traditional retirement age, older people will contribute more to Social Security and may delay the receipt of benefits under the program.  As workforce shortages increasingly affect the economy, all sectors—public, nonprofit, and private business—will benefit from the availability of mature and older workers who are experienced, talented, and well trained.
 
Furthermore, community-based nonprofit organizations will benefit as older people become more fully engaged in charitable work, allowing nonprofits to increase their impact and meet their goals.  With new opportunities for training and education, older people will use their talents and skills to meet critical social needs in communities through paid or charitable work in schools, libraries, child care centers, health care organizations and social service agencies.

State legislatures have already begun work in this area, and new state laws will complement the work we hope you will undertake in the 110th Congress to advance these important goals. 

We urge you to work with us collectively and individually to develop, introduce, and pass legislation that adheres to these principles and enables us to capture the time, talent, skills, abilities, and values of the current and future generations of older people.

Sincerely,

AARP
American Association of Community Colleges
Civic Ventures
Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL)
Experience Corps
Experience Wave
Generations United
The Gerontological Society of America
North Carolina Center for Creative Retirement, University of North Carolina, Asheville
United Way of America
Volunteer Match