A program that offers retirees in New York a chance to work part-time for nonprofit organizations has plans to expand nationally, according to a recent report.
ReServe Elder Services is an agency that places New York City retirees in part-time jobs for nonprofit organizations. The group has placed about 1,000 adults over age 50 in part-time jobs for more than 200 New York nonprofit and public agencies. Now the program has plans to expand to other cities and to start programs that will teach specific tasks to groups of 10 to 20 "ReServists" in two to three days, the Wall Street Journal reports.
"We have passionate interests in the nonprofit world, and this program will allow people who want to move on to another career to do it," ReServist Linda Amster, 71, told the Journal.
One ReServe program, the Health Navigator program, helps frail older patients leaving the hospital arrange services they will need at home, accompany them on doctor’s visits, and make sure they get timely follow-ups for medical appointments since it started last year in New York.
Another ReServe program called Ready helps college counselors at New York city high schools where few parents can afford to pay for college. And another, the Grant Writing Residency program, hires former journalists and professional writers to write grants for nonprofits.
"We want to have multiple placements because we’re going to be targeting larger social problems," ReServe executive director Mary Bleiberg told the Journal.
ReServe is a nonprofit organization started by New York Times President Jack Rosenthal and former New York deputy mayor and City Planning Commission chairman Herb Sturz in 2005. It raised $1.1 million in the fiscal year ending February 2007, and its assets totaled $789,872, according to its latest annual report.