What impact will the coming Baby Boomer retirement wave have on public service organizations? On Tuesday, September 21, NYU Wagner will host a lively discussion of a national survey demonstrating the huge demands that Baby Boomers – intent on working and volunteering in their so-called golden years – are likely to exert on institutions, agencies, and federations of the Jewish community across North America in the years to come.
What impact will the coming Baby Boomer retirement wave have on public service organizations?
On Tuesday, September 21, NYU Wagner will host a discussion of a national survey demonstrating the huge demands that Baby Boomers – intent on working and volunteering in their so-called golden years – are likely to exert on institutions, agencies, and federations of the Jewish community across North America in the years to come.
The one-and-a-half-hour dialogue will focus on the sweeping implications of the findings included in Baby Boomers, Public Service, and Minority Communities: a Case Study of the Jewish Community in the United States. The event begins at 4:00 p.m. in The Puck Building, 2nd Floor, 295 Lafayette Street (@ Houston Street), New York, N.Y.
The event is free and open to the public. Media coverage is invited.
Speakers will include: David M. Elcott, Henry and Marilyn Taub Professor of Practice in Public Service and Leadership at NYU Wagner and the author of the study; Roberta Leiner, managing director of the Caring Commission, UJA-Federation of New York; Stuart Himmelfarb, chief marketing officer, UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey, and Board co-chair, The Jewish Week; and Gary Rosenblatt, editor and chief of The Jewish Week (moderator).
Based on a survey of 34 metropolitan Jewish communities and more than 6,500 people, the study shows that public service organizations of all kinds share an unprecedented opportunity to harness the expertise and talents of Baby Boomers as they age, since it’s a generation that wants to keep working to volunteer in public service. The study finds that as Baby Boomers invigorate and redefine the 60-to-80 year old stage of life, there is relatively little understanding of how record numbers of engaged older worker and volunteers will affect America’s labor force, or what ethnic and religious communities and voluntary institutions could do to mobilize, train, and absorb them. Given national efforts to engage Baby Boomers, minority communities may suffer a loss of leadership, talent, and funding as older adults increasingly look outside their religious or ethnic communities for meaningful work and volunteer opportunities.
The September 21 event is organized by the Berman Jewish Policy Archive at NYU Wagner, (BJPA) and the Research Center for Leadership in Action (RCLA) at NYU Wagner, in conjunction with the Jewish Federations of North America, UJA-Federation of New York, UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey, and the United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ.