Corporate and Foundation Relations

INITIATIVE HELPS BABY BOOMERS TAKE THE NEXT STEP

On January 1, 2006, the first wave of the Baby Boom generation — including Cher, Donald Trump, and President George W. Bush — will reach their milestone 60th birthday. As many of their 77 million fellow Boomers head towards a longer, healthier and more affluent retirement than any previous generation, the time is ripe to consider a new definition for this stage of life, according to a new media campaign by the Harvard School of Public Health’s Center for Health Communication, sponsored by the MetLife Foundation.

“The average 60-year-old can expect to live to age 83, and millions will live into their 90s. This is much too long a time to spend looking back. The question is how to use it productively,” said Jay Winsten, Frank Stanton Director of the Center for Health Communication and associate dean for public and community affairs.

“We want to convey the message that the older years can still be a time of productivity,” said Susan Moses. “You can still be active and contribute to the community,” she said.

Through The Harvard School of Public Health-MetLife Foundation Initiative on Retirement and Civic Engagement, Winsten and his colleagues hope to spark a public dialogue on redefining the early retirement years. They see the years between ages 60-80 as a stage of life without a name. Thanks to medical advances, most Baby Boomers will have quite a few productive years left to enjoy after the work and childrearing burdens of middle age have receded. Winsten expects that the generation that the generation that has re-shaped each stage of life that they have passed through will soon embark on reinventing the meaning and purpose of the older years.

Redefining Age 60
Starting next January, the Initiative will launch an outreach campaign to the entertainment community, encouraging writers and producers to portray positive images of older people in television scripts. This will coincide with a series of print ads and television public service announcements encouraging leading-edge Boomers to share their time, energy, skills, and experience to help strengthen local communities.

“We want to convey the message that the older years can still be a time of productivity,” said Susan Moses, co-director of the Initiative with Winsten, and deputy director of the Center for Health Communication. “You can still be active and contribute to the community,” she said.

Many people look forward to a leisurely life following their retirement, but soon find that they don’t know what to do with their time, Moses said. “It’s fun for a week or two, or a month, but then they miss the camaraderie and sense of purpose they had at work,” she said. “A lot of people don’t think about the fact that work provides much more than just a paycheck.”

The Initiative aims to get Boomers to start thinking ahead, Moses said. In conjunction with the public relations campaign, the Initiative will launch a Web site with resources to help Boomers create a new life plan that includes time for volunteering.

“Baby Boomers have an important opportunity to redefine aging and the productive role that people can play later in life by becoming involved in our communities,” said Dr. Sibyl Jacobson, MetLife Foundation President and CEO. “We are pleased to support this Initiative, which will stimulate thinking about the impact that Boomers can have on our society as they reach retirement, and the benefits they will receive from volunteering.”

Preparing for Boomer Volunteers
The Initiative is collaborating with groups including the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) to help non-profits prepare for Boomer volunteers. Winsten believes that many Boomers will be looking for volunteer activities that take better advantage of their skills and experiences. In order to attract and retain these volunteers, organizations need to think beyond traditional activities like stuffing envelopes, he said.

The Harvard School of Public Health–MetLife Initiative on Retirement and Civic Engagement builds on the Center’s two decades of experience crafting media campaigns to address complicated social problems. In the 1980s, its National Designated Driver Campaign successfully introduced a new social concept — the designated driver — into American culture through a large-scale effort that included messages incorporated in network television dialogue.

The Center also sponsored a youth violence prevention campaign in the 1990s, funded by the MetLife Foundation and the Joyce Foundation. For the past eight years, the Center has spearheaded a national media campaign to recruit volunteer mentors for at-risk youth, funded by the MCJ Foundation, MetLife Foundation, and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

More on the Initiative's report, "Reinventing Aging: Baby Boomers and Civic Engagment" from Harvard Public Health NOW.

In the News

2005 White House Conference on Aging 12/12/2005
Dec. 12, 2005

"Baby Boomers Approach 60"
Pew Research Center report. Dec. 8, 2005.

"Giving Expertise. The New Volunteers: More Than Envelope Stuffers."
By Francine Russo. TIME Online Edition. Oct. 30, 2005.

"Law & Order: Executive Producer Keeps Health Messages Truthful"
The first in a new series of lectures on health messages and the media co-sponsored by the Center for Health Communication, Division of Public Health Practice, and Office of Communications at HSPH.
HSPH NOW. Oct. 14, 2005.