​The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) has received a $3.2 million grant to build on a successful initiative to help older adults attain the education and training they need to find jobs.

The three-year grant from the Deerbrook Charitable Trust will help AACC expand its Plus 50 Initiative by reaching 10,000 additional plus-50 students at 100 community colleges. The students will receive job training and complete a certificate or degree in healthcare, education or social service professions.

The initiative is important as many baby boomers are especially struggling to find employment during the current economic recessions.

“With a continuing economic recession, many boomers need to work well into what would have been their retirement years,” said Mary Sue Vickers, director of the Plus 50 Initiative. “But unemployed plus-50 adults often find that their skill sets don’t fit the available jobs.”

The solution is to return to college, earn a credential or degree in a high-demand field and get back to work, Vickers said.

Building on a foundation

Since 2008, the Plus 50 Initiative has focused much of its efforts on training programs to get unemployed older adults back on the job. An independent evaluation of the program found that 89 percent of students agreed that plus-50 workforce training helped them learn new job skills, and 72 percent attributed landing a job to such training.

The continuing need among older workers and the success of the AACC program have attracted support from leading foundations. Plus 50 initially started with funding from the Atlantic Philanthropies and served 13 colleges and later added 11 more. In 2010—with funding from Lumina Foundation​—the initiative focused on completion, reflecting an increasing emphasis among community colleges to have students earn degrees and certificates. In April 2010, AACC joined other national higher education organizations to promote the development and implementation of policies, practices and institutional cultures that will produce 50 percent more students with high quality degrees and certificates by 2020.

With the new funding, Plus 50 aims to triple the number of participating colleges and provide them with resources, funds and expertise needed to build successful programs at their campuses. AACC will receive technical help to scale up the program from the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. 

Selecting participants

Colleges will be selected competitively after responding to a request for proposal that AACC will issue this spring. Selection criteria will include experience in recruiting plus-50 students, redesigning programs/delivery approaches to meet plus-50 learning styles and establishing partnerships with business and community organizations.

Grantee colleges will have access to existing toolkits and resources to help them reach out to baby boomers. They’ll also benefit from the advice and support of Plus 50 college staff that have worked with older learners for many years and understand their unique needs.

Both current and prospective Plus 50 colleges will comprise a best practices network to support growth, development and sustainability of programs to assist baby boomers nationwide. AACC will develop an implementation manual based on best practices that will provide support to other colleges seeking to improve services for plus-50 students.