Encore.org

Background

Marc Freedman and John Gardner founded Civic Ventures, which later became Encore.org, as an incubator to leverage older peoples’ experiences in support of left-of-center activism. Gardner served under President Lyndon Johnson as Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare and was an instrumental player in the creation of the Older Americans Act and entitlement programs such as Medicare. ⁵

Encore.org also created the Experience Corps in collaboration with Linda Fried to allow older Americans to teach literacy to young students. Once a part of AmeriCorps, Experience Corps is now a part of AARP known as the AARP Experience Corps. ⁶

Aside from supporting left-of-center advocacy projects, Encore.org has argued that the emergence of nursing homes and elderly communities are harmful to the well-being of senior citizens and claimed that integrating the elderly with young people is beneficial for their health. Encore.org has argued that mobilizing senior citizens to support left-of-center activism goals makes use of intergenerational knowledge, while benefiting senior citizens.. ⁷

Programs

Encore.org maintains three different programs to support its goals. ⁸ The Encore Fellowship program offers a one-year sponsorship to assist retirees in transitioning their skills towards a second career in left-of-center activism work or community service. The fellowship has trained thousands of members who have given over two million hours in work so far. Fellows work with “host organizations” to gain experience, and past hosts have included both philanthropic organizations, such as the Cure JM Foundation and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Mass, and left-of-center advocacy organizations, such as the Urban League of Portland and Community Action Marin. ⁹¹⁰

The Generation to Generation (Gen2Gen) program partners with advocacy organizations to place senior citizens in work environments with young people. ¹¹ Gen2Gen has partnered with a number of left-of-center and left-leaning organizations, including the Corporation for National and Community Service, GENERATION CITIZEN, Habitat for Humanity, The National Council of Jewish Women, SANDY HOOK PROMISE, the United Way, Voices for National Service, and YOUTH SERVICE AMERICA. ¹²

Aside from running its own programs, Encore.org has awarded grant funding to organizations that it deems to be providing innovative programs for senior citizens through its “Encore Prize” program. ¹³

Leadership

Marc Freedman is the founder and CEO of Encore.org. Freedman has written several books around aging and has also written shorter pieces on the subject for a number of publications. ¹⁴ Freedman has also been a speaker at the left-of-center Milken Institute. ¹⁵

Phyllis Segal is a vice president at Encore.org and co-founder of the Segal Citizen Leadership Program. Segal is the widow of Eli Segal, former Chief of Staff for former President Bill Clinton. ¹⁶

The Segal Citizen Leadership Program is a left-of-center activist group that supports other left-wing and left-of-center organizations including When We All Vote,  the Women’s March Foundation,  the League of Women Voters, Movement for Black Lives, the ACLU, Equal Justice Initiative, Black Lives Matter, and Showing Up for Racial Justice.

Segal advocates for defunding the police and passing a bill to establish a national “truth and reconciliation commission” around policing modeled after post-apartheid South Africa. The commission would research the impact of purported “systemic racism” in the United States and recommend means to correct it, including the potential for taxpayer-funded reparations payments to all African Americans. Segal has also supported a far-left campaign to enact regulations that would compel major retailers to commit 15% of all shelf space to products created by businesses owned by African Americans. ⁴