Jan Albert took most of her classes online to become a certified gerontologist.

A new report profiles 10 community colleges that are attracting experienced workers, engaging local employers and helping prepare boomers for meaningful work in the second half of life.

For example, at age 54 Jan Albert is working with her sister to start her own nonmedical home health care business. Albert had worked for years as social worker, then as a computer instructor and eventual as a real estate professional in Southern California. When the housing market took a dive, she was laid off. She applied for unemployment while taking care of her aging parents.

The transition to her encore career was made easier by the gerontology program at Coastline Community College in Fountain Valley, Calif., where she was able to do most of her coursework online. She was one of 50 students who took free and noncredit workshops at night that provided an overview of jobs related to gerontology.

Among the other community colleges profiled in
Called “Pathways to Encore Careers: How 10 Community Colleges Are Preparing Boomers for Work in Education, Health Care and Social Services,” are:

• Baltimore City Community College (Baltimore, Md.), which used an executive outplacement model to help African American women over 50 develop the skills they need to transition to encore careers
• Broward Community College (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), which offered free seminars and career counseling for two months to help boomers explore local encore career and service opportunities
• Central Piedmont Community College (Charlotte, N.C.), which provided experienced managers and executives with career coaching and peer networking opportunities to help them transition to the nonprofit sector
• Coastline Community College (Fountain Valley, Calif.), which offered courses for older students interested in gerontology and elder-care careers
• Collin College (Allen, Texas), which targeted boomers who have been laid off or retired from engineering and technology careers, and helped them get fast-track certification to become certified high school math and science teachers
• GateWay Community College (Phoenix, Ariz.), which joined forces with local employers to help develop courses that train boomers for careers as caregivers
• Owensboro Community and Technical College (Owensboro, Ky.), which encouraged experienced nurses to become adjunct nursing faculty at the community college level, filling a critical need to train the next generation of nursing students
• Portland Community College (Portland, Ore.), which established a peer mentoring program for students over 50 who are enrolled in the college’s gerontology certificate or degree program, to improve student support and boost retention
• Virginia Community College System (Richmond, Va.), which launched a recruitment effort to attract more boomers with college degrees to their existing fast-track teacher licensure programs
• Washtenaw Community College (Ann Arbor, Mich.), which offered all-day encore career workshops for mid-career professionals who had lost jobs, white and blue collar, and wanted retraining to find social purpose work