Del Mar Encore Fellows Initiative Seeks New Host Organizations

The Dayton Foundation is inviting area nonprofit organizations to apply to host a Del Mar Encore Fellow, beginning in July 2021. The Request for Proposals, which can be found on The Dayton Foundation website, seeks initiatives that address a significant community issue and would benefit from the leadership of an experienced, older adult professional. Del Mar Encore Fellows are paid by The Dayton Foundation to work part-time on projects for 6 to 12 months. Proposals are due Wednesday, March 31, 2021.

“COVID-19 has changed a lot of how we think about our work and sparked a new approach to the Fellows,” said Noreen Willhelm, Senior Fellow for Del Mar Encore Fellows Initiative. “Prior to the pandemic, Fellows would work one to three years with a single nonprofit. In an effort to create more opportunities for nonprofits to work with highly skilled older adults, the Foundation has revised the program so nonprofits may enlist a Fellow to work on projects as short as six months or as long as one year.”

Since 2017, The Dayton Foundation has deployed nearly a dozen older adults into the community to work as Del Mar Encore Fellows on significant community issues. Their work has led to the creation of new tools, resources and insights, including:

• A new COVID-19-triggered, re-training program for laid-off restaurant employees to become personal care aides;
• Installation of new technology to help low-income older adults have increased access to health care;
• A report on the prevalence of illiteracy and low-literacy in our community;
• Increased attention to the digital divide as an impediment to children’s access to learning; and
• Development of new education and employment pathways for early childhood educators.

Organizations that have hosted Fellows to date include the Area Agency on Aging, PSA 2; Brunner Literacy Center; Dayton Metro Library; Learn to Earn Dayton, Ruth Frost Parker Center for Abundant Aging; NCCJ; Preschool Promise; and St. Mary Development Center.

“Having a Del Mar Encore Fellow on your team gives you access to a seasoned, but also objective, professional,” said Celine O’Neill, retired executive director of Brunner Literacy Center. “As an executive director, it is easy to begin to see the world solely within your organizational context. A Del Mar Encore Fellow broadens that context and provides you with other points of view and ways of engaging reality, both within and outside your organization.”

For additional information about the Del Mar Encore Fellows Initiative or the 2021 Request for Proposals, please contact Noreen Willhelm, Senior Fellow, at [email protected].