Our History
In 1988, then United States Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, John Gardner, introduced the idea of Experience Corps in a concept paper that discussed the creation of an organization that would mobilize the time, talent and experience of older Americans to revitalize their communities. Marc Freedman (President, CEO and Founder of Encore.org) connected with Gardner in the 1990s and they discussed how the idea might come to fruition. In the mid-1990s, Freedman collaborated with Dr. Linda Fried (geriatrician and epidemiologist then at Johns Hopkins University) and designed the Experience Corps program pilot from 1993 to 1995. In developing the program, they drew upon volunteering best practices and scientific evidence for the effective health promotion for older adults. They skillfully drove a multi-partner collaboration with Public/Private Ventures, a nonprofit organization that develops innovative strategies to help disadvantaged children, acting as the managing partner for this effort, working in close collaboration with the National Senior Service Corps of the Corporation for National and Community Service (now AmeriCorps Seniors) and researchers from Johns Hopkins University.
After a planning and start-up phase that began in the summer of 1995, an 18-month pilot was conducted in 12 schools in Philadelphia, South Bronx, Minneapolis, Portland, and Port Arthur. The first group of Experience Corps volunteers began participating in early 1996 in 12 schools across five states. Each of the five pilot projects was sponsored by a lead agency in those cities, either an AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent Program or a Retired and Senior Volunteer Program. The projects agreed to place teams of 15 half-time Experience Corps volunteers in select elementary schools in communities experiencing poverty. In return, each project received $175,000 for the two-year period to plan, develop, and implement Experience Corps in their city.
Shortly after the pilots were operational, Experience Corps formed a partnership with AARP, which assisted with volunteer recruitment through outreach to its members living close to Experience Corps schools. Through a series of strategic partnerships from 1997 to 2008, Experience Corps formalized its program model and expanded rapidly.
In 2011, Experience Corps formally joined forces with AARP and subsequently, in January of 2015, became a program of the AARP Foundation. This merge continues to support the priorities of both the organization and the program—AARP Foundation Experience Corps is able to increase its ability to tap into the experience and dedication of Americans 50 and over who want to give back to their communities, and it offers AARP a new way to engage in one of its top service priorities—volunteering to tutor and mentor youth.
