The Elder Leadership Program strengthens community volunteer services through the leadership of mature people who energize volunteers of all ages. Elder Leaders serve as volunteer coordinators at Councils on Aging and the YMCA of Greater Boston branches, encouraging volunteering among community members.
Elder Leaders recruit, screen, place, train, supervise, and recognize other volunteers.
Volunteers serve in both existing programs as well as in new programs created and developed by Elder Leaders. The program is a test of the significant volunteering hypothesis, that is, that talented older people will make substantial commitments as volunteers when they are asked to take on highly responsible assignments. Gerontology Institute, University of Massachusetts Boston.