July 7, 2006 - "College graduates, shaped by such events as Sept. 11, Hurricane Katrina and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, are applying to service organizations such as AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps in record numbers." (USA TODAY)
In October of 2005, the Peace Corp announced the highest level of volunteers in 30 years: 7,810 Americans serve with the Peace Corp in 77 countries. The Peace Corp volunteer level peaked at nearly 15,000 in 1966 and was at record lows in the 1980s - in fact, only 5,380 served in 1982, the lowest level in Peace Corp history.
Are there more young adults age 20-24 than there were in the 1980s?
- 1980 - Adults 20-24, 8 % of the total US population (22,441,863)
- 2000 - Adults 20-24, 6.7 % of the total US population (18,964,001)
So, there were 3,477,862 more adults 20-24 in 1980.*
Are there fewer jobs for college graduates now, than in 1980?
" ... the National Association of Colleges & Employers notes job prospects for seniors are up 14.5% over 2005." (USA TODAY, July 7, 2006)
Photo courtesy of the Peace Corp.
"On October 14, 1960, at 2:00 a.m., Presidential Candidate John F. Kennedy stands on the steps of the Michigan Union at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. In an impromptu speech, he challenges them to give two years of their lives to help people in countries of the developing world." (www.peacecorps.gov)
Five months later, President Kennedy issues an Executive Order creating the Peace Corp. This year, 2006, the Corp celebrates its 45th Anniversary.
That was 1960 ... but who has challenged this generation to serve?
In the USA TODAY article, one 26-year old, who had just left a career in corporate banking to serve with the Peace Corp in Panama, stated "There's a lot of need in this world, and it wasn't doing anything in my heart to help make the rich people be richer."
So are 20 year-olds different than they were in 1980? Why the increase in volunteerism?
Twenty year-olds are different than they were in 1980.
My friend, we are ALL different than we were in 1980.
There's an increase in volunteerism across the population spectrum. New organizations like Global Service Corp and Cross Cultural Solutions offer programs for all ages to serve, with flexible commitments (even 1 to 12 weeks).
Read my founding partner, Roy H. Williams' "Marketing in 2005 and Beyond;" you'll understand this transformation.
From the memo, and the book Generations, he talks about the swing from the "idealistic generation" of the 1963-2002 forty-year cycle to the new "civic generation," beginning in 2003 and lasting through 2043. In the memo (written in November of 2004) he predicts the increase in volunteerism, the end of the term "upwardly mobile" and the decrease in the effectiveness of current advertising.
Sure 911, Katrina and Iraq have something to do with it. But it's deeper ... it's inevitable.
For me, like the 26 year-old, I felt it in my heart. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs went out the window and I live with a different triangle. Self-actualization became more important than safety in this new world.
In 2004, I realized the ethics of the company I served no longer matched my own. The Emperor had no clothes. After 25 years in television and network radio, I resigned. Three months later, I was diagnosed with cancer -- my second diagnosis in 4 years.
I realize there are Emperors and Empresses all around me ... but they don't come in the form of CEOs, politicians or sales performance winners at the annual conference. They come in the form of my husband, my Mom, the nutritionist at the Cancer Therapy and Research Center, the teeth and soap-deprived old man on the bus that made the bus driver stop to return the checkbook I left on the seat, my friends and family who send me cards and pray for me.
Over the past two years my lifestyle has changed. When I look back I think of 7 things that were the highlight of my career. The seven trips I took, alone, to the top seven western art museums in America. Those trips replenished my soul.
I know art has that effect on everyone ... it's because of the way our brains are wired. That's why I provide the tools to the corporate world on the difference the right art program, when properly executed, can make to employees, stakeholders and customers.
*US Census, 2000
