Public housing meets assisted living
Conchy Bretos was the driving force behind The Helen Sawyer Building in Miami, Fla., the nation’s first assisted living facility for people living in public housing. Since then, Bretos has helped bring the benefits of assisted living to over 40 public housing projects around the country.

Despite her success, Bretos continues to push for better housing for lowincome people in need. “It’s not enough,” she says, “because there are 300,000 housing authorities nationwide.”

Job skills for disabled students
After a long career in education, Charles Dey was trying to figure out what to do with all he had learned. A friend suggested that he “do for young people with disabilities in the 90s what you did for minorities in the 60s.”

The idea caught fire in Dey’s mind and led him to start a program called Start on Success, which gives disadvantaged mentally, physically, and emotionally disabled young people an opportunity to gain confidence while learning valuable job skills.

Knowledge heals
When physicians Marilyn Gaston and Gayle Porter participated in a forum on the health of middle- aged black women, they knew they had found their mission for the second half of their lives. They realized that African-American women were dying from preventable diseases more than any other demographic group.

Taking their medical knowledge a step beyond the traditional, they created Prime Time Sister Circles, to empower women to take charge of their health.

‘I’m here on behalf of your kids’
Best known as the former mayor of Philadelphia, Wilson Goode works to match mentors with children whose parents are incarcerated. Arriving at a women’s prison to promote his program called Amachi, Goode introduced himself to the inmates by saying, “I’m here on behalf of your children.” Before he left, 90 percent of the women signed their kids up for the Amachi program. Today, more then 240 programs in 48 states have ties to Amachi.

‘We ought to spread friendship’
Judea Pearl, father of murdered journalist Daniel Pearl, and Akbar Ahmen, a former ambassador for his native Pakistan, have created a unique alliance to promote tolerance, understanding, and friendship. Their presentation, Daniel Pearl Dialogues for Muslim-Jewish Understanding Featuring Akbar Ahmed and Judea Pearl,” seeks to establish dialogue between the two faiths.

Says Pearl, “This is my conception of revenge. If they [terrorists] try to spread division among people, then we ought to spread friendship.”

Purpose Prize Innovation Summit
In addition to the 15 Purpose Prize winners, Civic Ventures awarded 55 Purpose Prize Fellows with all-expense-paid trips to the Purpose Prize Innovation Summit at Stanford University to share ideas on social innovation.

Seeing so many older adults so passionate about making the world a better place was nothing short of inspirational to everyone at the summit.

Says Emerman, “It really does counter the traditional notion that this is a period of winding down and decline. Instead of viewing older adults as a deficit, The Purpose Prize really turns it around and says this population is an asset.”

More information on The Purpose Prize competition can be found at http://www.leadwithexperience.org/prize. Nominations for the 2007 Purpose Prize will be accepted through January 31, 2007.

Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series. Upcoming issues will feature interviews with the 2006 Purpose Prize recipients.

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