ALBANY – Older New Yorkers looking for something worthwhile to do in their retirement years are in luck. The Center for Best Practices of the National Governor’s Association has selected New York as one of six recipients of a grant to keep older New Yorkers active in the workplace and volunteer activities.

The technical assistance grant comes from NGA’s “Policy Academy on Civic Engagement of Older Adults,” which seeks to help states ensure that new and future retirees will have suitable employment and volunteer opportunities available to them.

“We have a huge population of people who will be aging into retirement years,” said Michael J. Burgess, director of the state Office for Aging, at a press conference last week. “They are a huge resource that we can use in the employment and voluntary sectors.”

Mr. Burgess, born in Massena and raised in Watertown, will head a 15-member team appointed by Gov. David A. Paterson who, in a June 6 letter to NGA outlined the team’s goals:

• Develop a strategic plan to increase employment and volunteer opportunities for older adults.
• Ensure that older adults can age with dignity and respect in their communities with volunteer support from their peers.
• Create a unified communication strategy and educational campaign to promote civic engagement among older New Yorkers and highlight the benefits and contributions them can make in the workforce and voluntary endeavors.

The team’s members come from a variety of interested state agencies, advocacy groups and nonprofits.

Because this is a technical assistance grant, money doesn’t actually change hands, explained Gail Myers, special assistant to Mr. Burgess. NGA will pay for training in Maryland for five members of the New York team, and will also send a group of consultants to New York to work with Gov. Paterson’s appointees, she said.

Mark J. Walter, executive director of the state Office of National and Community Service and a team member, welcomed the grant as a tool to improve efficiency in volunteerism and use of volunteer resources statewide. He noted a recent survey showed that New York ranks second-to-last among the 50 states with a volunteer rate of 20.1 percent, well behind the national average of 26.7 percent

An advocate for retired persons said that older workers can offer great benefits to employers.

“Older Americans want to work longer, are prepared to work longer and have more commitment and motivation,” said Beth Finkel, manager of state operations for AARP New York. “While they may use more health care, but you save in retraining and don’t lose institutional knowledge.”

Nearly 80 percent of baby boomers will work past traditional retirement years, while more than half of AARP members are still in the work force, Ms. Finkel said. From 2005 to 2007, the number of workers over 55 has increased by over 2.5 million, a 10-percent gain.

How long can elderly people can remain productive workers

“We don’t have any data,” Ms. Finkel said. “But people are living more vibrantly, more healthily. This is a beautiful opportunity – looking at older Americans as productive workers.”

Mr. Burgess said there are challenges to reaching elderly people, who sometimes are isolated in rural areas like the north country.

“We really need to mobilize lots of people to reach the isolate elderly,” he said. “In the north country, there’s a volunteer transportation program – so much depends on the volunteer sector in transportation. Just sustaining what we have is so important – you have to have a very proactive attitude to do this.”

“I think we’ll come up with some good solutions through this project,” he said.