PROGRAM OVERVIEW:
Project Renewment defines the dynamic changes when women transform the drive and energy they previously committed to a career into a source of energy to re-create their lives. Women meet regularly in groups of 8 to 10 and discuss topics germane to their life stage, circumstances, and aspirations. A step-to-step guide with examples of topics is found in the last section of the book Project Renewment: The First Retirement Model for Career Women. When there are multiple groups in a region, an event is held once or twice a year with a speaker and opportunity to engage with women from other groups.
DEVELOPED BY: Bernice Bratter & Helen Dennis
WEBSITE:
www.ProjectRenewment.com
STARTED: 1998
OBJECTIVES:
For the first time in history, millions of highly skilled and successful career women face retirement. They are the first and largest generation of women to define themselves by their work, and are often unsure of their worth without a job. They have few role models for retirement. Through Project Renewment, they can discuss their priorities and passions and intentionally design a future that is as gratifying as their prior careers.
TARGET POPULATION:
Career women transitioning from their primary career to their next chapter. (We currently have a group of women in their 80’s and had a group for several years in their 40’s.)
BENEFITS/OUTCOMES:
Here are a few benefits mentioned in a survey of participants: opportunity to test ideas, opportunity to be introspective, stimulated by rich dialogue, more open to new experiences, seeing women who are using their new freedom to grow, appreciating the value of life at this stage, becoming more thoughtful, having a structure for the transition process, and accepting the idea of retirement. Many women reported that they have made decisions resulting in part from their participation: moving from full time to part time work, becoming an exhibiting photographer, returning to school, becoming a writer, actress, docent, launching a non-profit, etc.
VOLUNTEERS:
Helen Dennis & Bernice Bratter, based in Los Angeles CA, USA, manage this movement and “non-organization”
HOURS PER MONTH: 3
PROGRAM GUIDE:
The last chapter in the book Project Renewment®: The First Retirement Model for Career Women has a guide to create and sustain a Project Renewment group.
COSTS/FUNDING: No funding
PROMOTION: website, presentations
POLICIES FOR REPLICATING: Self-organizing
Please complete our online Program User Form if you are interested in trying out this program and need more information. You will be contacted shortly by a member of the Pass It On Network team after you submit the completed form.