Purpose
Growth in knowledge and consciousness are both essential to being an effective elder activist. Our current online courses and book-study group offer opportunities to learn and grow in both areas. The Education team fosters the development of new courses with the vision of a culture influenced by the wisdom and experience of elders from generations past, present, and “future”. The goal is to deepen and broaden our capacity for conscious awareness, developing as a contemporary elder, support of lifelong learning, and the practice of compassionate pro-activism for individuals, groups, and the whole.
Our mission is to connect an inspired and aspiring community of elders by providing relevant courses, materials, and trainings—created within EAN or developed by aligned organizations outside of EAN.
This Mission includes working with the Outer Action and Community-Building Branches to present knowledge and how-to courses relative to local actions we can each take to achieve greater social and ecological justice as well as to live more sustainably. It also includes expressing the results of these educational efforts and opportunities via EAN’s Turning Point Journal, wise elder interviews, educational website content, book reviews, and resource repositories.
The Education team has two major thrusts:
- Provide a growing curriculum of educational offerings that manifest our mission; and
- Support each of the EAN action groups and projects.
Essential Questions
We continually explore essential questions, such as:
- What are the promises of evolving elderhood in the 21st Century?
- How do we educate and inspire a diverse generation of elders to deliver on these promises?
- How do we transition to take up the responsibilities of elderhood?
- How can we provide collective disciplines and advocacy to transcend our illusions of separation—from self, diverse sentient beings, and from living-Earth processes?
How we address them:
- We develop and maintain a feedback loop to continuously improve and enhance content, format, and methodology.
- We help create and sponsor EAN Core Curriculum to both deepen and expand our collective understanding of the foundational elements of EAN’s Mission.
- We coordinate with EAN action groups regarding educational elements for our regional workshops, journal, newsletters, websites, and other EAN outlets.
- We assist in developing an online library of resources – books, articles, films, slide shows and more to advance the educational mission of EAN.
Policy & Procedures for Proposing Educational Programs and Receiving Program Support
EAN welcomes proposals for Educational offerings that support and promote the mission of Elders Action Network (EAN) to engage elders in actions that address the social and environmental crises of our times.
Application Process:
- Presenter/Facilitator completes the EAN Class/Webinar Proposal Form (below) and submits (by email) to the EDU Team.
- The EDU Team reviews the proposal and, if approved, calendars the workshop, establishes the fee (which supports EAN programs and services) and notifies the presenter.
- EDU Team then forwards the proposal to the Marketing Team to review and/or edit for clarity and effectiveness, who returns suggestions to the EDU Team.
- EDU Team forwards the final proposal to Crystal, who creates the webpage/event listing, registration and publicity materials.
Time Frame
Workshops require a two to three month lead time for the most effective marketing. Once the application is submitted and approved it generally takes one to two weeks for the workshop to go live.
Publicity
Our goal is to give every workshop as much publicity as is possible and will include some or all of the following:
- EAN Events Bulletin – Sent to the full membership at the end of each month. To be included in the Events Bulletin, your application must be submitted at least 21 days before the end of the month.
- EAN Newsletter – Requests for inclusion in the Newsletter need to be addressed to Lynne Iser (LynneI@EldersAction.org) by the third day of the month prior to publication. (Not all EAN offerings appear in the Newsletter.)
- Promotional Emails – Scheduled and sent as needed and based on the description provided on the application form.
- Social Media – Most events are shared via social media (FaceBook and/or Twitter)
Application to Present Educational Offerings
(Webinars, Workshops, Classes/Programs/Cafes)
EAN welcomes requests to present virtual and/or live courses (pending pandemic status) that support and promote the mission of Elders Action Network to engage elders in actions that address the social and environmental crises of our times. Filling out the application will help us support your program with calendaring, logistical and marketing support.
Copy and paste the below information into an email, and then send it to info@eldersaction.org to submit your application. The Education Team will review and respond with questions and clarifications within two weeks of receipt.
Date of application:
Name of submitter:
Email address:
Phone:
Title of Webinar/Class:
Name of Facilitator/Presenter:
Proposed date/s and time of offering:
Will this offering be live or virtual?
Full description (200 word limit)
For marketing and website event listing. What is the content and what are the desired educational and action outcomes, including how this offering furthers the mission of Elders Action Network? What actions will this event encourage? Please also include any guest speakers with their qualifications. (Description will be edited by the EDU team.)
Short description (35-60 word limit)
For promotion in our Events Bulletin, website, social media and publicity emails. Please include any digital images you would like used in promotions. (Description will be edited by the EDU team.)
Short description of Facilitator/s (50 words or less)
Please include qualifications, links to bio or website, and digital photo/head shot.
Will you have materials to be emailed prior to the offering? If yes, when would you like that email to go out?
What is your experience in offering programs on Zoom? What kind of technical support will you need?
What is the minimum/maximum number of participants (not including facilitator/s)?
Minimum:
Maximum:
Is an EAN action group sponsoring this offering? If yes, please indicate who.
Elders for Social Justice
Elders Climate Action
Elders for Regenerative Living
Elders for Sound Democracy
Education Team
Other