Better Late is a new initiative designed to help all of us – in the years following retirement, primary and secondary family responsibilities, and even third stage careers – sustain a meaningful identity, frame a sense of purpose, and forge meaningful connections with family, friends and the larger community.
Much has been written about the so-called “bonus” or “encore” years, but this has generally focused on the earlier phase of this life stage, generally in one’s 50’s or 60’s. Better Late examines, addresses, and celebrates how we can all develop and sustain a sense of purpose during our 70s, 80s and beyond. In each workshop, we gather “data” on purpose in the form of words and images from the participants themselves. We gather and share these important messages in order to influence the broader culture and raise up a sense of what is needed to promote greater, later life purpose.
At the heart of Better Late is a five-week workshop. Guided by award-winning documentarian Annie Levy and John Beilenson, leader of the socially responsible communications firm, SCP, groups join in reflection, writing, and photography to explore what purpose means to them, examining their past and present and imagining a purposeful future.The writing and photography are posted on the Better Late website for workshop participants and community members to see. There is a culminating event for each workshop, featuring participants presenting portions of their work to a larger invited community (either live or virtually).
Looking ahead, the project will create an online guide/workbook that will encourage program directors at senior centers, CCRCs, assisted living facilities, and senior housing sites to run Better Late workshops and contribute to the site. Promoted through the media and social media, Better Late site will directly invite, facilitate, and guide older individuals as they develop and post their own visual and verbal reflections on purpose in their lives.
Ultimately, the Better Late initiative is committed to redefining what can be expected as we live longer and to creating a positive, public identity for this period of life that redresses ageist stereotypes and reframes how we all can live better, the later we get in our lives.
Annie Levy works with leaders and signature organizations to help them understand the heart of who they are and then create ways to tell that story to new and existing audiences. All to give public expression to the new and compelling futures that her clients are creating and seeking to communicate.
Annie and her Made Visible team develop and create projects - from those that live on digital platforms to live events - that communicate about the best that is in us. Her work is known for finding ways to make the moment matter and therefore enlivens and infuses spaces (both real and virtual) with meaning and opportunities for people to engage with ideas, causes and new ways of thinking and seeing. Her work has been shown widely, including at the United Nations, National Academy of Medicine, CaringKind NYC, the Hebrew Home for the Aged, is permanently installed at Mt. Sinai/Roosevelt Hospital and has been commissioned by The Frick Collection for their Art of Observation project for medical education.
John Beilenson is the President of SCP, a socially responsible communications and public relations firm near Philadelphia. SCP works with a variety of nonprofit organizations, foundations, government agencies and associations to help them use communications to create greater social impact. With a specialty in powerful messaging and storytelling, SCP has wide experience in the aging space during the last three decades, helping communities and groups prepare for the many unrealized opportunities associated with an aging population. The author of The Future Me from Peter Pauper Press, Beilenson speaks and conducts workshops across the country, serving on the boards of the Green Tree Community Foundation and Generations On Line in Philadelphia, PA, as well as Surrey Services for Seniors in Berwyn, PA, which has recently launched the Beilenson Institute on Aging and Innovation.