Bay Area Non-profit Leader Named as a 2024 AARP Purpose Prize® Award Fellow

WASHINGTON – Today, AARP announced its 2024 AARP Purpose Prize Award recipients. The one-of-a-kind national award honors people age 50-plus who have proven that they are using their knowledge and life experience to make a difference. Five AARP Purpose Prize Winners who have founded a non-profit will receive $50,000 for their organization. In addition, 10 AARP Purpose Prize Fellows and their organizations will be recognized with an award of $10,000. All award recipients will also receive a year of technical support to help broaden the scope of their organization’s work.

Dr. Pamela Lindsay, co-founder of the College of Adaptive Arts, was recognized as one of 15 non-profit founders chosen throughout the country who are giving back to their communities.  

College of Adaptive Arts (CAA), a Bay Area based educational non-profit, is an organization providing collegiate education to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It centers on the concept of lifelong learning and serves more than 224 adult students across 9 states.

CAA was co-founded by Dr. Pamela Lindsay and DeAnna Pursai in 2009 after both witnessed loved ones with special needs become sidelined once they exited the public-school system. The organization is the first of its kind to receive state authorization to provide these services to the many adults in California and beyond who need them. 

“Our Purpose Prize winners and fellows are shining examples of a simple, yet profound truth: When we find our sense of purpose—that certain something that gives us a reason to get up and get going every day—we not only give meaning to our own lives; we make the world a better place for everyone,” said AARP CEO Jo Ann Jenkins.

The philosophy of CAA is to offer lifelong learning, with no age limitations, to any adult with a disability who wants to pursue higher education. CAA’s ultimate goal is to be able to expand its innovative collegiate model, replicating it on every campus of higher learning across the country, and eventually, the world.

Alongside the Purpose Prize winners and fellows, AARP is presenting award-winning actor and humanitarian Gary Sinise with an honorary Purpose Prize Award for his founding and leadership of the Gary Sinise Foundation. Founded in 2011, the Gary Sinise Foundation honors military members, veterans, first responders, their families, and those in need.

“I am so honored to be recognized as an AARP Purpose Prize® Award Fellow,” said Dr. Pamela Lindsay. “I know firsthand that the pursuit of our dreams and passions are not limited by the number of birthdays we celebrate. CAA is rooted in the knowledge that continued learning and related community contribution at any age increases personal purpose, life satisfaction, and success.”

The AARP Inspire Award will also return for its third year. Starting today, the general public will have the opportunity to vote at aarp.org/InspireAward for the AARP Purpose Prize Winner that they would like to win the AARP Inspire Award, which grants the recipient an additional $10,000 for their organization. The AARP Inspire Award recipient will be announced during an in-person celebration honoring all recipients in Washington, D.C. on October 25, 2023.

The 2023-2024 AARP Purpose Prize winners are:

Ken Falke – Bluemont, Virginia – Boulder Crest Foundation

Peter Jensen, M.D. – Little Rock, Arkansas – The REACH Institute

Janice Malone – Mobile, Alabama – Vivian's Door

Don Schoendorfer – Irvine, California – Free Wheelchair Mission

Laura Stachel, M.D. – Berkeley, California – We Care Solar

The 2023-2024 AARP Purpose Prize fellows are:

Julie Clugage – Menlo Park, California – Team4Tech Foundation

Shana Erenberg – Skokie, Illinois – Libenu

Lee Ann Kline – Huntington Beach, California – STEM Advantage

Scarlett Lewis – Newtown, Connecticut – Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement

Pamela Lindsay – Saratoga, California – College of Adaptive Arts

Geeta Mehta – New York, New York – Asia Initiatives

Maura O’Malley – Pelham, New York – Lifetime Arts, Inc.

Rob Perez – Lexington, Kentucky – DV8 Kitchen Vocational Training Foundation

Ming-Ming Tung-Edelman – Seattle, Washington – Refugee Artisan Initiative

Renita White – Chicago, Illinois – Of Color Inc.

ABOUT THE COLLEGE OF ADAPTIVE ARTS:

College of Adaptive Arts is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization dedicated to providing a lifelong, equitable collegiate experience to adults with special needs who historically have not had access to college education. The vision of CAA is to empower adults with special needs to creatively transform perception of disability. This is an institution of higher education where adults have opportunities to learn from a diverse and rich curriculum that will enable them to live a full and empowered life as successful, contributing members of the community. For more information, or to volunteer and/or donate visit https://www.collegeofadaptivearts.org/