One of our most overlooked resources is Americans over 60.  Need proof?  Meet the winners of the first Purpose Prize, for Americans leading with experience. Sponsored by Civic Ventures and funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies and the John Templeton Foundation, the Purpose Prize recognizes Americans over 60 who are applying their skills and creativity to help solve long-standing social problems.  Here are the first five $100,000 winners, selected from 1,200 applicants.

Akbar Ahmed, 63, and Judea Pearl, 70
After terrorists murdered his son, Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, Judea Pearl left his teaching job to team up with Muslim scholar Akbar Ahmed to promote religious tolerance and reconciliation in the U.S. and abroad.  Ahmed, a former Pakistani ambassador, recently became the first Muslim to speak at the U.S. Holocaust Museum.

Conchy Bretos, 61
Overseeing Florida's assisted living facilities, adult day care, and nursing homes, Conchy Bretos was appalled to see how many low-income elders and disabled adults were moved from public housing to Medicaid nursing homes for want of a little daily help.  She was the driving force behind the first public housing project to bring assisted living services to older adults so they could stay in their homes.  Since then, she's helped bring assisted living services to 40 public housing projects in 12 states.

Charles Dey, 75
Building on a lifelong passion for expanding educational opportunities, Charles Dey took on a new mission in his 60s -- to get jobs for disabled high school students.  He created Start on Success, which has helped 1,500 students get internships at universities, hospitals, and businesses, and 85 percent have gone on to full-time jobs or further education.

Marilyn Gaston, 67, and Gayle Porter, 60
Knowing that African-American women die at higher rates than any other group of women, from largely preventable diseases, health professionals Marilyn Gaston and Gayle Porter created Prime Time Sister Circles -- which offer a support group and a health course on exercise, nutrition, and stress to change how African-American women approach their own health and the health of their families.  A year later, nearly 70 percent of the participating women had maintained health improvements.

W. Wilson Goode, Sr., 68
Eight years after his second term as mayor of Philadelphia, Wilson Goode earned a doctorate of ministry and assumed the leadership of Amachi, a nonprofit created to help the 7 million children who have a parent in prison or jail.  Goode rallied pastors in predominantly African-American communities to encourage church members to serve as mentors.  To date, mentors have served more than 30,000 children -- and research suggests that without intervention, 70 percent of these children would follow their parents to jail.

"These inspiring men and women illustrate an emerging trend in our society, as millions of aging Americans turn their experience and passion for change into meaningful work in the second half of life," said Marc Freedman, founder and president of Civic Ventures.

These winners were among 70 older social innovators -- the top 5 percent of the applicants -- who attended a Purpose Prize Innovation Summit Sept. 7-9, 2006, at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif.  The event was sponsored by Civic Ventures and the Stanford Graduate School of Business' Center on Social Innovation. The Case Foundation sponsored a live webcast of the event, which you can view here.

For more information about the Purpose Prize, the finalists, and winners, visit the Purpose Prize website.