DENVER — Americans are living about 30 years longer than they did a century ago, yet many Coloradans reaching retirement age struggle to find meaningful ways to spend their time. A program at the University of Colorado Denver is working to change that.
CU Denver’s Change Makers program offers tools, guest speakers, and activities aimed at helping people at or near retirement design their next chapter with purpose — whether through new jobs, volunteer work, or personal passions.
“The old model of where you learn, and then you work, and then you retire, you shuffle off to oblivion, or wherever you shuffle off to, no longer fits,” said Anne Button, founding director of Change Makers. “We are helping Coloradans turn longevity into opportunity, both for themselves and for their communities, because they have a lot to offer.”
For Mark Montgomery, a graduate of the program and a former teacher, college professor, and administrator, Change Makers was an invitation to reimagine life after decades in education.
“The biggest thing I took away from Change Makers personally was the permission to explore,” Montgomery said. “Change Makers encourage me to go ahead, take the risk, try it, see what happens, and don’t give up.”
Montgomery’s retirement years so far have included acting in Leadville, making homemade jam, and volunteering in West Africa. He said the program reminded him “we’re not just used up, washed out, done, that we are able to participate and lead in new and different ways that we might not have even imagined before we started the course.”
Button said the program is designed to be financially and logistically accessible, meeting in the evenings for working participants and costing $3,600 — far less than other midlife programs that can range from $60,000 to $80,000.
Rachel Cohen, a co-designer and instructor for Change Makers, said the benefits go beyond individual fulfillment.
“Older adults still have so much to contribute,” Cohen said. “It’s helping them, but it’s also helping our community and our state, because we need that knowledge and we need that energy and drive and commitment to make your community better.”
She called this stage of life “a robust stage,” saying, “It should be this time of exploration, of getting curious, of saying, what are the roads maybe I didn’t take earlier in my life for whatever reason?”
Montgomery said the program gave him both ideas and community. “I’ve met some really great people, people who have become friends and that I hang out with now, even since the course ended.”
Change Makers is now accepting applicants for the spring 2026 semester. The deadline to apply is Dec. 15. More details are available on the Change Makers website.
A virtual open house will be held on Tuesday, November 18, from 11am to 11:45am. You can learn more and register on the Change Makers website.
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