FOUNDER OF WELLBRIETY RECEIVES $100,000 DOLLLARS FOR ADVOCACY FOR SOBERITY MOVEMENT

October 26, 2009

Contact:
White Bison
1-877-871-1495
info@whitebison.org

Don Coyhis, Among 10 Social Innovators in Encore Careers
to Win 2009 Purpose Prize

Entrepreneurs Over 60 Win $50,000 - $100,000 Each for Using
Creativity, Experience to Solve Long-Standing Social Problems

Colorado Springs, CO - Don Coyhis has been awarded a 2009 Purpose Prize, which honors social entrepreneurs over 60 who are using their experience and passion to take on society's biggest challenges. Now in its fourth year, the six-year, $17 million program is the nation's only large-scale investment in social innovators in the second half of life.

Don Coyhis (Mohican Nation), the Founder of the Colorado Springs, CO-based White Bison, Inc., will receive $100,000 for his work in Native American sobriety, recovery and healing, begun in 1988 with the founding of White Bison, Inc. By the mid-to-late 1990's, Coyhis was also the inspiration and founder of the Wellbriety Movement, dedicated to the healing and prosperity of Native American individuals, families, communities and tribal nations. Visit www.whitebison.org for more information.

Don Coyhis will join nine other 2009 winners and 46 Purpose Prize fellows at a Summit on Innovation on Oct. 31 - Nov. 1 at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business' Center on Social Innovation, one of the world's leading academic centers focused on social entrepreneurship.

The winners and 1,000-plus nominees in 2009 underscore a trend in entrepreneurialism later in life. According to studies by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the 55-64 age group is the most active in creating new ventures. Counter to stereotype, people ages 20-34, the study found, are the least entrepreneurial.

"More than ever, the problems facing our communities, country and world call out for creative solutions," said Marc Freedman, co-founder of The Purpose Prize and author of Encore: Finding Work That Matters in the Second Half of Life. "Fortunately, we don't run out of ideas as we age.

"Like so many others in this new stage of life between the end of midlife careers and the beginning of true old age, The Purpose Prize winners combine creativity, experience and passion with a desire to do something bigger than themselves," Freeman continued.

The Encore Careers campaign is run by Civic Ventures, a national think tank on boomers, work and social purpose. Funding for The Purpose Prize comes from The Atlantic Philanthropies and the John Templeton Foundation.

Sherry Lansing, CEO of the Sherry Lansing Foundation and former chair of Paramount Pictures' Motion Picture Group, chairs the jury that selected this year's winners. The 24 judges are leaders in business, politics, journalism and the nonprofit sector - including actor Sidney Poitier, social entrepreneur Thomas Tierney, former Senator Harris Wofford and journalist Cokie Roberts.

The Purpose Prize is a program of the Encore Careers campaign (www.encore.org), which aims to engage millions of boomers in encore careers combining social impact, personal meaning and continued income in the second half of life. The goal: produce a windfall of human talent to solve society's greatest problems, from education to the environment, health care to homelessness.

Fuller summaries, videos and photographs for Don Coyhis are online at www.encore.org, and you may also view information on other winners.

Don Coyhis and White Bison, Inc., in collaboration with Encore Careers, Inc., are honored to accept this award on behalf of the healing and wellbeing of Native American people.