Social Connection Fellow
Greg Burris has retired so he can get to work. And retirement allows him to work on the things that interest him the most – creating opportunities for meaningful social connections to reduce loneliness, social isolation, and political polarization.
After working for 25 years at Missouri State University (the last seven as Vice President of Administrative & Information Services), ten years as the City Manager of Springfield, Missouri (the third-largest city in the state), and six years as President & CEO of United Way of the Ozarks, Greg is studying “strategic foresight” and working to become a certified futurist. His current project is “reimagining the future of volunteerism and civic service,” which he is pursuing in partnership with the Foundation for Social Connection. Greg is the founder of the Give 5 Program, a first-of-its-kind “civic matchmaking” program that connects older adults with meaningful volunteer opportunities and is being hosted in twelve communities across four states. Currently, Greg is working with five school districts to implement a pilot project of the Give 5 Academy, which teaches high school students about their own community, connects them to nonprofits, and allows them to serve as “consultants” to assist the nonprofits with actual challenges to create real-world learning opportunities.
Greg married up, is the lead guitarist in two bands, may be the only computer programmer ever put in charge of the design and construction of an 11,000-seat arena, pole vaulted in high school for a school that had neither a pole nor a pit, and enjoys French Silk chocolate pie (typically, alone in a dark corner).