Intergenerational Program Database

The youth development & leadership team has held three annual intergenerational programs. This is a student led and created service project involving elementary, middle, and high schoolers putting on an event for senior citizens in the area. This year the project involved popular television game shows through the decades. The goal of the programs is to create vital connections between both generations, to change perceptions and create a positive outlook toward each other. There was participation from nearly 100 students.

The goals of the Isabella Caring Partners Program are: (1) to increase the service provided by Isabella staff by employing high school students trained to deliver non-intimate assistance, (2) to promote intergenerational relationships, (3) to give students experience in the workplace and provide them with stipends and (4) to facilitate students’ exploration of health careers (Caring Partner Program, n.d.). Career Exploration in Aging brings students to skilled nursing floors where they visit and assist residents one-to-one and assist with group activities under the supervision of a charge nurse. Youth participate in workshops related to geriatric health care and issues of aging and health careers. It is an after-school paid working experience (Youth opportunities, n.d.). For 9 months on 2 and 3 day per week schedules, students spend time with elders. The Ratio is 1 to 2 students per 40 residents on a nursing unit.

Kenmore East High School National Honor Society hosts the Tonawanda Senior Citizens Center for an annual intergenerational dance. Students and seniors take a dancing break while students serve homemade deserts and listen to stories from another generation.

United Hebrew of New Rochelle (UH) residents team up with visiting local students for an afternoon of Olympics-style events at UH's annual Intergenerational Olympics. More than 50 residents and 30 students participated in the event, coordinated by United Hebrew, the New Rochelle Office for Aging and the Westchester County Southeast Regional Livable Communities Connection. Residents from Willow Towers Assisted Living, part of the United Hebrew family of services, also participated. Students from Pelham High School, New Rochelle High School Key Club and Academic Pathways dedicated a day of their school spring break to community service by interacting with residents and escorting them to their activities. Bowling competitions, wheelchair races, card games and relays took place at stations around the first floor of United Hebrew's new Skalet Pavilion.

Grandparents and grandchildren participate in a wide range of activities designed to build vital connections between people and nature.  Expect music, canoeing, swimming, hiking, natural crafts, singing, campfires, stars, balsam-scented air and lots of laughter.

CATCH brings children and adults age 50+ together to learn good eating and physical activity habits for a lifetime. The program combats obesity by engaging adults age 50+ as mentors to teach healthy lifelong habits to kids in grades K-5. Adults in the program benefit in several ways. Research shows that volunteers have lower rates of depression and mortality and greater functional ability than those who do not volunteer. As they promote healthy habits for kids and for themselves, they also experience the rewards of meaningful community service.

This annual event brings together people of all ages to fish. The event partners include the Monroe County Fishing Advisory Board, the Reidman Foundation, the Monroe County Parks Department, the Monroe County Office for the Aging, and the NYS DEC.

MentorCHIP offers site-based mentoring at partnering organizations with an academic and asset-building focus to build the confidence and resilience of children ages 6–16 whose parents are incarcerated. The program’s goal is to significantly improve the cognitive, social, and lifelong learning of children who are affected by incarceration.

StoryCorps collects the stories of individuals from diverse backgrounds as they are told to important individuals in the storyteller's life, with the intent of sharing them with future generations. Frequently, this involves storytelling between relatives or friends of disparate age. In particular, the Memory Loss Initiative, which focuses on telling the stories of those who are experiencing memory loss, by its very nature often has older adults relating stories to younger people.

Since 2005, the students and staff of the Highland Central School District have hosted an annual senior citizens prom.