Intergenerational Program Database

The Intergenerational Media Literacy Program supports youth in broadening their skills and understanding of the role of digital technology in a social and cultural context, and will engage seniors as collaborators in enhancing the learning and creative experience of the young people—even as they learn important technology skills themselves. This program provides an immersion into media portrayals of older adults, with a focus on exploring ageist messages and their impact on seniors, and will offer youth participants a transformational opportunity to bridge the generational divide while advancing their digital and social learning. Through the intergenerational component, the program enables youth to gain an appreciation of the impact of media bias on other groups and expand their skills to include cross-generational communication, social impact analysis, and collaborative media production.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

To honor the memory of the 12 million victims of this horrific genocide, JCY-Westchester Community Partners, Lincoln Park Jewish Center, Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center Speakers Bureau and the Yonkers Public Schools offer an annual Holocaust Remembrance Program. It is a 5 day program designed for Yonkers public school students.

ReServe's READY program helps low-income students apply to college by training and deploying college mentors, professionals who are 55+. College mentors reach over 2500 students in over 50 schools.

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.

We are bringing Music Together to the Lenox Hill Senior Center, where children and their families will join together with the ‘mature’ population in our community for occasional sing-alongs. Along with you and your child, elderly participants will observe and join in throughout the class.