Intergenerational Program Database

Intergenerational exchange day - seniors come to school

Generating Community was created as a vehicle where old and young neighbors could talk--rather than complain--with one another. It consists of a weekly workshop that brings older persons from nursing homes, senior and community centers together with youth from pre-school to high school age.

Project Generations was founded by a group of students in the fall of 2010 in partnership with the Tompkins County Office for the Aging. The group aims to reduce social stigma about seniors and recognize their value as community members with rich life experiences worth sharing. The Office for the Aging helps seniors independently maintain their quality of life as long as possible. Project Generations supports this mission by offering companionship, mental stimulation, and social support for the elderly. Once paired, the partners meet weekly throughout the year and participate in activities based on interests, where the older adult lives, and their cognitive and physical abilities. Some pairs prefer to simply chat with one another, where other pairs work on projects or take walks together.

Generations is a leading provider of licensed, nationally accredited child care in the Rochester New York (NY) area. They offer uniquely intergenerational programming teams with social adult daycare linking children and seniors. The children at Generations' Webster Child Care go on monthly field trips to visit a local retirement home.

Open Book is an intergenerational early childhood literacy program with adult volunteers reading to children in the pediatric and foster care clinic waiting rooms at Westchester Medical Center and at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Marie Fareri Children’s Hospital. In addition Pediatricians at White Plains Hospital are trained to include reading as part of the well child visit. Over 8,000 books are given away for free annually at these locations. Open Book is a partner of the nationally acclaimed “REACH OUT AND READ” program.

A year long pen pal program in which residents from Bishop's Commons and students write letters to each other twice a month during the school year. At the end of the year, the students and older adults meet.

Trained technology students from Pace University visit locations where seniors gather, such as nutrition sites and senior apartment buildings. Senior’s vital signs – specifically their pulse, weight, oxygen blood level and blood pressure – are measured using computers and other equipment. That data is then transmitted to graduate student nurses at Pace University who review it remotely. If the tests show cause for immediate concern, the nurse will contact the seniors, their caregivers or primary care physicians directly.

In this service-based class, each Pace student is paired with two individuals in a senior community (nursing home, assisted living, or independent living). Over the course of the semester, the college students teach their older students how to:  use email, Google, and Skype; access and manage online photos; and play brain games.

“Hyper-Linking the Generations” is an intergenerational program and curriculum offered by Older Adults Technology Services (OATS) to New York City schools and community centers. The innovative program combines a program for youth with a community-based technology training program for older adults, providing unique opportunities for cross-age interaction, collaborative learning, and concrete skills development for all participants.

Students work twelve or fifteen hours per week at assigned worksites. They work during or after school, depending on the plan created by their school-based Intergenerational Coordinator. Some students go to their worksites on weekends. They are given a variety of assignments at the skilled nursing facility. They may assist with group recreational activities such as Bingo, exercise class or cooking. They may provide direct services such as escorting, letter writing, reading to visually impaired residents, or giving nail salon sessions. At senior centers they may provide telephone reassurance, or make calls to seniors who are absent. Sometimes they work with the site’s administration, helping with office tasks, helping with meal service, setting up for events and decorating for holidays.