Intergenerational Program Database

Called Project C.A.R.E., this student-run senior center is for adults 55 and older in the community. The program was founded in 1995 to provide local older adults with a place to meet. Currently, older adults visit the high school throughout the school year (3 days a week) for crafts, lunch with the students, movies, games, and camaraderie. The intergenerational program has been a success with teens and elders. Keyword: Shared Site

Children from a local Boys & Girls Club visit with residents at Mennonite Friendship Communities to garden together.

Teens Helping the Elderly (THE) Club was formed by students to help the elderly. Students have helped at Haysville Healthcare Center and plan to be involved with the Haysville Senior Center. The activities include ice cream socials, group circle with various activities, and manicure Fridays. Senior residents have helped students with Homecoming activities and helped them decorate their float for their fall festival. The students helped the residents pass out candy to trick or treaters, assisted with a Veterans Day celebration, and helped serve a holiday dinner to all residents and their families. Students in THE club set up a shopping mall at the nursing home for residents to pick out gifts for their loved ones; students also helped wrap and deliver the gifts. The students also hosted a Valentines dinner and BINGO for the residents in the commons of their school. The residents also had pen pals from tri city school. If funds were allowed, they plan to build a gazebo in the courtyard.

The Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics recently started an intergenerational mentoring program with members of the Friends of the Dole Institute and the Dole Institute’s Student Advisory Board. The Friends of the Dole Institute is an annual giving program made up mostly of retirees in the Lawrence, Kansas community. Members of the Student Advisory Board are undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Kansas interested in public service and civic engagement. Mentors and mentees were matched based on their interests and met at three facilitated meetings throughout the semester, as well as on their own.

Children and seniors share songs, stories, rhymes, rhythms, instrument play and movement in a supportive, creative setting. Participants in Music Sparks' "Sharing Songs" program include children between the ages of 18 months and age 5, and older adults residing in the assisted living facility that hosts the event. Music Sparks' "Families in Rhythm (FIR)"program welcomes the entire family (3 years and older) to join the seniors of Sterling House Senior Living for rhymes, singing, drumming and moving.

Asbury Park is the home of Asbury Station, an affiliation of Newton Community Child Care Center, providing an opportunity for elders and children to interact on a daily basis. It grants them an opportunity to interact with not only other elders, but also with teachers, children and their families.  Elders realize they still have the ability to nurture and educate during the intergenerational activities.  Keyword: Shared Site

H.O.M.E. helps Chicago’s low-income seniors maintain their independence by providing services unlike any organization in the City of Chicago. Intergenerationally, HOME maintains three intergenerational affordable houses where seniors choose between individual apartments or, for residents who need some assistance, shared living

The IEA/NEA SP and the IEA/NEA Retired Program have combined efforts to offer a mentoring program to students who are entering the field of education. This program offers students the opportunity to work with a retired teacher in a mentoring relationship.

Foster Grandparents Program- Senior volunteers who work as foster grandparents offer friendship, education, wisdom, assistance and one-on-one mentorship to their young mentees. Many of these youth are experiencing environmental issues at home that often interfere with their learning. The volunteers provide them with basic human nurturing and make sure that their basic needs are met. They also work to ensure the youth get the help they need with their schoolwork, teaching these young children everything from social skills to the alphabet.

An activity project that reaches across generations and teaches young people about growing older and the normal physical changes that occur with age. It also teaches those who come in contact with older citizens how to effectively communicate with them and serve their needs. U. if IL extension project 4-H awareness