Intergenerational Program Database

Intergenerational Painting Programs are designed to give participants across the life span the opportunity to come together through art. Programs are held at nursing homes and senior centers in Hancock County and Allen County. Facilities are responsible for scheduling the class for their residents/ members, while the children/ students are responsible for registering via the AMA Studio or website.

Volunteers for Community Impact sponsors the Foster Grandparent Program, RSVP, and VCI Cyber-Seniors throughout Central Florida, allowing adults ages 55 and older to connect with young people through a variety of sources. The Foster Grandparent Program and RSVP create the opportunity for adults ages 55 and over to volunteer as little as 30 minutes up to 25 hours every week with special needs and at risk youth helping them learn to read, and stay on target for graduation. VCI Cyber-Seniors connects adults with a young mentor who teaches them how to reconnect to their friends, family, and community through technology. Be a Hero... Volunteer!

When children can’t be with their parents, they should be with their family. Foster Kinship is a local nonprofit exclusively focused on serving kinship families and the over 19,000 children in kinship care in Nevada. To improve outcomes for children in kinship care, Foster Kinship empowers kinship caregivers to provide the safest, most stable and permanent placements for the children in their home. Foster Kinship provides three free programs for kinship caregivers: support, advocacy and case management. By helping to “keep home in the family” for these vulnerable children, Foster Kinship envisions a safe and healthy childhood for ALL children in kinship care.

Our Grandfriends Intergenerational Volunteer Program is one of the longest, continuously operating, school-based intergenerational programs in Illinois. The program began in 1991. Our program matches local older adult volunteers with kindergarten-fifth grade classrooms. Volunteers, in collaboration with the classroom teachers, work with students in areas of reading, writing and math. Frequently Grandfriends share their own life experiences, which brings history to life. Additionally, volunteers have helped in the school office, the library and with the art and music teachers. We are a very culturally diverse community and our Grandfriends help students as they learn to communicate in English. Enduring relationships have developed between teachers, school staff and our wonderful volunteers. The volunteers love watching the children grow throughout the school year. Our Grandfriends often serve as "ambassadors at large," sharing the insights they have gained by being in the school throughout the wider community. Parents, students and school staff have all come to recognize and value the incredible resource our Grandfriends have become.

Grands As Parents Inc. was founded in 1996 and is compromised of grandparent caregivers and relatives who have found themselves in parenting roles for their grandchildren (in some cases great children). These grandparents have been forced from the realm of retirement to become sole caretakers for these energetic and needy children. Grands As Parents provides support services and advocates for the rights of the heads of such families and is committed to providing assistance to these caregivers and their entire household for which they are responsible. GAPS is designed to address the special needs and concerns of the grandparents who have specific issues (whatever the reason) and who are temporary or permanent caretakers of their grandchildren, however, this is not a requirement for participation. This a non-profit organization is administrated by volunteers and has a board of directors. This organization willingly collaborates with other nonprofit community organizations in the concept that it takes a village to raise a child. GAPS provides the following services/ referrals - Crisis/Stress Management, Legal Services, Housing, Food, Clothing, Human Resources.

RSVP Kenosha mentoring program places RSVP volunteers in elementary and middle schools. They serve as role models and spend time once a week with their mentees in the classroom

At the Fernandez Center for Alternative Learning RSVP Workshop Mentoring Program, RSVP volunteers are making a difference with at-risk students by helping them discover the joy of learning through the use of power tools. Students learn about safety and complete basic woodworking projects. This "hands-on" type of learning also increases the students' self-esteem and confidence and instills a sense of pride in accomplishments. The volunteers provide a supportive environment by being patient and by understanding that the students have varying abilities and learn at different rates. The real benefit of this program is the mentoring and bonding that takes place between student and volunteer.

RSVP Reading Tutor program began in 1998 as a national initiative to ensure that every child reads well and independently by the end of third grade. Since the beginning, volunteers have been reading with first and second grade children in various schools. Most volunteers read with children for 90 minutes once a week. The attention of a caring volunteer results in students not only improving their reading scores on standardized tests, but also increasing their self-esteem as they become more confident readers.

America Reads is a national program to assure that all students are able to read at grade level by third grade. Volunteers spend time each week with Kindergarten through Third Grade students in one-on-one and small group settings. Volunteers are grouped in teams for orientation, training, recognition and support.

Contributions of Different Cultures are half day and whole day events where students and seniors are brought together to share and learn from each other. Through hands-on activities, music, and food preparation students are taught an oral history lesson. Folk Fairs help to demonstrate and preserve our community and appreciation of the past. Hundreds of adults and thousands of students participate in our Folk Fairs every year.