Intergenerational Program Database

The North Domingo Baca Multigenerational Center features a computer cafe and community rooms, North Domingo also boasts a fitness room, classrooms, and meals. It serves youth, seniors and the community.

OASIS Tutoring is an in-school, curriculum-based literacy program that pairs older adult volunteer tutors with children in grades K-3 who have been identified as academically at risk because they are reading below grade level. New tutors complete 12 hours of training in the OASIS approach to literacy. Children are selected by their teachers and are paired with OASIS tutors. The tutor training and OASIS session plans are designed to align with state learning standards. Tutors work one-on-one with students, making a commitment to work with a child at least once a week for a full school year. The tutor reads quality literature with the child, writes the child’s thoughts in an OASIS journal, the student reads his/her journal entries, and they practices skill building activities such as letter or word recognition and vocabulary exploration. OASIS tutors offer the one-on-one support that classroom teachers would like to provide to individual s tudents – but they don’t have time for during the school day. In this literacy-based mentoring program, one-on-one OASIS tutoring sessions with a caring older adult also build confidence and self-esteem, forming the foundation for a better attitude toward reading and language arts and improved academic performance.

Older adults from Spring Hills Cherry Hill Assisted Living garden with students from Cherry Hill Alternative High School. Teenagers and seniors collaborate to keep the garden in good condition. The school garden provides multiple opportunities for high schoolers. Plants are examined for science classes, school pride grows along with the harvest, and students are taking an initiative in "going green."

In addition to the Child Development Center, other intergenerational programs include a pen-pal program with a local elementary school , friendly visits from senior students from local high schools. Their activities include letter writing, decorating, and helping with planned activities. Additionally, 6 high school students from Beijing volunteered in the Fall of 2013

Tech savvy teen siblings give seniors a hand with computers at Cresskill library. Two days each month Noa and Josh Rocco, ages 15 and 16, set up a table answering questions ranging from internet usage, email, and modern hardware.

The Senior Citizen Prom was initiated in 2007 to provide students with the experience of service to elders, and a social opportunity to interact with elders of their community. The Senior Citizen Prom is one of a number of district initiatives that integrate the senior community into the school community, and provide needed resources to a generation that has provided life-long support to the public school district. Other opportunities for senior citizens at West Orange High School include free performances of the fall play and spring musical, a holiday luncheon and computer classes.

For 24 years the Livingston Board of Education, Livingston Township Council and Livingston High School Key Club has hosted an intergenerational prom for high school students and seniors.

Parents Anonymous of New Jersey, Father Time, and Bridgeton Municipal Alliance's youth to youth members spent Martin Luther King weekend serving soup to seniors at the Oakview Heights apartments and RiverWalk Senior Apartments. The groups also donated materials for pillows and blankets and distributed them out to the seniors. A news article about our 2012 event: http://www.nj.com/cumberland/index.ssf/2012/01/bridgeton_youth_serve_soup_to.html

RSVP of Monmouth County has two intergenerational programs. Volunteers read to the same small groups of students each week throughout the school year using a read-aloud format that augments the school’s regular reading curriculum. Healthy Buddies partners senior volunteers with students, grades 3-5, to help them develop the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors needed to maintain and enjoy a healthy lifestyle.

The GrandPals program is a learning and reading program pairing older adults with students in the Princeton Regional Schools. Senior volunteers read to kindergartners at Littlebrook and Riverside Schools to encourage a love of reading and to develop intergenerational friendships.