Intergenerational Program Database

In the Five & Fit program, which is based on a model from Temple University, older adults (age 55+) guide young pre-schoolers (ages 2 - 5) and their families toward improved nutrition and enhanced physical activity. Activities include gardening, tasting fruits and vegetables, and fun nutritional education. The mission of the program is to prevent childhood obesity and to promote healthy, active, life-long behaviors. The program is a collaboration between Aging & Independence Services (the County of San Diego's Area Agency on Aging) and the Cuyamaca College Child Development Center.

Oasis Intergenerational Tutoring is a volunteer program that pairs older adults with children in grades K-4 to work one-on-one each week throughout the school year as their tutors, mentors and friends. Oasis tutors use a six-step approach to literacy designed by educators that emphasizes improved reading, speaking, listening and writing. The purpose of each session is not to work on homework or assigned classwork, but to build confidence & basic reading skills and encourage the development of a supportive friendship. Third party studies have shown that the Oasis tutoring program translates to stronger classroom performance and less truancy. Most participating children will end the school year reading at grade level.

Do you want kids in your community to eat better and exercise more? Consider volunteering for OASIS CATCH Healthy Habits, an after-school program that connects adults age 50+ with kids in grades K-5 to learn about good eating habits and play active games. The program combats obesity by engaging adults age 50+ as mentors to teach healthy lifelong habits to kids in grades K-5. It’s a fun way to be healthy yourself while you help kids learn good eating and physical activity habits for a lifetime. No experience needed, just your enthusiasm and interest in helping kids. Training and materials are provided.

Wired for Connections/Mentor Up is a club at Carmel High School that is designed to help senior citizens understand the basics of modern-day devices and bridge what they perceive as an intergenerational divide. It is a free program in which the students volunteer to teach computer and technology skills to Carmel Foundation members.

EngAGE Across Generations helps older adults become involved with younger people in their communities – as mentors, sages, and neighbors. The program offers an opportunity for people to inventory their skills and desires and provide places where those can be utilized to help guide youth through the stages of their lives. EngAGE connects with local schools and other organizations to provide support for their endeavors. Examples include intergenerational arts programs, mentoring, read aloud programs and even making films.

GAP provides programs and services that meet the urgent and ongoing needs of grandparents and other relatives raising at-risk children. GAP currently serves relative caregivers in the Los Angeles County area, over 90% of which are grandparents. GAP provides cost-free, community-based programs and services, which include weekly therapeutic support groups, crisis counseling, education, advocacy, and respite care.  

Stagebridge brings seniors trained in storytelling into classrooms. This program helps at-risk students develop listening and language skills.

Story Catchers is an outgrowth of the APPLE Program that allows children to explore the lives of other generations by interviewing seniors and writing stories based on their responses. GenSpan brings the senior volunteers to elementary school classrooms where the students are split into groups and each group given one volunteer to interview. Once all of the stories are complete, they are taken by GenSpan and compiled unedited into a book, and copies of it are presented to all those involved.

The Peralta Intergenerational Project' started six years ago and involves 1st - 5th grade classes from Peralta Elementary School in Oakland, CA taking monthly field trips to create art with elders who have dementia at The Bay Area Community Services Adult Day Care Center.

The Center for Digital Storytelling works at the national and international level on projects with dozens of collaborators each year. We have numerous projects that have an intergenerational orientation with our partners. We are currently working on a national program, All Together Now, that will build stories of citizenship between youth and elders. In addition, CDS works in numerous cross-generational environments, in public health settings, education, environmental, and community service, where groups are gathered representing a multi-generational perspective.