Intergenerational Program Database

At the Senior Lunch Program volunteers serve hot kosher meals every Sunday to 20-25 low-income seniors at one of our senior housing sites in Kipps Bay, Manhattan. Residents are invited from different nearby Met Council senior housing sites to attend this program. Some volunteer duties include setting up, waiting on the clients, serving lunch, and – most importantly – socializing with our clients. Volunteers include teen and young professional groups.

Our Folks is a program of Groundwork Hudson Valley in Yonkers, NY, where teens survey older homeowners, identify needed yard and household repairs, and carry out improvements. Around 20 youth and 25 older adults each year participate in this program. One goal is to bridge the generation gap by bringing people together over shared projects and shared lunches, which the students and homeowners prepare and eat together. Another part of the program is the "food team," which trains older adults to conduct cooking demonstrations of healthy foods in afterschool programs and at community events. Through ComNET, Groundwork organizes teams consisting of teens and senior citizens — and a few in-betweeners — to identify problems that need fixing. The problems are logged, along with the exact GPS location, into hand-held computers. Then, back at the office, Groundwork staff collate the problems into detailed reports that are then forwarded to the appropriate Yonkers government official and monitored to ensure that the problems are remedied.

The Magic Moments program uniquely blends two groups of people who are often marginalized in American society: developmentally challenged teenagers and nursing home residents who have dementia. Through the program, which runs daily from 9:30 am to 11:45 am, the students assist Nursing and Therapeutic Recreation staff by setting up a resident lounge with games such as beanbag and/or ball toss and various art projects. The students model their interactions on those of the professional staff, working as a team, co-leading activities, encouraging residents to participate, and serving them refreshments. The Magic Moments program has pioneered a way for these young people with developmental challenges to provide direct support and encouragement to residents who have dementia, taking them from behind the scenes into the spotlight.

Students and Mature Adults Read Together (SMART) utilizes the largely untapped resources of older adults to benefit the youth of Westchester. Older adults use the skills, knowledge, and insight gained over many years, and through diverse experiences, to tutor and mentor students who are reading below grade level in Kindergarten through 8th grade.

The Gates day care center is particularly unique because in addition to child care, we have our elder care at this facility as well. Children can walk down the hall to visit with the grandmas and grandpas.

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. Our St. John’s day care center is located on the St. John’s nursing home campus. Child care and elder care are brought together each week as classrooms get to experience intergenerational programming with residents of the nursing home throughout.

We have a Head Start located on our Campus which has an enrollment of approximately 15 children. We have quite a few planned activities where the children and our residents interact. On a daily basis the children go for a walk through our building which provides a great way for our residents and the children to interact. A few of our residents are regular volunteers in the Head Start program. Our residents also read to the children a few times per week.

HANCI serves individuals of all ages. It is the site of a Foster Grandparent program. Individuals assist in the childcare classrooms

Since 2000, Bishop’s Commons Enriched Living has embraced children of all ages with creative and age appropriate activities and programs. They utilize a neighboring elementary school, day care, and SUNY state college students to foster interaction and friendships with the seniors living at Bishop's Commons. On a weekly basis, our community creates activities for any age that is interactive and meaningful where children and seniors learn from each other, share experiences and life stories, and simply have fun. It begins with the youngest of ages, where infants join seniors for “Lullaby Baby Socials” where singing, rocking, and floor time is simple and easy, yet fulfilling for everyone. Bishop’s Commons staff works to make a meaningful child/senior interaction and experience whenever the opportunity arises so much that the enriched living residence has acquired a reputation around the entire Oswego community where schools that are farther away are calling to bring their students in to benefit from the programs.

Warwick Day Care Center is located on a shared site with two senior care facilities. On Fridays the preschoolers visit with the seniors and sing with them. Keyword: Shared Site