Volume 18 | Issue 20 | May 17, 2023

News for Advocates of Children, Youth, and Older Adults from Generations United

Generations United has added several fantastic new staff members to our team this month and we want to introduce them each to you. Please join us in welcoming all of them to the team!

Learn more about our staff here.

Lori’s Hands' unique Community Health Service Learning program, a Generations United Program of Distinction, builds mutually beneficial partnerships between community members with chronic illness and college students, fostering empathy, connection, and resilience. During free weekly visits, students provide clients with companionship as well as assistance with tasks such as grocery shopping, picking up prescriptions, completing household chores, and navigating community resources, among other instrumental activities. As clients support systems and independence grow, their sense of loneliness decreases. In turn, clients provide student volunteers, many of whom are studying for careers in health care, with the opportunity to learn firsthand about the lived experience of aging and chronic illness. The benefits of participation in Lori's Hands for both students and clients have been documented through internal and independent evaluation. An internal survey found that 98% of clients reported improved quality of life as a result of participation. Learn more.

Photo courtesy of Lori's Hands, Inc.

Each week, Generations United is spotlighting a recipient of our Intergenerational Program Certification. The certification is an annual recognition of outstanding programs bringing older and younger participants together and is based on rigorous standards of program effectiveness and sustainability. Learn more about the Intergenerational Program Certification here.

The MIT AgeLab’s Opportunities for Multigenerational Exchange, Growth and Action (OMEGA) initiative is proud to offer five scholarships to recognize the efforts that teens are making to create multigenerational connections. Each award will include a $5,000 college scholarship to the winning student and $1,000 to the winning student’s intergenerational initiative to support its activities. High school juniors and seniors in the U.S. are eligible to apply. Applications are due May 31, 2023.

Learn more.

The Herb Block Foundation: Encouraging Citizen Involvement. The Herb Block Foundation is committed to defending basic freedoms, combating all forms of discrimination and prejudice, and improving the condition of the poor and underprivileged in the United States. The Foundation’s Encouraging Citizen Involvement grant program provides support to nonprofit organizations nationally with the aim of helping to ensure a responsible, responsive democratic government through citizen involvement. Grants ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 support projects focused on citizen education and greater voter participation in the electoral process. All projects must be nonpartisan and may not involve lobbying for specific legislation or candidates. Letters of inquiry are due June 1, 2023. Learn more.

NEW: KidsGardening: The Lots of Compassion Grant, a new program offered by Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day and KidsGardening, is designed to support local leaders looking to transform vacant lots into gardens to help grow compassion in their community. In 2023, ten grantees will receive $20,000 each to transform a vacant lot into a garden. Nonprofit organizations, school districts, universities, groups, religious organizations, and other tax-exempt organizations are eligible to apply. The deadline for application submission is Friday, June 2, 2023, at 11:59 PM PT. Learn more.

The Brookdale Foundation Group Relatives as Parents Program (RAPP) has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the creation or expansion of supportive services to grandparents and other relatives raising children. A seed grant of $30,000 ($20,000 in year one and $10,000 tier two, contingent upon progress made during year one and potential for continuity in the future) is available to non-profit organizations across the United States. On-going technical assistance will be provided. Proposals are due June 22, 2023. Learn more.

Administration for Community Living: Advancing Aging Network Capacity to Recognize and Support Family, Kinship and Tribal Caregivers. Using the 2022 National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers (the Strategy) as a road map, ACL will fund up to five (5) new cooperative agreements to eligible entities to work on a national level to further advance the development of state, community and tribal family caregiver support programs funded under the National Family Caregiver Support Program (NFCSP), Title III-E and VI-C of the Older Americans Act of 1965, as amended. This new initiative is intended to advance NFCSP/NACSP development to more closely align it with the principles and concepts contained in the Strategy, thus better positioning the program to more effectively recognize, assist, include, support, and engage family caregivers and better meet the challenges and opportunities associated with supporting them. Five (5), four-year cooperative agreements to eligible entities and their partners to develop, test, and disseminate new approaches for technical assistance, capacity building, and other best practices in family caregiver support will be awarded. One (1) grant will be awarded in each of the five Priority/Goals in the Strategy: (1) increasing awareness and outreach; (2) advancing partnerships and engagement with care teams; (3) advancing services and supports; (4) strengthening financial and workplace security; and (5) solidifying a family caregiver national research and data collection agenda. No entity will receive more than one grant under this new initiative. Applicants to each priority area should be those well-positioned and with the requisite experience and capacity to address the respective issues and foster national advancements in those areas. Closing date for applications is June 25, 2023. Learn more.

ECMC Foundation's mission is to improve higher education for career success among underserved populations in the United States through evidence-based innovation. Support is provided for efforts that fit within the Foundation’s strategic priorities: 1) removing barriers to post-secondary completion, including programs that directly support learner success; 2) building the capacity of higher education organizations, institutions, and systems to improve outcomes for learners and evolve to meet changing needs; and 3) transforming the post-secondary ecosystem, including large-scale, cross-sector collaborations in service of more equitable outcomes. A substantial portion of grantmaking targets the Foundation’s initiatives, which currently include a focus on basic needs, men of color, single mother student success, transfer and credit mobility, and career and technical education leadership. In addition, the Foundation makes grants and investments through an open letter of inquiry process for projects connected to one or more of the strategic priorities. Nonprofit organizations, government entities, and post-secondary institutions and systems are eligible to apply. Application deadline: None for letters of inquiry. Learn more.

If you have—or know of—any intergenerational funding opportunities, please send them to [email protected].

Journal of Intergenerational Relationships Call for Papers for Memorial Issue Honoring Founding Editor Dr. Sally Newman’s Contributions to the Intergenerational Field: Dr. Sally Newman was a guiding force for founding the Journal of Intergenerational Relationships in 2003, serving as its first editor until June 2014. Despite her death in 2022, Dr. Newman’s legacy lives on. In honor of Dr. Newman’s leadership in intergenerational program research, the Journal of Intergenerational Relationships invites scholarly contributions for a special issue focused on contemporary intergenerational research that builds on her foundational work, which can be seen today in different programmatic settings and countries. This special memorial issue will be published in 2024. Submissions must be received by May 31, 2023. Read the full special issue announcement here. Contact Shannon Jarrott with questions.

"Intergenerational Community Planning" Report: Generations United Senior Fellow Irv Katz and Generations United friend and Penn State professor Matt Kaplan, PhD, collaborated on a "guide" to intergenerational community planning published by the American Planning Association (APA). The intergenerational planning guide follows related APA reports on multigenerational planning and planning for all ages. The document suggests that the well-being of children, youth, and older adults--and how they relate with one another--should be integrated into regular city planning processes, such as the comprehensive planning that most cities and towns undertake. "Intergenerational Community Planning" is available for free to members of the American Planning Association and $25 for non-members.

"For those of us that are observing it, there have been moments when we are so moved by these connections that we can’t help but become very emotional. It is so special to experience it and see the love between them."

Meghan Pomelow, Director of Gorham House preschool.

We want Generations This Week to be a resource for you. Please send us any national news on intergenerational issues in addition to upcoming conferences, funding opportunities, research, reports, and webinars. You can connect with other intergenerational enthusiasts through our Facebook group. Please also let us know how we can improve! Email us at [email protected]. We'd love to hear from you!