Program Descriptions

The Center has created a wide range of intergenerational programs designed to meet the needs of children and youth, older adults, and families. It serves as a laboratory for the development and evaluation of intergenerational programs. Each year over 2,000 people participate in programs that promote productive aging, family support, positive youth development, and lifelong learning/service. Older adults serve as literacy tutors, mentors, parent outreach workers, oral historians, after-school volunteers, and child care aides. They provide in-home support to: teen mothers, parents who have been reported for child abuse and neglect, families caring for children with disabilities and chronic illnesses, and grandparents raising grandchildren. Young people provide respite services to frail elderly and their families, conduct oral history interviews with nursing home residents, and teach English to older immigrants and refugees. They also work side-by-side with older adults in arts, environmental, and service projects.

Coming of Age
Coming of Age, a new initiative coordinated by the Temple University Center for Intergenerational Learning, WHYY, United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania and AARP was created to help reinvent retirement by inspiring baby boomers and retirees to pursue volunteer, leadership and educational opportunities and by strengthening the capacity of non-profit organizations to identify and provide opportunities which are meaningful to baby boomers and retirees.

Experience Corps
A national literacy program in which older adults tutor elementary school students in reading and writing skills.

Family Friends
A national program in which older adults provide in home support to families of children with special needs.

Grandma's Kids
An after-school program for children being raised by grandparents or other alternative caregivers aimed at preventing violence and substance abuse.

Project SHINE
A national program in which college students provide language, literacy, and citizenship tutoring for elderly immigrants and refugees.

Time Out
A program in which college students provide in-home respite to families caring for frail elders.