Volume 18 | Issue 40 | October 11th, 2023 | |
News for Advocates of Children, Youth, and Older Adults from Generations United | |
Save the Date for the Release of Our 2023 State of Grandfamilies Report
Join Generations United on November 8th at 3:00 PM ET for a virtual release event of our annual State of Grandfamilies report, Building Resilience: Supporting the Mental Health and Wellness of Grandfamilies. Stay tuned for more information.
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Generation’s United’s 2025 Global Intergenerational Conference: Request for Partners
Are you committed to growing and strengthening the intergenerational community of practice? Want to bring the best of the intergenerational field to your backyard? Generations United seeks potential partner(s) to co-convene the 23rd Global Intergenerational Conference in Summer 2025.
Letters of interest should be submitted by October 27, 2023. Learn more.
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Promoting Peer Support in Child Welfare — Toolkit for Congressional Outreach
Peer support programs help ensure children and caregivers in grandfamilies/kinship families can navigate the child welfare and related systems and connect with existing services alongside individuals who truly understand what they are going through. Do you want to take action to support and raise awareness about the benefits of peer supports? Check out this Toolkit for Congressional Outreach & find out how you can take action!
Have you or someone you know benefitted from peer support? Share your story with us so we can uplift the power of peers! Click here to share!
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Webinar Recording – Strengthening Cultural Responsiveness in Intergenerational Programs
This event co-hosted by Generations United and RRF Foundation for Aging on October 5, 2023 highlighted the recommendations in the new report Strengthening Cultural Responsiveness in Intergenerational Programs. This event explored the challenges and successes of organizations embarking on a diversity journey and those already prioritizing cultural responsiveness. We heard from a panel of intergenerational program practitioners whose work focuses on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Watch the video here or listen to the audio.
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Upcoming Webinar on Intergenerational Housing with Asian Americans for Equality
On October 19, guest presenter, Thomas Yu, Executive Director of Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE), will be sharing information about the intergenerational housing they developed called, OneFlushing in Queens, NY.
Watch this short video to hear from a tenant of OneFlushing and the impact it has had on her life. The video also covers AAFE’s intergenerational digital literacy program that operates on-site!
Please register here for the Intergenerational Housing Learning Network webinar on October 19, 2023, at 4 PM ET.
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Program Spotlight - SMART Reading | |
At SMART Reading, a Generations United Program of Distinction, their goal is to positively impact literacy outcomes by providing early reading support, access to books, and community engagement in a fun, inclusive environment for everyone involved. One of the primary ways they do that is through facilitating shared reading opportunities - kids and volunteers reading together with the goal of building reading engagement and motivation, two key factors in literacy development. In their original shared reading model, One-to-One SMART, a trained volunteer is paired with a student for weekly, in-person child-guided reading sessions that last between 15 and 30 minutes. Every week for seven months, volunteers model the joy of reading and/or support the child's efforts to read independently. Students also choose two books per month to keep and read with their families. Learn more. | |
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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. | |
Resource: Identifying and Engaging Untapped Partners to Support Kinship/Grandfamilies | |
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This tip sheet provides strategies for building a repertoire of community resources and identifying, engaging, navigating, and maintaining new community connections that will sustain kinship/grandfamilies over time. Use this as a reference tool to identify additional community partners that may not immediately come to mind when providing services to kinship families. Access the toolkit here.
Upcoming Webinar: Kin-Specific Foster Home Licensure: Overview of New Federal Rule & Release of Recommended Standards
Join us on Wednesday, October 11, 2023 at 4:00 p.m. ET as a coalition of national nonprofit organizations explains the new federal rule on kin-specific foster home licensing and unveils a first draft of model kin-specific approval standards. Everyone who registers will receive a link to the recording after the event. Learn more and register here.
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Accepting Technical Assistance Requests | |
As always, the Network is accepting individual technical assistance (TA) requests from professionals who work in systems or organizations that serve kinship/grandfamilies. Fill out the TA request form to receive support from our team. Learn more and sign up to access our resources! | |
The Network is supported by the Administration for Community Living (ACL), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $9,950,000 with 95 percentage funded by ACL/HHS and $523,684 and 5 percentage funded by non-government sources. The contents are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by ACL/HHS, or the U.S. Government.
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Thank You to Our Members and Supporters | Thank you to all our members and supporters! Consider making a donation today to help unleash the potential of a society that values all generations. If you're an organization, join us! | | | |
Think Intergenerational - Funding Opportunities | |
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Life Comes From It is a grantmaking and movement-building circle that supports grassroots work led by people of color in the United States. Funding is provided for projects and collaborations led by people of color that focus on restorative justice, transformative justice, Indigenous peacemaking, and land-based projects. The aim is to support work committed to replacing criminalization and incarceration with alternative approaches to address violence and repair harm, and prioritizing peacemaking development and Indigenous initiatives led by Native people. Grants are typically unrestricted and for general operating costs. 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations or organizations with a 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor are eligible to apply. Application deadline: None for introductions. Learn more.
America’s Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI), a program administered by Reinvestment Fund on behalf of USDA Rural Development, works to improve access to fresh, healthy foods in underserved rural and urban areas. HFFI’s new Local and Regional Healthy Food Financing Partnerships Program will support public-private partnerships to establish and grow local, regional, or state food financing programs that provide financial and technical assistance to healthy food retailers (grocery and other markets) and food enterprises (food retail supply chain businesses). A total of up to $30,000,000 is available. Grants to applicants will range from $200,000 to $3,000,000 depending on the type of activities proposed. The application deadline is 11:59 p.m. ET on November 3, 2023. Learn more.
If you have—or know of—any intergenerational funding opportunities, please send them to gu@gu.org.
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Think Intergenerational - Great Resources | |
Generations United Resources | |
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Strengthening Cultural Responsiveness In Intergenerational Programs is a new report from Generations United that highlights the intentional and creative ways that organizations combat systemic racism by prioritizing the voices and lived experiences of diverse staff and participants in their practices. Available in English and Spanish. Learn more.
Generations United has updated our Children Thrive in Grandfamilies Fact Sheet, a resource that provides key facts about how children do in the care of relatives and a list of research articles to support the facts. Learn more.
17 New State-Specific Adoption & Guardianship Comparison Charts Are Now Available! These comparison charts help grandfamilies understand the difference between adoption and guardianship for children leaving foster care to permanency with relatives, made possible with support from the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. Learn more.
Sharing Our Space: A Toolkit for Developing and Enhancing Intergenerational Shared Sites is designed for individuals and organizations interested in creating an intergenerational shared site or enhancing services at their current site. Divided into 10 sections, the toolkit details every step of the development and operation process, from initial planning to sustaining long-term shared site programs. Learn more.
Making the Case for Intergenerational Programs provides rationale and facts to help make the case for intergenerational programs. It is based on a comprehensive review of the literature on intergenerational programs and highlights evidence-based findings on how intergenerational programs benefit everyone. There is also an accompanying fact sheet available in English and Spanish. Learn more.
Staying Healthy Across Generations: Vaccines are Essential for All Ages is an infographic that illustrates that vaccines aren't just for kids - they protect all generations, especially in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Staying up to date on vaccines for the flu, pneumonia, and whooping cough is important to protect both older adults and children. Learn more.
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"The grands are the glue, the strong foundation, and essential to holding the family together."
Tekella Foster, an Emmy award-winning journalist and producer who spends her time between Mississippi and New York
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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 gu@gu.org. We'd love to hear from you! | |
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Treat Yourself GRAND!
As a reader of Generations This Week, you are eligible to receive a complimentary subscription to GRAND - The Lifestyle Magazine for Awesome Grandparents.
That's a $26 value for 12 issues delivered right to your inbox. Get valuable offers and inspirational articles like our column on GRAND Families, and more.
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