Volume 18 | Issue 31 | August 9th, 2023

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

Kendal at Oberlin, a Generations United Program of Distinction, creates opportunities for intergenerational activities every day. Resident life is enriched by the presence of young children from the Kendal Early Learning Center, a top-quality accredited early childhood program that works with children age 3 years to 1st grade. Residents, also called "grandfriends," can volunteer with the children, reading or engaging in planned activities. The children participate in structured activities with residents of the Stephens Care Center too. Friendships grow with high school-age staff that work in the dining rooms. And Oberlin College students are frequent volunteers. Kendal serves as a work-study site for students from the college. Recently, Kendal began a program where Oberlin College students can reside in a house owned by Kendal at Oberlin and volunteer in the community in exchange for room and board fees. Learn more.

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 WITH Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation are currently accepting applications through a request for proposals (RFP) focused on projects that foster health and healthcare systems transformation for older adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities in communities of color within the United States. Proposals should prioritize one of the following approaches: implementation of models, educational resources, regional or national advocacy, or research to identify and fill gaps in knowledge and inform efforts to improve health related to the care that older adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities in communities of color receive. The RFP also seeks to foster the development of new partnerships between community, healthcare, and disability organizations. Proposals should specifically support primary care providers (including dentists) and healthcare systems in providing culturally competent care to older adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities in communities of color. The application deadline is August 15, 2023. Learn more.

Community Collections Grants from the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress fund and support contemporary cultural field research and documentation within diverse communities. Available to individuals and organizations, the grants offer up to $50,000 each to support projects within their communities to produce ethnographic cultural documentation, such as interviews with community members and audio-visual recordings of cultural activity, from the community perspective. Funding through these awards can be used to cover travel, equipment rental or purchase, and other expenses associated with cultural documentation fieldwork. Applications are due by 2:00 p.m. ET on August 18, 2023. Learn more.

F5’s STEM Education Grant aims to help build the pipeline of female changemakers and future leaders by investing in programs to increase access to STEM education and career opportunities for girls and women of color. Support is provided to nonprofit organizations around the world that have a primary focus on increasing access, capacity building, career development, or other related work with the goal of increasing representation of women of color in STEM education, especially the technology sector. Funded projects must serve a majority (>50%) women of color or girls of color. Nonprofit organizations that are legally registered charitable organizations in the country where they operate or have been fiscally sponsored by a legally registered charitable organization for at least three years are eligible to apply. The grant application will be open from July 14, 2023-August 18, 2023 at 11:45pm PST. Learn more.

The Foot Locker Foundation Community Empowerment Program, offered by LISC and Foot Locker, Inc., through the Foot Locker Foundation, supports nonprofit community organizations that empower youth in underserved communities. Eligible cities include Los Angeles, Oakland, and San Francisco, CA; Atlanta, GA; Chicago, IL; Baltimore, MD; Detroit, MI; Newark, NJ; New York City, NY; Philadelphia, PA; Dallas and Houston, TX; and Washington, DC. Grants ranging from $25,000 to $75,000 support current youth programming, the creation of new programming, or the extension of existing programming over one year. Grants ranging from $25,000 to $100,000 support capital improvement projects that enhance the impact of youth programming over one year. Applicant organizations should primarily serve youth in under-resourced communities with programs and services focused on health and wellness, education and life skills support, mentoring, or career development; include people of color in their leadership ranks; and more. The application deadline is August 30, 2023. Learn more.

The Dialogues on the Experience of War program from the National Endowment for the Humanities supports the study and discussion of humanities sources that address the experiences of military service and war from a wide variety of perspectives. Dialogue projects encourage veterans and nonveterans to reflect collectively on such topics as civic engagement, veteran identity, and the legacies of war, service, and homecoming. Project teams should include humanities scholars, military veterans, and individuals with relevant experience. The application deadline is September 7, 2023. Learn more.

NEW: CVS Health Foundation’s 2023 Centering Youth Mental Health grant program has released an open call for applications. This funding opportunity is open to locally-led coalitions working to improve mental health outcomes for adolescents and young adults. Coalitions based in the following states are eligible to apply: Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia. The Foundation expects to award up to $4 million in grants to locally-led, multi-sector coalitions that are collaborating to improve mental health outcomes for people ages 12 to 24. Each selected coalition will receive a $1,000,000 award. This award will be disbursed in installments of $200,000 over a five-year period. Application deadline: September 8, 2023, 5:00 p.m. EDT. Learn more.

The International Paper Foundation addresses critical needs in the communities where International Paper employees live and work in the United States. Areas of interest include education, with a focus on children's literacy; hunger and food security for children, families, and seniors; health and wellness, including promotion of healthy habits; and disaster relief. If your organization does not have an International Paper location in the community, you are not eligible for grant funding. (Grants in the company's global headquarters location of Memphis, TN, are made by invitation only). Applications are accepted through mid-September, annually. Learn more.

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.

If you have—or know of—any intergenerational funding opportunities, please send them to gu@gu.org.

"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.

"I think it’s a lovely idea and I enjoyed spending time with these precious littlies who are just gorgeous. I have two grandchildren with the youngest now 13 and I think you forget the magic of the imagination of a small child."

Sue Halliday, a resident of Aveo Springfield’s retirement community

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!