TimeSlips Creative Storytelling – Creative Trusts - 2015 Programs of Distinction Designee

This program recruits, trains and coordinates undergraduate students to facilitate creative storytelling sessions with elders with cognitive disabilities in care communities affiliated with the Creative Trusts in Milwaukee.

Students commit to a semester of storytelling, but commonly continue for the full year. 

At year’s end, the stories are shared publicly to inspire others to use creative engagement to nurture relationships with people with cognitive disabilities. 

TimeSlips is used in service learning around the country, but the Creative Trusts offers a stable, shared governance of the program that is a national model for collaboration in this important area of need.

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The Intergenerational School - 2015 Programs of Distinction Designee

The Intergenerational School (TIS) is a successful community public school located in Cleveland, Ohio. 

In this elementary school adults of all ages participate as co-learners in supporting life-long learning and spirited citizenship. 

The recipient of many local, national and international awards the model is now being replicated in Cleveland (Near West and Lakeshore Intergenerational Schools) and elsewhere. 

Studies demonstrate the value of the model for both children and elders, including those with cognitive challenges like dementia. 

The school has developed innovative programs in literacy, environment, health, information technology, and the arts. The school fosters collective wisdom in service of a sustainable future.

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PSS/WSF Grandparent Family Apartments - 2015 Programs of D

Presbyterian Senior Services has been a pioneering leader of kinship services since the early 1990’s when it held support groups at its senior centers for grandparents raising grandchildren. 

Its innovative PSS/WSF Grandparent Family Apartments, one of the first residences for kinship families, opened in 2005. 

With the Grandparent Family Apartments as its hub, PSS now provides kinship caregiver services in three boroughs of NYC. 

Their success is because PSS has programs that support both the grandparents and the grandchildren: from “Parenting a Second Time Around” training for grandparents to the Young Adult Success Program (YASP) for kinship youth.

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Opening Minds through Art (OMA) - 2015 Programs of Distinction Designee

Opening Minds through Art (OMA) is an intergenerational art program for people with dementia.

It is grounded in person-centered ethics and founded on the fact that people with dementia are capable of expressing themselves creatively.

There is a growing body of empirical evidence that creative expression improves their physical and psychological well-being.

The mission of OMA is to build bridges across age and cognitive barriers through art.

The program is implemented in group sessions: Up to 12 people with dementia with the assistance of 12 trained volunteers working on a one-to-one basis. 

The art-making sessions culminate in a gallery exhibition celebrating the artists’ accomplishments while educating the public about the creative capacities of people with dementia.

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The Elder Service Partner Program - 2015 Program of Distinction Designee

The Elder Service Partner Program is an intergenerational service-learning experience for students enrolled in GERO 232 Sociology of Aging at Messiah College, a private college in Pennsylvania.

Students are paired with an Elder Service Partner (ESP) in completing two types of service.

First, students join their ESP in fulfilling obligations their ESPs have already made to their communities at food pantries, service organizations, etc.

Second, students also conduct interviews with their ESPs in order to create a chapter of a life story, which is presented to their ESPs at our celebratory reception at the end of the semester.

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Bridge Meadows - 2015 Programs of Distinction Designee

Bridge Meadows is an intentional intergenerational housing community in North Portland. 

Serving foster youth, adoptive parents, and low­‐income elders, Bridge Meadows cultivates permanence and family resilience through integrated onsite support services and therapeutic interventions. 

Children move from the instability of foster care placements to permanent homes and families. Adoptive families receive essential guidance and social support. 

Low‐income elders combat the deleterious health effects of social isolation by volunteering 100 hours/quarter in the community. 

Together, our three generations of residents transform individual vulnerability into collective strength, creating a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Learn about our other 2015 Programs of Distinction designees!