Greater Richmond Region, Virginia - 2015 Best Intergenerational Communities Award-winner

After 12 years of living abroad, Sara Link and her husband moved back to Greater Richmond Region to be near her parents and childhood friends in 2010.

With the community’s commitment of connecting people across generations, Link is convinced her family made the right decision.

With over 40 local intergenerational programs, festivals, events and leisure activities bringing together its 1 million-plus residents of all ages, it’s obvious Greater Richmond Region thrives off meaningful connections between older adults and youth.

With all ages being an integral and valued part of the setting, they couldn’t wait to share their community pride by applying for the 2015 Best Intergenerational Communities Awards.

“I knew Richmond had a strong chance of winning,” said Sara Link, director of Greater Richmond Age Wave, a collaborative that includes philanthropists, local government, businesses, nonprofits and academia working together to maximize resources for all ages.

Link’s Age Wave manages CATCH Healthy Habits, a Generations United 2015 Program of Distinction re-designee that was first honored in 2012.

Through this evidence-based program – hosted by Senior Connections, The Capital Area Agency on Aging and Virginia Commonwealth University Department of Gerontology – older adult volunteers teach K-5 students the value of healthy eating and physical activity.

Programs like CATCH Healthy Habits stem from Greater Richmond Region’s intergenerational roots, which go back to 1984, when Westminster Canterbury Richmond became an intergenerational shared site after including a Child Development Center with its Continuing Care Retirement Community.

Today, Westminster Canterbury Richmond’s intergenerational programs bring together children and older adults for daily story time and annual events/performances.

A community jewel is the James River Park System, 600 protected acres of shoreline and river islands running through the community.

The River System functions as an outdoor classroom for all ages to learn and appreciate Greater Richmond Region’s history while enjoying mountain biking, fishing and kayaking.

Youth and older adults also engage through the YMCA of Greater Richmond’s Growing Younger program, an initiative of United Way of Greater Richmond & Petersburg (GRP) in partnership with Friendship Cafes.

“Elders in this program are actively engaged in physical exercise and projects with youth, as well as the arts,” said Lynn H. Pharr, United Way-GRP chief executive officer. 

In addition to funding from United Way-GRP, Greater Richmond Region’s intergenerational programs receive nearly $1 million in combined support from by county and city governments as well as public and private foundations.

As a mentor in the Richmond Area Foster 

Grandparent Program, Doris Hairston sees first-hand how those investments contribute to the community’s intergenerational success stories. 

She and nearly 70 other older adults serve as mentors, tutors and caregivers for Greater Richmond Region’s children and youth with special needs.

“Many of the children served throughout the history of our successful program,” Hairston explained, “are now contributing adults themselves.”

The Greater Richmond Region is still feeling the excitement from a Generations United announcement that they are a 2015 Best Intergenerational Communities Award-winner.

“We will continue celebrating with Chesterfield County and the City of Richmond as we present a flag and road sign to each locality to have on display,” said Sara Link, who shared the news with various media outlets and through social media.

Sadie Rubin, director of the intergenerational arts program PALETTE, hopes the award will attract new funding.

Sara Morris, coordinator of CATCH Healthy Habits and Greater Richmond Age Wave, is still ecstatic about the award.

“It will help break down barriers people may have about other generations,” she said. “It will foster [more] community collaboration and innovative thinking that is cross generational.”

International Literacy Day

Yesterday was International Literacy Day, when the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and its partners launched a social media campaign to raise awareness of and concern for literacy problems in communities here and abroad.

It’s fitting that the day is during Grandparents Week, when we celebrate older Americans’ contributions.

In honor of International Literacy Day and Grandparents Week, we highlight UNESCO’s campaign as well as AARP Experience Corps, Senior Corps, Jumpstart and OASIS Institute - all of which use an intergenerational approach to promote literacy.

Through its campaign #literacyselfie, UNESCO and its partners called on all ages to take selfies reading their favorite book or reading to a child, and then posting the picture to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

In addition to using the hashtag to contribute to the national movement, each community created their own local hashtag like #cleliteracy or #indyreads to capture local involvement.

Like UNESCO, Jumpstart takes a national focus to combat literacy problems.

Through its premiere national campaign, Read for the Record, Jumpstart mobilizes millions of children and adults to celebrate literacy by participating in the largest shared reading experience.

Since 2006, the campaign has, according to Jumpstart’s Campaign Impact, engaged 11.5 million children, raised more than $8.6 million for early education programs and provided more than 1.6 million books for children in low-income neighborhoods.

The year-round advocacy at AARP Experience Corps is just as impressive.

This award-winning national program engages people 50-plus in meeting their community's greatest challenges.

Two thousand volunteer members tutor and mentor in 19 cities across the country, providing literacy coaching, homework help, consistent role models and committed, caring attention.

Independent research shows that AARP Experience Corps boosts student academic performance, helps schools and youth-serving organizations become more successful, and enhances the well-being of adults 50 and older in the process.

The older adults at Senior Corps, a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service, are just as committed.

Conceived during John F. Kennedy's presidency, Senior Corps connects today’s 55+ with the people and organizations that need them most.

Through its Foster Grandparents initiative, older volunteers serve at thousands of local organizations that help children learn to read and provide one-on-one tutoring, mentor troubled teenagers and young mothers, care for premature infants or children with disabilities, and help children who have been abused or neglected.

In St. Louis, MO, OASIS Institute is also changing lives.

The program’s intergenerational tutoring connects seniors with children in grades K-4. Volunteers work one-on-one with children each week, helping youth build confidence and experience success.

Promoting literacy is one way you can Do Something Grand for Grandparents Week. Check out GrandparentsDay.org for other fun ideas.