Innovation: Generations United and Seniors 4 Kids

USA

AAI Domain: Participation in society (voluntary activity, care to children and grandchildren, political participation)

With ageing populations there can be a tendency for political forces to lobby for policies that favour older people who are often among the age group who are most likely to vote. It is all too easy to see how organisations representing the interests of older people just focus on what is best for their constituency rather than what might be of benefit to wider.

With the constraints on public spending it would be easy for organisations representing older people to advocate for policies for older people at the expense of programmes and initiatives aimed at younger people. As societies age there is a growing imperative for the wisdom of older people to advocate for policies for all ages and for children and young people who are the grand-children and great-grand-children of today’s older people.

Generations United is voluntary organisation based in Washington D.C. that was established in 1986 at the behest of the National Council on Ageing, the Child Welfare League of America, the Children’s Defence Fund and the American Association of Retired Persons. It aims to empower, advocate and engage people of all generations – children, young people and older adults – through inter-generational collaboration, innovative programmes and public policies that benefit all groups.

The influence of Generations United has grown over the years as it has produced a series of landmark reports on the state of the nation and lobbied federal, state and local governments for policies that promote the interests of children, young people and older adults. With the support of several major foundations it established the National Centre for Grand-families to advocate and campaign for families with children being raised by grandparents.

The National Centre offers tools, training and capacity building to support organisations serving grand-families across the country. It has engaged with more than 500 inter-generational programmes across all 50 states of the USA and has developed the Best Inter-generational Communities Awards and Programmes of Distinction to acknowledge and champion good practice.

Generations United established Seniors 4 Kids to raise the voices of older adults in support of policies benefiting children such as quality early years care and education, home visiting programmes and school breakfast programmes. Seniors 4 Kids harnesses the resources, skills and wisdom that older people have accumulated and uses it for the benefit of children and young people.

There are more than 1,500 Captains 4 Kids who are grassroots volunteers advocating for supporting children and young people by lobbying legislators, organising awareness building events and collaborating with local, state and national ageing organisations to mobilise their members for inter-generational activity and justice for people of all ages. Seniors 4 Kids and their Grand Voices campaigning is particularly active in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Nebraska although there are activists across the nation.

In relation to the active ageing index, Generations United and Seniors 4 Kids are likely to have positive effects in the participation in society domain. They encourage voluntary activities, they make the case for better care to children and grand-children and they mobilise older people to advocate through political participation for policies that promote the health and well-being of children.

Websites

Generations United

Seniors 4 Kids

Grand Families