The 21 civic leaders taking part in CoGenerate’s Voices fellowship are a diverse group. They range in age from 15 to 81, and each focuses on a different aspect of civic work. But they’re all well-versed in the ins and outs of effective intergenerational collaboration....
https://youtu.be/DMmhqffPUWc As we celebrate our nation’s 250th anniversary, we are the most age-diverse society in human history — and the most age-segregated. Our next chapter will depend on our ability to work across generations.In commemoration of the United...
On a Sunday evening in mid-May, two chefs collaborated on “The Future of the Creamery,” a five-course tasting event at Long Count, an all-vegan wine bar and restaurant in New York City’s East Village. Forty years apart in age, both chefs have towering reputations —...
Simple question: Do you miss human connection when you use self-checkout at the grocery store? Complex question: How is cogeneration threatened by AI, profit-driven “efficiencies,” and automation — and what can we do about it? Allison Pugh, author of the book The Last...
Why do you do the civic or community work that you do?
A single person holds millions of stories. These stories can tell us about what the past looked like and what one person learned from living it. About perspectives we could never know and ideas we’d never arrive at ourselves. About how each of us fits into a broader story of history. Stories can challenge us to rethink our own views, see others with empathy, connect across difference – but only if we talk. Only if we listen.
In my generation of young people, we don’t talk much with people of different ages, especially outside our families. We don’t get to hear stories from people with different lives, experiences, ideas – and that is a real loss. My work, as founder of reGenerations, a nonprofit oral history program, is about changing that, about connecting older and younger people to have those conversations. Because I believe that sitting down together for one hour and exchanging stories is truly where change begins.
How is cogeneration helping (or how will it help) you succeed?
I’m excited to connect with people of all ages – in a big way because I am so acutely aware of how hard that can be. We often cite the research about age-segregation in America, and as a high schooler trying to do civic work, I feel that wall firsthand. I’ve founded a nonprofit and launched a public health initiative, and I still feel like it is so difficult to get into spaces with older people.
That’s why cogeneration excites me. It means breaking down that wall. Sharing expertise, resources, and ideas across generations, and connecting in a way that lets everyone contribute what they have. For a young person especially, that matters. Getting started, getting people to take you seriously, getting your voice to matter – it is hard. Cogeneration helps make it possible.
Got one tip to help other civic leaders collaborate more effectively with older or younger people?
Give real, honest feedback. Much of my civic work has been in collaboration with my county Commission of Aging – a group of mostly retired older adults, where I was the first teen member in their commission’s history. And I think that newness, of working across such a wide age gap, can make people on both sides apprehensive about giving critical feedback. But that feedback is what I want. I want you to feel like you can tell me what I can do better, and I want to feel like I can tell you the same.
What’s something giving you joy or hope right now?
The CoGen Voices Fellows – and everyone at CoGenerate! This space is so supportive, so full of energy and ideas, and it gives me hope that these people have chosen to work for intergenerational change.