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?
I had the privilege of growing up in very intergenerational communities – starting in an Austin neighborhood where the kids were constantly over at our generous neighbor’s pool and our next-door neighbor, Ms. Grady, would drop by with Dutch candies and trinkets and stories, and later in veterans’ housing in Taiwan with my grandmother and extended family. The housing there was designed around community: lobbies underneath each building where retirees would gather to drink tea and gossip, and play structures between the buildings where kids played while seniors practiced tai chi and chatted.
I think those experiences shaped my trajectory in occupational therapy, healthcare journalism, healthcare administration, program development, and most recently building out the Neighbor-to-Neighbor initiative for the California Governor’s Office of Service and Community Engagement. There, I worked to encourage neighbors to know one another because connected neighborhoods lead to better health, less social isolation, greater disaster resilience, and more social trust.
How is cogeneration helping (or how will it help) you succeed?
If you want to go far, go together. Prior to the work at Neighbor-to-Neighbor, I did a journalism fellowship focused on BIPOC and LGBT+ seniors and caregiving, and was just so struck by how the most well-adjusted older adults would take me to their front door and start pointing out their neighbors – one who helped them with the last ER visit, helped with errands, sang birthday and other songs through the window during the pandemic.
Got one tip to help other civic leaders collaborate more effectively with older or younger people?
My friend and fellow Obama leader Cathryn Stout always says you have to laugh together before you work together. Get to know each other as people, what brings you joy, what your favorite meal is, etc.
What’s something giving you joy or hope right now?
All the little neighborhood stories that I get to hear about. As the CEO of the Knight Foundation, Maribel Perez Wadsworth says, the power to create change is not lost, it’s local. There’s Rebecca creating a walking group for moms and bringing the whole neighborhood to the local ice cream shop in Butte, or Councilmember Jim Perry dancing zumba with the tias in Arlanza, or all the neighbors writing in about their community gardens, park hangs, block parties, coffee or boba tea shop gatherings — it’s what keeps me going!