A new study from CoGenerate reveals the critical role that community organizations play in bringing generations together to reduce social isolation and loneliness.

The CoGenerate team collected links to research studies from a wide variety of sources to help you make the case for cogeneration, no matter where you are or what you do.

A qualitative research study from CoGenerate and 31 young leaders who are committed to working across generations for change

A study from Generation Citizen, the Millennial Action Project, and CoGenerate.

Insights into intergenerational and cogenerational programs on college campuses by N.J. Pierce for Campus CoGenerate, a partnership between Campus Compact and CoGenerate.

The Power of Connecting the Generations: What role can philanthropy play in making the most of our increasingly multigenerational, multicultural world?

The #Gen2Gen Cities report highlights innovative city and county leaders who are meeting critical challenges — affordable housing, nonprofit capacity, kindergarten readiness, and much more — by bringing generations together. By leveraging the assets of residents of all ages and connecting the generations, these public sector leaders — and many others — are helping to build stronger ties, foster greater empathy, make better use of public spaces, increase volunteerism and save money, all while improving outcomes for residents of all ages.

Nearly three years ago, nine youth-serving nonprofits — all members of the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities — hired a diverse group of professionals over 50. They dubbed them Second Acts Fellows and tasked them with recruiting a new and growing source of talent — people over 50 — to improve the lives of the children and youth they serve. Today, a new report released by Encore.org’s Gen2Gen campaign concludes that the strategy of employing fellows over 50 to help nonprofits tap encore talent “holds enormous potential” to change lives, organizations, even attitudes about older workers themselves.

As millions of children and youth in America experience severe adversity and greater social isolation than ever before, the time is ripe to tap into the growing pool of adults 50+ invested in leaving the world a better place for younger generations. This starter guide was designed by practitioners, for practitioners. It highlights ten simple steps to help kick-start the development of an intentional plan to recruit, train and retain encore talent for your organization.

When Mary Gunn took over as the new executive director of Generations Incorporated — a Boston-area nonprofit working to strengthen the literacy skills of young children by engaging people over the age of 50 as volunteer literacy tutors — her first impression was a powerful one. “I was struck by how young the staff was,” she writes. “I was easily 25 years older than the next oldest person in the room.” Her second impression: “All my colleagues were bright, hard-working and passionate about our mission. I was lucky to be among them, even if I was old enough to be their mother.” In the years since, Generations Incorporated has: built a multigenerational team reduced turnover expanded the size of its volunteer corps by 40 percent increased the number of children it serves by 75 percent improved reading outcomes, and decreased its operating budget by 12.5 percent. All at the same time. You can read about how they did it and what they learned along the way in a new case study “Efficiencies on the Road to a Multigenerational Workforce,” written by Gunn and published by Encore.org.