Brenda Jimenez is the CEO of MENTOR New York, an affiliate of MENTOR, and her project is one of 10 awardees of the CoGen Challenge to Advance Economic Opportunity. Watch for interviews with all 10 of these innovators bringing older and younger people together to open...
Mariela Briceño is the founder and executive director of Venprendedoras, one of 10 awardees of the CoGen Challenge to Advance Economic Opportunity. Watch for interviews with all 10 of these innovators bringing older and younger people together to open doors to...
As colleagues from different generations (x and millennial), Marci Alboher and Duncan Magidson have been leading talks and workshops sharing their insights about working across generations. As they plan, they usually text furiously, sharing ideas and reflections....
Erin Ruegg is a National Board Certified teacher and director of teaching and learning at Substantial Classrooms. SubClubs are a Substantial Classrooms project, in collaboration with Change X, and one of 10 awardees of the CoGen Challenge to Advance Economic...
Photo courtesy of More Perfect.
CoGenerate is proud to be part of More Perfect, a coalition of national service and bridge-building groups that launched a bold plan today calling for cogenerational national service and volunteering, including a dramatic expansion of opportunities to engage 1 million young and 500,000 older Americans in national service by 2033.
The plan describes national service (including AmeriCorps State & National, AmeriCorps VISTA, AmeriCorps NCCC, AmeriCorps Seniors, Conservation Corps, Peace Corps, and a variety of corps at the national and state levels) as “uniquely poised to bring generations together across divides for mutual benefit and social impact.”
This cogenerational vision for national service is deeply personal to me: I was 25 when I was inducted into the world of AmeriCorps through Experience Corps Bay Area, an intergenerational tutoring program I led that was fueled by national service members of all ages.
Over the course of the most formative decade of my career, I worked side-by-side with a thriving, multicultural, multigenerational team, including dozens of AmeriCorps VISTAS as young as 18 and hundreds of older AmeriCorps, AmeriCorps Seniors and Experience Corps members — all dedicated to co-creating a better future for children in neighborhood schools.
The opportunity to serve side-by-side with younger and older corps members alike changed my life, profoundly shaping my view of what it looks like to dedicate myself at every life stage to community change.
As America becomes the most age-diverse society ever, we have an unprecedented opportunity to form an equally age-diverse AmeriCorps that reflects the communities being served. It can be anchored by young people — and powerfully enhanced by older adults who can help their younger counterparts expand their networks, gain skills that better prepare them to thrive in a multigenerational workforce, and internalize a compelling vision of lifelong service.
In the process, we’ll develop a diverse and effective talent pipeline to tackle some of society’s biggest challenges in education, climate, economic inequity, social isolation and loneliness, and more.
This year’s commemoration of AmeriCorps’ 30th anniversary is an opportunity to celebrate all that AmeriCorps has accomplished for the country, but it’s also an opportunity to cast an ambitious vision for the next 30 years – one that harnesses the growing age-diversity of our country as a catalyst for forging meaningful bonds across generations, bridging divides, and fostering more inclusive, caring communities for all. In these divisive times, national service can deliver a powerful and much-needed message that we’re in it together.
For more, check out the full report, Ask and All: A Plan to Expand National Service and Volunteering.