Retired...or ReWired? Episode 10: Intergenerational Issues

10.  Intergenerational Issues:

Getting involved:  organizations and options.

Since 1997 Donna Butts has been Executive Director of Generations United, She began her career in Oregon as a youth worker with the Salem YWCA. She’s held leadership positions with Covenant House, a New York-based international youth serving organization, and the National 4-H Council. She served as the Executive Director for the National Organization on Adolescent Pregnancy, Parenting and Prevention before joining Generations United.  Butts grew up in Oregon and graduated from Marylhurst College and Stanford University’s Executive Program for Nonprofit Leaders.

We discussed these points:

Tell us about Generations United:  its mission, size, types of members.

You work with intergenerational programs.  What does that term mean and what types of programs does it include?

You talk about “healthy intergenerational communities that are good places to grow up and grow old.”  What makes for a healthy intergenerational community?

You list six 2017 “Programs of Distinction.”  Lets talk about one or two that could have application here in Portland

•  Bessie’s Hope (Denver, CO)
• Hebrew SeniorLife (Dedham, MA)
• Honolulu Walks, The Plaza Assisted Living (Honolulu, HI)
• RSVP Mentor Program, Kenosha Area Family & Aging Services (Kenosha, WI)
• OASIS Intergenerational Tutoring (St. Louis, MO)
• ONEgeneration (Van Nuys, CA)

WE see that one of your partner programs, and the partner for your 2019 conference here in Portland, is a group called Bridge Meadows.  Can you tell us what that org. is doing here?

What are the best intergenerational programs that we could learn from or replicate?

You are planning your next biennial conference here in Portland.  Why did you decide on Portland for this event?