COVID-19: How our partners are adapting
March 23, 2020
Intergenerational programs bring together older adults and youth for mutual benefit – so what happens when everyone should stay home? We’re fortunate to live in an age where technology can help preserve, or even create, these connections, and many of our partners are leveraging creative solutions to continue to serve our community. Below is a list of responses we know about. If you’re interested in learning more about an organization’s approach or would like to add your own, email chelsea.mason@eisnerfoundation.org.
Many organizations are also relying heavily on volunteers right now. If your organization needs extra help, L.A. Works can help match L.A.-area volunteers with nonprofits. They are also relaunching their TeleSocial program matching isolated older adults with volunteers for friendly phone calls – interested older adults and volunteers can reach out here.
- 826LA is developing virtual tutoring, weekly online writing workshops, college scholarship application support, and web-based versions of creative writing field trips. They are also reaching out to all active volunteers, including many older volunteers, to train them on platforms like Zoom and Google Hangouts to continue their tutoring work remotely.
- The Alliance for Children’s Rights has a list of resources for children and families, including grandfamilies. They also are updating their IT infrastructure to continue to provide services remotely, and are facilitating new youth and caregiver engagement forums to promote knowledge-sharing and social interaction.
- The Boys & Girls Clubs of the LA Harbor are livestreaming their programming and tutoring virtually. They also provide grab-and-go lunch and snacks on weekdays.
- The Bresee Foundation is connecting first-year, first-generation college students with intergenerational mentors through Skype, Zoom, emails, texts, and phone calls, and are finding that students and senior volunteers alike are benefiting greatly from the emotional support they can provide to each other.
- EngAGE is creating mini task forces in each community to make sure residents, particularly older adults, have the supplies they need and to maintain social connections.
- Friendship Foundation is using a WhatsApp group to create virtual community, and created a new program called SKYPE Pals so that mentors, including many older adults, can stay connected to kids with special needs. Since the in-person programming at senior communities included a meal, Friendship Foundation is continuing to order meals to be delivered at their community center. They also plan to offer yoga/mindfulness and storytelling programs over Zoom.
- Generations United has a Facebook group for intergenerational practitioners, and a factsheet for grandfamilies navigating the crisis.
- The Good+Foundation continues to provide diapers, clothing and other supplies to families in need, including grandfamilies. They have also begun a microgrant program so that partners can purchase supplies directly as well.
- Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA) is conducting regular remote check-ins with students and families, assessing access to technology and other resources, academic distance learning progress, emotional wellness and more. They are also providing remote tutoring and are developing digital learning resources within their academic, arts, athletics and wellness programs.
- Inner-City Arts is moving its mock-interview program online, connecting older volunteers and students interested in the creative economy.
- KYCC is working with partners and their volunteer corps to improvise ways to help bring food and supplies to their older population. They are also working to make childcare available for parents who cannot work from home, and to make sure students who relied on getting meals at school are not going hungry.
- The Little Tokyo Service Center is providing services for seniors, both in senior housing complexes where they have social workers stationed, and in other affordable housing buildings, and for other home-bound individuals.
- The Motion Picture Television Fund is broadcasting programming from their on-campus screening room and theater to older residents to keep them connected.
- ONEgeneration is offering grab-and-go meals and delivering hot meals to older adults.
- Operation Jump Start is holding remote tutoring and webinars focused on mental health, and transitioned its College Signing Day event to a virtual program.
- P.S. Arts is providing a range of online arts education, including guided art, theater, music, or dance activities children can access any time and do on their own. Teaching Artists are also recording full P.S. ARTS lessons. P.S. ARTS is also working to sustain their intergenerational and other community arts programs through virtual environments and events to maintain social connections.
- Sages & Seekers had students record videos for their Sages instead of an in-person group presentation. They’ll use Zoom, Skype and FaceTime, and phone calls to continue their programming.
- St. Barnabas Senior Services is continuing transportation, home delivered meals, and phone-based social services. Other services are being transitioned to phone calls. They are also reassigning staff to carry out friendly calls to older adults to check on them and ensure their well-being, and exploring online options for other programs.
- School on Wheels is moving their tutoring services online where possible, working to get laptops and other supplies to students in shelters, and creating a digital classroom for students at a Skid Row shelter.
- Turnaround Arts is working to support its partner schools to integrate the arts into at-home family learning activities while schools are closed. They are curating resources for families and educators to be posted online, and are developing partnerships to provide art supplies where needed.
Outside of Los Angeles, we’ve also been inspired by these responses:
- DOROT, an Eisner Prize winner based in New York, has moved their in-person intergenerational programs online, including their discussion circles and home visiting programs, and has increased their frequency. They’re also preparing to launch a new program over Zoom where students and seniors perform old radio scripts together for an audience of older adults.
- Also in New York, Invisible Hands has formalized what many communities are doing on a smaller scale – pairing healthy volunteers with those who are unable to run errands. They hope to expand to other areas as well.
- Zoomers to Boomers was started in Santa Barbara by a group of high schoolers and has quickly expanded to many other cities around the world. They’re using high school volunteers to deliver groceries to older adults and the immunocompromised.
- Sharing Smiles, an initiative of Empowering the Ages, connects adults to youth through two different programs – one connecting groups of adults and youth and the other connecting individuals. With each program, people can find pen pals, write joint stories, create poetry, share artwork, inspire with motivational quotes, and creatively share individual strengths.
Last updated: April 23, 2020