Caring Community Challenge pilots primed for growth
Link Generations Pilot 2 cohort
It’s hard to believe it’s been eight months since we shifted into our final phases of Challenge development, but much has happened to steer this work into a position for growth.
To catch you up, last summer our Challenge cohort selected three innovative programs for pilot in Toronto’s Bathurst and Finch community: Incredible Edible, Link Generations and Post Bellum. While Incredible Edible has taken a back seat through the winter, Link Generations and Post Bellum have been producing some very strong results, which we will be sharing with you over the next month. Anecdotally, the results couldn't be better, with seniors and youth both reporting feelings of connection and of joy.
The mission of Link Generations is to educate middle and high school aged youth about aging and connect them with older adults in interactive activities that benefit both populations. In bringing the two groups together, they aim to combat ageism and social isolation. Since launching in 2016, founder Dr. Lori Marks has been able to demonstrate consistently positive results and we were excited to try it out.
Through November and into December, we invited seniors in the Circle of Care community to meet over Zoom with youth from North York Community House (NYCH). For this first pilot, we asked Lori for an adjustment to her standard Link Generations offering as NYCH had lined up a cohort of much younger children than her program is designed for; while the 5-week program produced some fun moments and the kids appeared to enjoy the opportunity, the results did not meet expectations. The kids were too young to really engage in a true exchange with the older adults. While Lori had anticipated this, she was open to the experiment, which was super generous. You never know until you try!
Given this learning, we ran a second pilot of the program in February with youth in the sweet spot - 14-17 years old. Some of the same Circle of Care seniors came back to try it again, as well as some new participants. This time the results were extraordinarily positive.
Both youth and seniors reported decreased social isolation and loneliness, and both cohorts expressed satisfaction with the program as a whole. Just a couple of the comments from the seniors included:
“I found it encouraging to interact with young people and learn that they can be wise and serious about their lives.”
“It was inspirational to hear many words of wisdom from the younger generations.”
And from the youth:
“[making connections] is the most important thing in Link Generations.”
“This program made me feel amazing inside and out. I was looking forward to them every Monday…I am so excited I was a part of their lives.”
Remembering that our Challenge objective is to seek out ways to increase feelings of belonging across intergererational and intercultural lines, the results of Link Generations are extremely promising. The youth cohort was comprised of recent immigrants to Canada, many feeling a sense of disconnection as a result. One youth expressed to me that engaging with seniors was in some ways, better than engaging with youth, as they offered her guidance and encouragement for her life. Many youth felt they could share personal details more freely with the seniors.
As the co-facilitator of the Caring Community Challenge, I was hoping to see positive results, but I was astonished by the passionate enthusiasm expressed by the youth for this program. The project team is now engaged in discussions to see what partnership arrangements may support Link Generations being offered to more communities in Toronto moving forward.
The Post Bellum project from the Czech Republic has been more complex, but we are starting to see results come in. Post Bellum has been operating for 20 years recording life stories from people who have lived through oppressive political regimes. We engaged them to learn about their “Our Neighbours Stories” program, where young people interview older people about their lives.
Earlier this year we provided training to youth who found their way to the pilot via their school, Volunteer Toronto or Big Brothers Big Sisters Halton Hamilton.
Once again, Circle of Care was critical in engaging seniors in the program, asking them if they would like to have their life story recorded for the pilot. The experiences are rich and exciting! Youth heard extraordinary life stories and have gained important insights for their lives. The seniors are enjoying the experience of sharing and passing on advice to younger generations. The degree to which the process has impacted feelings of isolation is still under assessment, but we can already see how to deepen the engagement in future iterations.
A selection of stories from www.ourneighboursstories.ca
All of the stories are now available on Our Neighbours Stories - a microsite developed to encourage further development of this program. Last week, Councillor James Pasternak formally launched our exhibition of stories, with the support of the Toronto Public Library Centennial branch. They appear in poster format at the library and will be up throughout the month of June (Seniors Month). Please pay the exhibition a visit! You won’t be disappointed. We are also working with Post Bellum on a Canadian section of their site for ongoing archiving of the stories.
We started this quest with a big invitation: we want to look after each other better in the places where we are. In engaging with the community of Bathurst and Finch, we focused that quest on bringing the generations together across cultures. With Link Generations and Post Bellum we are seeing strong connections can be made. Our next steps are to extend these outcomes beyond the Bathurst and Finch community.
While we enter evaluation and reporting mode, if you’re interested in learning more about our pilots and seeding further growth, please reach out. There is a very rich foundation here that we want to build on.