Generations Together
Generations Together (GT) is pilot funding awarded to 12 local authorities in England (chosen from 132 bids) from the Department of Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), now the Department for Education (DfE).
GT aims to:
- Generate wider interest in and thinking about intergenerational work.
- Increase the number of volunteers working on intergenerational activity.
- To encourage a strategic and sustainable approach.
- To provide robust evidence of the effectiveness of intergenerational initiatives and to develop evidence about effective models for delivering intergenerational activity.
GT projects seek therefore to break down barriers between young people and older people and help them engage with each other on equal terms through mutually beneficial voluntary projects. The projects will bring together other members of the community to build trust and understanding, develop community solutions to issues which concern both groups, promote health and wellbeing and resolve tensions by helping to address negative perceptions of young and older people alike.
The UK population now has more people over the age of 65 than under the age of 16. As England’s social demographic changes, the DCSF considered it increasingly important that young and older people are encouraged to interact and spend more time learning from each other’s experiences and skills. It is hoped that positive relationships will in turn help to reduce the fear of crime and antisocial behaviour felt by many older people while reducing the risk-taking behaviour – such as drug abuse and crime – of younger people; as well as the feeling of social isolation by both ages.
There are four different strands within GT in Gateshead. Click on a link below to find out more:
