Linking Young and Old Through Intergenerational Programs

Historically, the family with its extended network of generations and relations was responsible for the various nurturing, educational, and economic functions required to maintain and support all of its members. Over the course of the last century, however, America has become highly segregated by age, and family functions have been assumed by a range of more or less age-specific institutions. Children attend agesegregated schools; adults work in environments almost exclusive of children under 16 and adults over 65; elderly people often live in age-segregated housing; and both children and older persons are cared for in age-segregated facilities (day or long-term)