Our work

Overview

Generations of Hope offers consulting and technical services to help organizations conceptualize, plan, and expedite the creation of new intergenerational communities based on the “intentional neighboring” model.

More specifically, we provide:

Strategic Planning Services,
Assisting in Establishing project design,
Converting the strategic plan into a business plan,
Creating a fund raising plan,
Evaluating appropriate location options,
Obtaining necessary funding. ( grants, State and Federal funding and participatory funding by future residents),
Partnering with Architects and Developers that understand and can execute Generations of Hope mission,
Coordinate with the development team through construction and bring projects to completion on time and within the budget.

Problem

There is growing recognition that too many people in this country are facing serious challenges – challenges that threaten their well-being, including their happiness and ability to contribute to society. On almost a daily basis the media remind us of the serious problems people are experiencing today – poverty, racial bias, the growing income gap, gun violence, the high cost of health care, and lack of compassionate end-of-life care to name just a few. What can be done to reverse this rising tide of vulnerability, to restore hope and optimism that change is possible? What’s needed is a fuller response to vulnerability.

Conventional solutions are offered to address social problems can be complicated, expensive, inflexible, and beyond the ability of everyday people to make a significant contribution or to make a real difference. As a result, we leave the answers to these questions to government, business, and the social service sector – sectors which traditionally have been responsible for designing and implementing answers to these seemingly never-ending problems.

Their work has seldom been enough to significantly reduce rates of poverty, especially among children, or decrease the need for more and more services. Clearly our social safety net that is designed to provide a margin of protection or security for people facing serious social challenges needs to be strengthened. Key characteristics of this safety net include:

vulnerability being defined by needs
services being designed to meet these needs, generally by providing assistance with acquisition of food, housing, income, and health care
services being provided by agencies relying on professional guidance
most services being time-limited and geared toward eliminating poverty

Solutions

You want to develop a community providing a strong chance for a better life for a susceptible population. You know current systems aren’t working and a village of caring is a better option. There are several Generations of Hope examples you can read about, visit and learn from. But, what do you know about creating a brand new community? If you are willing to learn and partner with our team we will compliment your work and build missing components of a fantastic project! When its built, you want the operation of better serve a vulnerable population and to provide a quality life for seniors. Working together, a community will come into being featuring:

the primary focus is on the universal need for caring relationships and neighboring;
people who are facing serious social challenges become assets to the community;
it relies on ordinary people and their capacity to care about one another; family member or friend to turn to when an individual is feeling most vulnerable.

It is not easy and there is not cookbook formula. Working together in most cases we can create a healthy perpetual community in five to seven years. Yes, each one completed more quickly than the previous community.

Because, Generations of Hope believes that a new dimension must be added to the mix of vulnerable population assistance. Our community design and operation leverages the power and natural dynamics of small-scale, intimate, fully-engaged community with assistance that encourages people interacting with people in a village setting. Intentional neighboring offers a way for ordinary people to provide support as family and friends to those facing serious social challenges. The intergenerational approach means two generations benefit from living in this setting. We call the approach “double social utility”

Our role in helping you develop a special village is to bring the expertise you need to develop an intergenerational village that will best serve a vulnerable population in a planned intentional community. Everybody that is focusing on community as solution comes to the table with different skill sets. Our job is to figure out what you need and to fill in the gaps.

Contact Us

We consult social entrepreneurs across the country and help them develop the resources needed to build intergenerational communities. In a typical project we provide at least 50 hours on consulting services without charge.

Model

Our model for intergenerational communities was researched and developed by Dr.Brenda Krause Eheart then a sociology professor at the University of Illinois. The first community was created in the early 1990’s in Rantoul, Illinois. There are now several communities around the country and more under development.

The basic ingredients are first a strong desire to help seniors live a better life and a strong desire to develop a community for a vulnerable population. A population that could include:

Foster Children
Foster Youth and Youth aging out of foster care
Former Foster Youth that are now single parent heads of households
Kindred Families
Wounded Warrior Families
Older Youth challenged by behavioral and developmental disabilities
Homeless Families
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and questioning youth that cannot thrive in the regular foster care system.

The model is based on five underlying principles. The model builds on unique relationships enhanced by design

Physical design facilitate relationships Homes and community are universally designed and are planned to provide neighboring
The presence of three or more generations interspersed throughout the village,
The community has a goal to building community capacity,
The community augments social services by shifting care and support from professionals back to the neighborhood,
There is an expectation of volunteering to enhance the community and the development, health and safety of the residents,
Staff work is characterized by consent rather than control.

The design of the physical community is critical. Special built in features include:

housing is 21st century universally designed (mindful of the vulnerable populations, seniors and the new technologies)
the limits of neighbors knowing neighbors suggests thatup to 80 to 100 housing units are part of a defined village
safety and security for residents including wayfinding, including landmarking and curing.
The design contains internal and external spaces the encourage opportunities to socialize, foster neighboring and
the location should be public transit accessible
the location should placed or include meaningful work opportunities
for some populations control of external noise and acoustical issues need to be addressedYou can read more about the model and the research that went into it at generationsofhope.org.