Ashoka and GEO are pleased to invite you to a conversation on strengthening intergenerational connection.
A century ago, Americans of all ages lived, worked, worshipped and organized together as a matter of course. Today, we are simultaneously the most age-diverse society in history and one of the most age-segregated — by design. The costs are mounting: loneliness, lost purpose, eroded trust and a civic culture increasingly mediated by outrage rather than relationships.
But something is shifting. Research points to deep, pent-up demand among older and younger Americans to work together on the issues that matter most — mental health, climate, democracy itself. Social entrepreneurs are responding. The question for philanthropy is how to meet this moment with practices that are responsive, relational and grounded in community priorities.
Join us for a tour of practitioner insights from the Ashoka Action Lab — what’s emerging across higher education, K–12, housing, caregiving, the arts and community organizations when generations are intentionally brought together. Which approaches are taking root, and what conditions help them endure?
In conversation, we’ll explore how grantmakers can translate these insights into practice — what it looks like to fund for connection, shift decision-making closer to communities and support experiments that build trust and shared purpose across difference. Where are the openings for learning and adaptation? Which investments feel most catalytic now?
