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ASU Lodestar Center receives $25,000 Encore.org grant to bring generations together in service
August 10, 2022 — If the older and younger generations had more chances to work together to solve problems and bridge divides, what community good could be achieved?
Starting this month, the ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation will answer that question thanks to a $25,000 Generations Serving Together grant from Encore.org. The ASU Lodestar Center is one of just eight organizations from across the country to receive this grant.
With this new funding, members of the ASU Lodestar Center’s AmeriCorps service programs – Public Allies Arizona and Experience Matters RSVP and Encore Fellows – will come together to identify and co-create solutions that advance racial, economic and social justice and increase community impact through cogenerational collaboration. The Public Allies program develops the next generation of changemakers, while the RSVP and Encore Fellows programs connect experienced professionals with nonprofits in need of their talents. Together, the perspectives and experiences of these multigenerational AmeriCorps service members will unleash fresh ideas and solutions for greater impact.
“We’re out to show that national service, which has traditionally been age-segregated, can play a critical role in bringing older and younger corps members and volunteers together to create real change,” says Eunice Lin Nichols, co-CEO at Encore.org.
“Encore.org’s Generations Serving Together grants will strengthen national service and show us the power of older and younger generations serving together,” says AmeriCorps CEO Michael D. Smith. “I look forward to seeing the impact that AmeriCorps members and AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers can have by coming together across the divides of age, race, culture and identity.”
"We are honored to play a key role in bridging generations so that the potential of co-creating service opportunities to enhance community well-being can be realized." said Dr. Robert Ashcraft, executive director of the ASU Lodestar Center and Saguaro Professor of Civic Enterprise. “The opportunity to learn from peers around the country is a valuable feature of this initiative, as each grantee tests the promise of cogenerational service, in partnership with Encore.org and AmeriCorps.” Ashcraft added.
The cohort of grantees will meet monthly over the next year for peer learning, problem solving, networking and mutual aid as the grantees develop their cogenerational projects.
Public Allies Arizona is a 10-month AmeriCorps program that offers full-time, paid nonprofit apprenticeships to emerging leaders in Phoenix and Tucson communities. They work side-by-side with nonprofit leaders on innovative responses and sustainable solutions to real local needs. A newly added program of the ASU Lodestar Center, Experience Matters connects the skills of individuals age 50 and over with social-benefit organizations to work on solving community problems.
Encore.org brings changemakers of all ages together to solve problems, bridge divides and co-create the future. Through national service, they find new and powerful co-generational solutions for racial justice, climate change, educational inequities, affordable housing, social isolation and loneliness, and much more.
Recipients of the Generations Serving Together grants include:
- Ampact (Minneapolis, MN)
- ASU Lodestar Center (Phoenix, AZ)
- Be Ready Alliance Coordinating for Emergencies (Pensacola, FL)
- Fresno EOC Foster Grandparent Program (Fresno, CA)
- LISC AmeriCorps (NY)
- Northern Santa Barbara County United Way (Santa Maria, CA)
- Seniors in Service of Tampa Bay (Tampa, FL)
- Spark the Change Colorado (Denver, CO)
Arizona State University’s Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation educates, empowers and connects nonprofit leaders to accelerate social impact. Housed within ASU’s Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions and its School of Community Resources and Development, the ASU Lodestar Center believes that the quality of life in communities is enriched with impactful philanthropy and effective nonprofit leadership. For more than 20 years, the ASU Lodestar Center has provided education, research, practical tools and convenings for nonprofit professionals, philanthropists and volunteers who seek to solve problems and realize their communities’ highest aspirations.