Second Acts for Strong Communities, RHA/Bridge Rockford Alliance one of ten national pilot sites

Second Acts for Strong Communities – RHA and Bridge Rockford Alliance join other Second Acts communities (10 nationally) with Generations United, Alliance for Strong Families and Communities, and Encore.org in a quarterly convening. The goal of the convening is to provide updates on intergenerational efforts to build a local pipeline of 50+ individuals who desire to help children and families achieve a greater quality of life. Of particular focus is collecting and utilizing data to make decisions and continually improve the process and outcomes. The 90-minute planning session brought clarity to how the RHA actions will deliver essential outcomes for all participants – our youth, families, second act talent, the RHA and the Alliance Network. Our pilot will be used to help other communities implement and scale intergenerational efforts.

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The Alliance for Strong Families and Communities launched the intergenerational initiative called Second Acts for Strong Communities, in partnership with Encore.org to strengthen the ability of human-serving organizations to meet the needs of our nation’s children and youth. RHA/Bridge Rockford Alliance is one of the ten national pilot sites.

This initiative provides opportunities for experienced adults, age 50 years old and older, to use their unique skills, expertise, experiences, and wisdom to improve outcomes for children and youth. The Alliance and its partners believe that bringing generations together in the workplace and community-based programs will inspire new solutions, improve outcomes for children and families, and fuel a new approach for promoting social change.

The 10 organizations are working collaboratively in a learning community to develop systems and processes, gather knowledge, identify best practices, develop replicable tools and materials, and build a network of ambassadors that will enable encore talent models to be scaled and embedded throughout the field and in other related constituencies.

This initiative was made possible due to the generous investments made by the Deerbrook Charitable Trust, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and contributions made by the 10 demonstration sites.