Giving Compass' Take:

• Generations United and The Eisner Foundation share how the lives of all can be improved by getting young and old people to work together. 

• How can funders work to make this goal a reality? What community structures in your area could be leveraged for a project like this? 

• Read a guide to funding in aging. 

We live in an age-segregated society.

Kids spend their days at school, mostly among peers born the same year they were. Young and middleaged adults cluster at work. And elders gather for clubs, classes, and meals that often expressly bar the young. At night, some of us go home to our children or our parents, but millions of college students and elders live in age-restricted housing, and about six in ten American neighborhoods skew young or old. Nearly 25 percent of the nation’s neighborhoods contain a disproportionately high share of elders, while another 31 percent contain either a disproportionately high share of children and their parents or a disproportionately high share of young adults.

Strikingly, in a recent Generations United/Eisner Foundation survey of adults around the country, more than half of respondents—53 percent—said that aside from family members, few of the people they regularly spend time with are much older or much younger than they are. Young adults between the ages of 18 and 34 appear to be the most isolated from other generations, with 61 percent reporting a limited number of much older or much younger acquaintances. And most young adults—64 percent—say they’re sometimes unsure how to talk to people who are significantly older or younger than they are.

Children and youth benefit from building relationships with elders in their communities, agree 93 percent of adults; elders benefit from these relationships as well, say 91 percent. An overwhelming majority of adults—77 percent—wish there were more opportunities in their community for people from different age groups to meet and get to know one another. Notably, most adults—78 percent—believe the federal government should invest in programs that bring together young and old Americans. Sixty-one percent of adults would like to see more parks, playgrounds, and recreation centers that cater to all ages; 60 percent want more youth to visit and help elders in their homes; and 60 percent want more elders to mentor and tutor children and youth. Scholars, too, are calling for age barriers to be eased—for everyone’s sake.