I’ve heard the question so many times from people interested in cogenerational programming: “Are young people really going to show up to connect with older people?” We know, from our nationally representative study with NORC at the University of Chicago in 2022, that...
Purpose Prize
The Latest from CoGenerate
Want to Recruit Younger People? Look Within
For the past five years, I’ve been working as an advocate for the causes I believe in and for more intergenerational collaboration. Young people like me want more opportunities to work across generations for change, but we also want to be treated as equals. To...
What Young Leaders Want — And Don’t Want — From Older Allies
We know from our nationally representative study with NORC at the University of Chicago in 2022 that 76% of Gen Z and 70% of Millennial respondents wish they had more opportunities to work across generations for change. In a new report, What Young Leaders Want — And...
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Jerry Conover
Purpose Prize Fellow 2006
Redirecting the resources of the oldest generation to help the youngest
To Jerry Conover, a retired trial lawyer and mediator, the Social Security checks he began receiving in his sixties were nice but not necessary. Financially secure, he, like many of his friends, had no real need for the government entitlement. The challenges facing America’s poorest children – particularly in health care and education – pushed Conover to act. In 2002, at age 68, Conover started Hope for Generations to provide adults who could afford it with a way to redirect a portion of their unneeded Social Security payments to an investment in the poor and marginalized, particularly children. Today those who choose to donate to Hope for Generations give all or part of their Social Security benefits, redirect pension payments, or simply donate from their bank accounts. Hope for Generations works with the Denver Foundation, which provides fund management and helps to select the groups that receive the donations. In three years, Hope for Generations has invested $250,000 in a total of 11 organizations serving the needs of the very young in the Denver and across the state of Colorado.