About Us
Generations of Hope is a nonprofit organization that works to enhance and extend the lives of vulnerable populations by tapping the transformative power of intergenerational community living.
A new approach to “services”
Our nation’s social services are missing a key ingredient of success—the enduring relationships afforded by stable families and communities.
Generations of Hope Communities (GHCs) are based on a model of intergenerational living where older adults provide indispensable support to vulnerable parents, children, and youth who, in turn, become instrumental in promoting the well-being of the elders as they age. In essence, the GHC strategy is to facilitate and support naturally emergent relationships that endure across generational lines so that the community becomes the first line of support.
The GHC model integrates a set of program strategies and principles, which enable community members to become problem solvers instead of “recipients of service,” while offering ample opportunities for all residents of the neighborhood to contribute to each other’s welfare.
These opportunities to contribute to the overall health of the community become largely self-perpetuating both for the individual and the community as a whole, gradually reducing the need for professional services.
A proven model
A Generations of Hope Community (GHC) is an intentional, multi-generational neighborhood, organized around a social challenge.
The first GHC was Hope Meadows in Rantoul, Illinois, created in 1994 to support families adopting children out of foster care. A new non-profit organization, Generations of Hope Development Corporation, was formed in 2006 to support development of more neighborhoods like Hope Meadows. Our model of intergenerational community living is being adapted and replicated nationally to assist several targeted populations struggling within our society:
- foster children needing adoptive homes
- youth exiting foster care or juvenile justice systems
- parents reentering society from drug treatment or prison
- military families and/or disabled veterans facing instability and uncertainty
- retirees seeking meaning and purpose in their daily lives
- older adults facing a move to assisted living facilities.