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The Generations of Hope Development Corporation (GHDC)
was established in 2006, with the support of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Its mission is to advance the Hope Meadows model as an effective approach for addressing multiple, seemingly intractable social challenges by building communities that rebuild lives. Efforts are now underway to extend this model to address a range of social challenges by developing new replication sites across the country known as Generations of Hope Communities (GHCs).

In addition to the challenge of supporting families who adopt children from the foster care system, GHCs are being created to support groups such as youth aging out of foster care, young parents re-entering society after incarceration or drug treatment, and homeless or near-homeless families. 

Site design template for a GHC.
© 2006 by Mackenzie Architects.

The GHC Approach

GHCs represent a new approach to addressing complex social problems that are often resistant to conventional service systems. A GHC is an intentionally created, geographically contiguous intergenerational neighborhood, where some of the residents are facing a specific challenge around which the entire community organizes. 

The distinctive strategy used in GHCs is to
facilitate and support naturally emergent alliances, relationships, and enduring commitments across generational lines so that the community becomes the first line of support and service--of intervention. Known as Intergenerational Community as Intervention (ICI), this strategy, grounded in
ten core principles, shifts the initial focus of problem solving from professional service providers to the members of the community, offering social services a strong complement.

Our Vision

A network of GHC neighborhoods across the country where the gifts and talents of ordinary people of all generations and vulnerabilities are utilized to effectively address social problems, and where each and every person is enfolded on a daily basis into networks of stable, caring, intergenerational relationships.Our specific goals are to:

• accelerate the development of the most promising emerging GHCs through technical assistance,
• develop a set of economically sound financial models for building and operating GHCs,
• formulate a plan for adapting the GHC model to youth and young adults in need of alternative educational opportunities,
• identify opportunities for, and barriers to, GHC development in key areas of public policy, and
• coordinate efforts to raise local and national awareness of the GHC approach