Corey A. Nichols-Hadeed, JD | University of Rochester Medical Center; Kiah E. Nyame, EdD | City of Rochester; Kimberly A. Van Orden, PhD | University of Rochester Medical Center; Malik R. Sams, MD | University of Rochester Medical Center
Competition Sponsor: US National Academy of Medicine
Awardee Year: 2022
Development of an intergenerational mentoring programing will link youth at risk for violence with older adult mentors in their community. Especially important as the community emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, this approach offers an opportunity to promote health across the lifespan by providing meaningful social connection in older adults while addressing community violence. This collaborative project will leverage strengths from across the community through co-design with a hospital system, local government, and the community, including youth, older adults, and community serving agencies. This work will be accomplished through the following aims: 1. Developing a training manual for guiding mentorship relationships, violence prevention, and health promotion with a focus on self-care, developing and maintaining healthy boundaries, and when to seek additional support; 2. Training a cohort of older adult mentors (n=15) and conducting baseline assessment (surveys and interviews) of risk and resilience for healthy aging, including physical/mental/cognitive/social health/functioning; and 3. Piloting the program with trained older adult mentors paired with youth mentees (n=45) that have experienced violence-related injuries. We hypothesize that participation in an intergenerational mentoring program will increase health and well-being for all participants, both youth and older adults, and promote healthy aging trajectories across the lifespan.
To learn more about this proposal, email healthylongevity@nas.edu.