Fostering Intergenerational Connection through Community Initiative: A Process Evaluation of Senior to Senior Dinner Dance

Background and Purposes: In intergenerational programs, people from multiple generations share their talents, build healthy social relationships, and experience improved well-being by developing an enhanced social presence and identity. As a part of an age-friendly community initiative in New York State, an intergenerational engagement community project (Senior to Senior Dinner Dance) involved a multi-year partnership between community agencies, including the local Office for Aging, a university, a high school, and a senior center. In this partnership, an intergenerational community dinner and dance was held where local high school students and older adults participated in a variety of intergenerational activities, including dining and dancing. Dinner tables were arranged to mix generations, with the older adults and high school students sitting together. The high school students prepared a photo booth, facilitated a history Bingo game (1960s-2020s), and curated a music playlist for dancing. Often, older adults led and performed various dance styles and high school students followed the older adults’ lead during group dances. Students also invited older adults at their tables to join them in dancing. At closing, students offered brief orations about their future career goals.

Methods: Process evaluation was adopted to provide details for future replication of the work and to help in detecting and understanding issues in developing the community-based intergenerational initiative. Based on the data from qualitative surveys with older adults (n=34) and high school students (n=11) and focus groups with community partners (n=5), this study explores community members’ experiences on the intergenerational dinner and dance initiative and describes how community agencies collaborate on the development of intergenerational communities. The data were collected from May to October 2025. A thematic analysis guided the process evaluation.

Results: A thematic analysis of the data revealed: (1) Generational differences prior to the event: Distinct expectations and motivations; (2) Intergenerational connections at the event: Shared enjoyment and connection; and (3) Beyond the event: Sustaining intergenerational and interorganizational engagement.

Conclusions and Implications: The findings highlight the importance of understanding each generation’s unique values and interests for participating in intergenerational events. Future program planning could benefit from employing varied advertising strategies, including creating separate promotional materials for each age cohort. It can enhance the autonomy of participating organizations (e.g., high school, senior center, local Office for Aging) in their recruitment effort. While high school students and older adults had varied perspectives and reasons for joining the event, both generations were highly satisfied with the intergenerational event. Findings suggest that collaborative events may serve to instigate new intergenerational connections in the community, while highlighting the significance of the grand-generative function among older adults. This process evaluation also revealed the largely underexplored potential of intergenerational engagement across various community settings. Findings highlight how existing community assets, such as K-12 school systems and social service agencies, can be reimagined to foster mutual support across generations. Broadening agency roles to support multiple generations is recommended as a strategy to strengthen and sustain intergenerational engagement in communities with limited resources.