Featured Story - May-June 2003

Only two in five adults, parents or even the teens themselves say young folks today will grow up to makeAmerica a better place to live. Yet, in reality, teens place high value on honesty and hard work, and the vast majority think and plan seriously for the future (Frameworks Institute). The majority of teens say they volunteer, go to church or synagogue weekly, read the newspaper regularly and attend cultural events. Young people see adults as controlling, inflexible and distant – and for good reason. According to a study of adult behavior by Search Institute and Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, most adults are not at all involved in the lives of neighborhood teens. They don’t even know their names. They don’t say, “Hi, how ya doin’?” They don’t do the little things that count.

JOIN HANDS DAY is changing that. On the third Saturday in June each year, youth and adults connect across generations to learn something about each other while they plan and carry out a volunteer project together. On JOIN HANDS DAY last year, thousands of youth and adults took the chance by volunteering together in projects all across America . And they liked the experience. According to Indiana University evaluators, JOIN HANDS DAY is having a strong impact on the attitudes of young people and adults toward each other. More than half of last year’s participants found their attitudes toward the other generation changing. And most participants were comfortable with people in other generations. Most participants – more than 90 percent – enjoyed the experience so much, they want to be part of more intergenerational events. About 80 percent of both generations – youth and adults – said that if older and younger people took time to understand each other, there wouldn’t be so many social problems. JOIN HANDS DAY was created by America ’s Fraternal Benefit Societies to help make America a better place to grow up and grow old. The Points of Light Foundation and the Volunteer Center National Network are partners in this important work.

The next JOIN HANDS DAY is June 21. VolunteerLEON: Leon County Volunteer Center and Walker Ford Community Center have partnered to bring the 4th Annual JOIN HANDS DAY to Tallahassee/Leon County. Activities will be held at both Neighborhood Network Center at Briarwood Manor and Walker Ford Community Center . If we can change attitudes by breaking down barriers between age groups that often lead to bigger problems.…we can change neighborhoods. Because it starts with you, it starts with me, it starts with us!

Organizations hosting the events are VolunteerLEON Youth Corps, LeRoy Collins Leon County Public Library, Walker Ford Teen Council, Visions of Manhood, Universal Brotherhood 444, & Woodmen of the World.