DEBORAH TREFTS
Staff Writer
People of all ages have fond memories of time spent with older family members, friends and neighbors. Many older people who do not have, or are not close to, young family members or friends pine for the multigenerational conversations, connection and joy they experienced when they were younger.
Eunice Lin Nichols, co-CEO of CoGenerate, the leading nonprofit on bridging generational divides in the United States, has set about rectifying this profound societal disconnect. At 3 p.m. Saturday in the Hall of Philosophy, Nichols will share insights for harnessing age integration to solve problems that no generation can solve by itself in her talk titled “Better Together: Rebuilding an Age-Integrated Society.”
“We have a small team [at CoGenerate], and we punch above our weight,” Nichols said. “We love to immerse (ourselves) in spaces where we can bridge intergenerational divides. Everyone wants to bridge this divide. Older people want to meet children and younger people, but it seems we’ve lost the muscle to talk with (them).”
In part, she will speak about the most age-integrated period in United States history, and how age segregation became the norm, if not the intent.
According to Nichols, “(w)e’re living in the most age-diverse time in human history, with equal numbers of people alive at every age, from birth to age 70 and beyond. Simultaneously, we’re the most age-segregated nation we’ve ever been — a dangerous experiment linked to a raft of problems, including generational conflict, rampant ageism and an epidemic of loneliness and isolation.”
Building the “future of together” — which for Nichols and CoGenerate means “a multigenerational force for good anchored in the promise and potential of our country’s new age-diversity” — is a hopeful and energizing challenge.
Last season, and throughout Weeks Two and Three of this season, she explored mutually respectful intergenerational connection, collaboration, problem-solving and friendship at Chautauqua Institution.
“One reason that Chautauqua is so important for my organization is that it’s a storied American institution that represents in some ways all the wonderful things we used to have,” Nichols said. “Chief among these are multiple generations living intergenerationally together and eating meals together.”
She continued: “There are civics organizations — churches, libraries and service clubs — and there’s higher education and continuous lifelong learning. But all are experiencing a decline in enrollment. Young people aren’t participating. … Mostly older people continue to use them, so there’s age segregation.”
Viewing Chautauqua as “a space of innovation and intergeneration,” Nichols said she’ll weave some of what has happened during Week Three into her Contemporary Issues Forum talk.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, to parents who emigrated from Taiwan, Nichols said after her parents settled, they successfully sponsored her maternal grandparents.
So for her, “living intergenerationally was the norm.” Because her parents worked outside their home, she said her grandparents, who’d been professionals in Taiwan, were her “after-school program.” “Of vital health and mind,” they practiced tai chi, taught her the Chinese language and their values and prepared Chinese food. She, in turn, taught them English.
“I remember designing coupons for English lessons, and a sense of giving them something they really needed,” Nichols said.
Because hers was the only Chinese family in the neighborhood, Nichols felt more uncomfortable than her friends. Yet, “difference and discomfort wrapped in love and belonging creates a container of trust to hold the belonging; then I could work through the discomfort,” she said.
Except for living with her older sister, Nichols first spent time with other young people in her cohort outside of school after she enrolled at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
“A church family helped to acclimate my parents when they first came to the U.S.,” she said. “… So I went to the local Baptist church in Williamstown and asked to be adopted. The organist was thrilled. I played the violin. We became partners in what would be played on Sunday, and we practiced together on Saturdays.”
After majoring in English, Nichols said she worked for Dove Consulting in Boston, Massachusetts. “I lived a glorious three years traveling the world. I earned more than my parents, who had science Ph.D.s.”
Then she began feeling “unmoored” and knew she needed to make a change. An ad for a position with Experience Corps in the San Francisco Bay Area caught her attention.
“They recruit 50+ year old adults to volunteer in San Francisco schools to help kids read by third grade,” Nichols said. “I grew up teaching my grandparents reading. … Within two years, I recruited 200 older adults for about a dozen schools in the Bay Area. … Those 200 adults were not transitional. The ‘youngers’ needed them to feel stable, and the ‘olders’ to stay alive. That’s when I felt like career-wise, I had come home. … At Experience Corps, the friends I needed weren’t peer friends, but 80 year olds. They’re the antidote.”
Nichols was included in the inaugural Eames Institute Curious 100 List, has been recognized as a Next Avenue Influencer in Aging and for her work to advance “innovative and effective solutions to California’s most significant issues” was honored with the James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award.
Are Americans ready to build a multigenerational force for good? Or will they squander this moment, or worse still, foster additional societal divisions? These are questions that Nichols has been pondering and will raise at CIF Saturday afternoon.
