Founded in 1986, Generations United is the leading intergenerational membership organization in the United States.  Originally created by the National Council on Aging and the Child Welfare League of America, Generations United flourished as a collaborative effort.  Soon after, AARP and the Children’s Defense Fund joined the organization’s leadership. We quickly grew to become a coalition of more than 100 national organizations seeking a shared, mutually supportive agenda.

Generations United incorporated in 1997 as an independent entity. It continues today as the country’s only membership organization promoting intergenerational public policies, programs, and strategies whose membership represents more than 70 million Americans.

Past Major Results:

• Released Family Matters: Public Policy and the Interdependence of Generations in 2010, an intergenerational policy report including Harris Interactive poll results of American opinions regarding intergenerational policies.  The release event, held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., was followed by a summit that brought together leaders from many organizations to plan for future intergenerational policies and recommendations.
• Built a unified coalition of groups from the children's, disability and older adult communities around strengthening Social Security, culminating in a Social Security For All Generations Call-In Day in 2010 that resulted in more than 4,600 calls to lawmakers stressing the importance of this vital intergenerational program
• Developed the Generations United Program of Distinction designation to recognize excellence in intergenerational programs in 2009.
• Expanded Seniors4Kids in Pennsylvania and New Jersey in 2009.
• Led the push to pass Fostering Connections, groundbreaking legislation signed by President Bush in 2008 that helps grandparents and other relatives more easily care for children.
• Released the first study of the financial benefits of intergenerational shared sites and recognized the first recipients of the Generations United/MetLife Foundation Excellence Awards in 2008.
• Launched Grandfamilies State Law and Policy Resource Center in 2008 to serve as a national legal resource educating advocates, caregivers, attorneys, and policymakers about state laws and legislation in support of grandfamilies.
• Expanded Seniors4Kids in New York and Kentucky in 2007.
• Held a briefing on Capitol Hill in 2006 to release All Children Deserve a Permanent Home, a report which highlights the importance of relative caregivers in the foster care system and their families’ need for subsidized guardianship as another permanency option.
• Sponsored a briefing on Capitol Hill in 2006 on the impact of methamphetamine abuse and innovative intergenerational solutions. Also released its report Meth and Child Welfare: Promising Solutions for Children, Their Parents, and Grandparents at the briefing, which is one of Generations United’s most popular downloads.
• Created the Senior4Kids initiative in 2005 to raise the voices of older adults in support of policies benefiting children..
• Honored by The United Nations’ Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations in 2005 with Special Consultative Status with its Economic and Social Council (ECOSC). This status entitles Generations United to contribute to the work, programs and goals of the United Nations by serving as technical experts, advisers, and consultants to governments and the UN Secretariat. Generations United is one of only eight organizations granted this special honor. 
• Awarded the Johnson & Johnson/Rosalynn Carter Institute Leadership Award for Excellence in Intergenerational Caregiving in 2004
• Convened the second national expert symposium on grandfamilies in 2004.
• Co-sponsored national GrandRallies on Capitol Hill in 2003, 2005, and 2008.
• Promoted inclusion of LEGACY intergenerational housing provisions signed into law as a part of the American Dream Down Payment Bill in December 2003
• Developed and released the first intergenerational agenda to eliminate child poverty in 2002
• Founded the National Center on Grandparents and Other Relatives Raising Children in 2001
• Provided information and testimony to the U.S. Congress, and helped to ensure that the National Family Caregiver Support Act signed into law in 2000 included grandparents and other relatives raising children
• Held successful international intergenerational conferences in 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2009 
• Convened the first national expert symposiums on grandparents and other relatives raising children (1997); intergenerational shared sites and shared resources (2001); and affordable housing for relatives raising children (2005)