Ithaca College Is Part of Award-Winning Partnership with Longview

Partners in Intergenerational Living and Learning –– a cooperative program between the Ithaca College Gerontology Institute, Longview, Tompkins Community Action Head Start, and the Elizabeth Ann Clune Montessori School––received an honorable mention in the 2000 Mutual of America Community Partnership Award competition. Each year the Mutual of America Foundation sponsors this award to recognize outstanding nonprofit organizations in the United States that have shown exemplary leadership by facilitating partnerships with public- and private-sector leaders.

"The organizations selected as Community Partnership Award finalists have offered models of social action for others to emulate," says Thomas Gilliam, president and chief executive officer of the Mutual of America Foundation. "Through the Community Partnership Award, Mutual of America wishes to help in the work of these vital partnerships."

Also receiving honorable mention honors was a violence prevention program in California. The winner was an Illinois program that trains adults and juvenile prisoners in construction skills; the prisoners then build homes for Habitat for Humanity.

The foundation presented a cash award to Ithacare, the private not-for-profit corporation that operates Longview, and the other finalists at a November ceremony in New York City. John Krout, director of the Gerontology Institute, accepted a certificate that recognizes the College for setting "an outstanding example of leadership in the facilitation of partnerships between public and private organizations to build better communities for the future."

"What’s significant about this honor is that it is recognition on a national scale," says Krout. "It shows that our intergenerational program with Longview is at the forefront of enhancing the lives of both college students and older adults through academic and experiential learning activities."

"Our partnership has created a center for intergenerational activity where elderly residents, preschoolers, young adolescents, and college students are able to share life’s lessons and pleasures," adds Mark Macera, executive director of Longview. "These sharing activities offer new perspectives on life’s journey to everyone involved and have established a model of community-based elderly care that is humane, caring, and vibrant."

The partnership began in 1974, when Ithaca College officials and community leaders established Ithacare as a way to provide quality housing and care to elderly citizens without regard to their financial resources. Longview opened in 1998 and currently offers housing, services, and care for some 200 people, who live in either independent apartments or in the adult home. The facility includes an 1,800-square-foot space dedicated for College use. About 250 students and 25 faculty members participate in over 40 intergenerational activities each semester, mostly at Longview. In addition to taking classes, Longview residents can come to campus to attend music, dance, and theater performances and to utilize campus facilities.

Longview also houses the Tompkins Community Action Head Start program. Residents who enjoy the company of children ages three to five can join the youngsters in fitness and arts-and-crafts classes, as well as story time. In addition, middle school students from the Elizabeth Ann Clune Montessori School are paired with Longview residents in a "curriculum for caring" program, in which students develop active listening skills and deepen their understanding of history by preparing biographies of their elderly friends.

"The award selection committee was impressed by the program’s impact on the lives of the targeted population," says Gilliam. "Mutual of America congratulates this outstanding example of partnership."

The Mutual of America Foundation is a subsidiary of the Mutual of America Life Insurance Company, which was founded in 1945 to provide retirement and insurance coverage for employees of not-for profit organizations.