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History

1999
The CFAA concept was developed by Dr. Nancy Henkin, Executive Director of the Temple University Center for Intergenerational Learning.

2001
Temple received a grant from the Annie E. Casey Foundation to support the refinement of the CFAA  model.

2002
The Center partnered with the Arizona Community Foundation (ACF) to pioneer the first Communities for All Ages local initiative.  ACF offered one year planning grants and technical assistance to nine ethnically and geographically diverse Arizona communities to develop action plans based on an assessment of the needs/ resources of their residents. Six of these communities continued on to receive grants for three years to implement their Communities for All Ages plan and are now mentoring new Arizona sites.

2005
The Helen Andrus Benedict Foundation and the United Way of Westchester and Putnam Counties in New York collaborated to support five Communities for Ages sites. Currently, three of those sites are successfully utilizing the Communities for All Ages lens to address critical issues.

2006
The Florence V. Burden Foundation supported a Communities for All Ages planning grant in Brunswick, Maine. Today a CFAA Steering committee meets monthly to implement multi-generational community building strategies.

Dr. Henkin was elected to the Ashoka Fellowship, a global group of social entrepreneurs, for her Communities for All Ages work.      

2007
The Center worked with colleagues from Just Partners and the Jefferson Area Board for Aging to create the Viable Futures Toolkit (www.viablefuturestoolkit.org). This valuable resource helps communities engage in a comprehensive planning process to build sustainable communities for all ages. The Toolkit, funded by the Blue Moon Fund and the Annie E. Casey Foundation, is being used by organizations across the country.

2008
The W. K. Kellogg Foundation awarded a three year grant to The Intergenerational Center to:

  • expand the number of CFAA sites by partnering with six new community foundations
  • strengthen the national CFAA Network to build the capacity of individual communities to successfully utilize this framework and to increase cross-site learning; and
  • tell a new story about effecting long-term community change.

2009
The Foundation for the Mid- South, Kalamazoo Community Foundation, Northland Community Foundation, Broward County Community Foundation, Baltimore Community Foundation and Orange County Community Foundation became CFAA funding partners.