This program integrates academic study with community service and work experience for public high school students, many of whom are at-risk of not completing high school because of low credit accumulation and/or poor attendance.

Operationalizing the principles of service learning and intergenerational exchange, supervised students deliver needed services to elders in senior centers, nursing homes and in-home settings while the seniors whom they encounter - both frail and well elderly - serve as mentors and counselors to them. Students gain valuable work experience and a respectful understanding of aging while seniors utilize their life experience and interpersonal resources to serve the younger generation.

In the past school year, over 350 students from 24 high schools served and were served by seniors in 46 senior centers and nursing homes throughout New York City. Close to 50,000 hours of intergenerational services were generated between July 2001 and June 2002 by IWSP participants.