Every generation has something to teach.

InterGen Connect brings adults 50 and over together with young people aged 14 to 24 in San Mateo County. Seniors share a lifetime of know-how. Young people share the technology. We meet every week, and everyone leaves with something they made.

I'm 50 or over I'm 14 to 24
I ran a print shop for thirty-one years. Nobody's ever asked me how it started.Senior, being interviewed
I'm asking. Start from the very first day.Youth co-lead, doing the interviewing
Well. It started with a borrowed press and a very bad idea…

How a Wisdom of a Lifetime interview begins.

Which one sounds like you?

50+

Join as a senior

  • Have your life and work story recorded on film
  • Learn the technology you actually want to use
  • A friendly weekly hour with the same group
What's in it for seniors
14–24

Join as a young person

  • Co-lead real sessions alongside a trained facilitator
  • Interview and film someone about their whole career
  • Logged service hours and a portfolio you can show
What's in it for youth

Parent or guardian? Here's how we keep young people safe.

Our programs

Wisdom of a Lifetime

Young people interview seniors on film about their life and work, and the lessons they learned along the way.

Learn more

Two-Way Mentoring

An eight-week, one-to-one pairing. Young people teach technology; seniors share how they built their careers.

Learn more

Language Exchange

Practise a language one-to-one with someone from another generation who grew up speaking it.

Learn more

Mingle & Jingle

Dinner together to celebrate each other and get to know one another, with a guest speaker or something new to learn.

Learn more

What a weekly session looks like

8 to 12 seniors and 8 to 12 young people meet at a local community venue for about 90 minutes. A trained adult facilitator runs every session.

  1. Settle in

    About 10 minutes

    Catch up, grab a coffee, and a short warm-up to get everyone talking.

  2. Make something

    About an hour

    The main activity: a filmed interview, a tech skill, or a small project built together.

  3. Talk it over

    About 15 minutes

    What worked, what surprised you, and what's next week.

Our flagship program

Wisdom of a Lifetime

A young person prepares for weeks, then sits down and interviews a senior properly about their working life: how they got there, what went wrong, and what they'd tell someone starting out. They edit it into a finished film. The senior approves it before anyone else sees it, and keeps a copy for the family.

How it works

Started in Burlingame by a mother and daughter

Nirmala and Neha Bandrapalli saw the same gap from opposite ends of it. Neha was the neighbourhood kid who fixed the computers and stayed for the conversation. Nirmala spent decades in community service across San Mateo County.

Meet the team

For adults 50 and over

You've spent a lifetime learning things worth passing on.

Every week you'll sit down with a small group of neighbours and young people. You share what you know. They help you get comfortable with the technology you want to use. No lectures, no jargon, nobody talking down to you.

Register your interest

What you'll do

Tell your story, on film

A young person interviews you about your work and life and turns it into a film your family keeps. You approve it before it's shared. How it works

Pair up for eight weeks

Meet one young person every week. They help you with the technology you want to use; you tell them about your working life and how you got there. About Two-Way Mentoring

Join us for dinner

At Mingle & Jingle, everyone gets together over a meal to celebrate each other, with a short talk or something new to learn. About Mingle & Jingle

Enjoy a reliable weekly hour

The same group, the same time, every week. Lively enough to be fun, small enough that everyone knows your name.

Grew up speaking another language? Share it with a young person who's learning it. About Language Exchange

The practical details

Who can join
Anyone 50 or over in San Mateo County
Cost
Free. There's nothing to pay for any of our programs.
How often
Once a week, 1.5 to 2 hours
Where
Community centres and libraries across the county
Who runs it
A trained adult facilitator and a youth co-lead
Devices
Provided. You don't need your own.
Experience
None needed. Plenty of people start having never sent an email.

What you can count on

A trained adult is present for the whole session. You're never left alone with a young person you haven't met.

If you miss a week, someone checks in. If you ever need help beyond what we do, we know who to call.

Venues are chosen for accessibility, and materials come in large print on request.

Questions people ask us

I'm not good with computers. Will I hold everyone up?

No. The young people are there to work at your pace. There's no test, no demonstration in front of the group, and nobody is compared with anybody.

Who are the young people? Are they checked?

They're 14 to 24 year olds from your area who apply and are trained before their first session. A trained adult facilitator is there the whole time.

Can I bring my spouse or a friend?

Yes, if they're also 50 or over and there's room. Tell us when you get in touch and we'll try to keep you in the same group.

What if I have mobility, hearing or vision needs?

Tell us when you get in touch and we'll sort out what you need before your first session.

What information do you keep about me?

Whether you came, and a short check on how your week is going. We use it to shape sessions and, if something seems wrong, to offer a check-in. We'll always tell you if we do. Full details are in our Privacy Policy.

What if I try it and don't like it?

Then you stop. No awkwardness and nothing owed.

What does it cost?

Nothing. All our programs are completely free for seniors and young people. Get in touch and we'll tell you about dates and locations before you commit to anything.

Register your interest

Have a grandchild aged 14 to 24? See what's in it for them.

For young people aged 14 to 24

Co-lead a room. Build a portfolio. Learn from people who've done it.

We train you to co-lead weekly sessions alongside a professional facilitator. Real responsibility in front of real adults, every hour logged, and work you can show an admissions officer or employer.

Apply to join a cohort

What you'll do

Interview someone properly

Research, interview and film a senior about their whole career, then edit it into a finished film with your name on it. How it works

Run part of a real session

You lead a segment each week, tutor one-to-one, and capture what the group made. The facilitator backs you up; they don't do it for you.

Build a portfolio

Every session produces something real. Over a cohort, that adds up to work you can actually show.

Mentor and be mentored

In our eight-week program you're paired with one senior. You teach them technology; they tell you how they built their career. About Two-Way Mentoring

Learning a language? Practise it one-to-one with a senior who grew up speaking it. About Language Exchange

What you walk away with

  • Logged service hours, recorded every session, not estimated later
  • Facilitation experience you can describe concretely in an interview
  • A portfolio of films, projects and plans you helped make
  • A reference from the facilitator you worked with
  • A first look at careers in aging services, public health and community care

The practical details

Who can join
Anyone 14 to 24 in San Mateo County
Cost
Free, including training
Time
One session a week, 1.5 to 2 hours, plus training before you start
Your role
Youth co-lead, alongside one trained facilitator
Under 18?
A parent or guardian gives consent first
Experience
None needed. We train you.

Questions people ask us

I'm shy and have never led anything. Is that OK?

That describes most co-leads on day one. You start with a small piece of the session, with a facilitator beside you, and take on more as you're ready.

Can I fit this around school or a job?

It's one fixed session a week. We do ask for steady attendance, because the seniors are counting on the same faces each week.

What if a senior tells me something worrying?

You tell the facilitator and they handle it. That's why you never run a session alone.

I run a school or youth program. Can I refer a group?

Yes. Tell us roughly how many students and what your service-learning requirements are, and we'll fit a cohort around them.

For parents and guardians

Sessions run in public community venues, always with a trained adult facilitator present, and never alone behind closed doors. Young people are trained before they start, and nobody under 18 joins without your consent. Taking part is free.

Filming is a separate choice

Our interview films are published publicly, so we ask separately whether your child appears on camera, is heard, or is named in the credits. Each is its own yes or no. Saying no to any of it costs them nothing: they can still prepare, interview and edit.

Ask us a question

Our programs

Four ways to take part. Join one, or try them all.

Flagship

Wisdom of a Lifetime

A young person interviews a senior about their life and work: how they got where they did, what they got wrong along the way, and what they'd tell someone starting out. The interview is filmed and edited into a finished film. The senior keeps a copy for the family, and with their approval it joins a public archive so those life lessons can reach people they'll never meet.

  1. Prepare

    Youth are trained in interviewing and research their interviewee. We go through the release with the senior before any filming.

  2. Record

    An unhurried filmed conversation, with a facilitator present throughout.

  3. Edit

    Youth cut the footage into a finished film. Real editing, on real material.

  4. Approve and share

    The senior watches it first. Nothing is published until they say yes, and it can be taken down later on request.

I'd like to be interviewed I'd like to do the interviewing

Two-Way Mentoring

A structured eight-week program where each senior is paired with one young person. You meet one-to-one every week, and you both teach and you both learn.

Young people teach technology

Video calls, email, photos, online banking, telehealth, spotting scams, AI tools. The senior chooses what to learn, and their partner goes at their pace.

Seniors share their working life

What they did for a living, how they got there, and the turns their career took. A bit like mentoring, with advice from someone who has actually done it.

How it works

  1. Sign up

    Tell us a little about yourself, what you'd like to learn and what you could share.

  2. Youth training

    Before the first session, young people are trained in how to teach technology patiently and how to be a good mentoring partner.

  3. Meet every week

    You and your partner meet one-to-one for eight weeks, with a trained adult present at every session.

  4. Halfway check-in

    Around week four, we check in with both partners to see how it's going and sort out anything that isn't working.

Length
Eight weeks, one session a week
Format
One-to-one, with the same partner throughout
Supervision
A trained adult is present at every session
Cost
Free
Join as a senior Join as a young person
New

Language Exchange

Practise a language with someone who grew up speaking it. We pair a young person who is learning a language with a senior who speaks it natively, and they meet one-to-one to talk about everyday life, family, work and the past, in that language.

Young people get real conversation practice

With a patient partner who is glad to listen and gently corrects you. It's much closer to real life than a classroom.

Seniors share their language and culture

Pass on the language you grew up with, along with the stories and sayings that come with it. It works the other way too: seniors who want to practise English can be paired with a young person.

Which languages we can offer depends on who signs up. When you get in touch, tell us which languages you speak and which you'd like to practise.

Format
One-to-one, with the same partner
Supervision
A trained adult is present at every session
Cost
Free
Join as a senior Join as a young person

Mingle & Jingle

A get-together over dinner for everyone in the InterGen Connect community. It's a chance to celebrate each other and get to know people beyond your own group or partner.

Each gathering includes a short session. Sometimes we learn something new together; sometimes we sit back and enjoy a guest speaker.

Hear about the next one

Built by two generations, for two generations

InterGen Connect was founded in Burlingame by a mother and daughter who saw the same gap from opposite ends of it.

Nirmala Bandrapalli

Founder and Executive Director

Nirmala came to the United States from Hyderabad for graduate study more than thirty years ago. She is a Commissioner on the San Mateo County Commission on the Status of Women (president 2020–2022), a former chair of the Burlingame Planning Commission, and co-founder of Science Gurus. She was the third woman president of the Burlingame Lions Club.

She has spent over twenty years managing large healthcare and technology programs, including eleven years at Genentech. She holds a Master's in Biochemistry from the University of San Francisco and is a certified Project Management Professional.

Neha Bandrapalli

Co-Founder

Neha grew up in Burlingame and served as student body president at Burlingame High School. Long before that, she was the neighbourhood kid who fixed the computer, carried the groceries and stayed for the conversation, partly raised by the grandmothers on her street.

While still in high school she testified before the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors in support of allcove San Mateo, the youth mental health centre in Burlingame.

Board of Directors

  • Terry Nagel
    Former Mayor of Burlingame; Chair, Sustainable San Mateo County
  • Jack L. Van Etten
    Retired Chief of Police, City of Burlingame
  • Helen Miranda
    Tenured educator, Palo Alto Unified School District
  • Sam Bandrapalli
    Commercial property manager; formerly Visa and Amazon

Youth Advisory Board

  • Adele Yono
    Student, and a youth voice in how the program is designed

Public service roles are held in a personal capacity and do not imply endorsement by any public agency. Youth Advisory Board members advise on program design and are not directors of the corporation.

Get in touch

Tell us a little about yourself and we'll get back to you with dates, locations and anything else you'd like to know. No commitment.

We'll never share your details. Please don't include health information here. See our Privacy Policy.

Message sent

Thank you. We'll be in touch within a few days.

Prefer email? Write to hello@intergenconnect.org

Support our work

Every one of our programs is free for seniors and young people, and we want to keep it that way. Your donation makes that possible.

How to donate

What your gift helps pay for

  • Devices and materials so seniors can learn technology hands-on
  • Training for young people before they start
  • Filming and editing for Wisdom of a Lifetime
  • Food and speakers for Mingle & Jingle dinners

How to give

Donate with Zelle

Send your donation through Zelle in your banking app to either of these:

Email
connectintergen@gmail.com
Phone
650-892-6653

Please add your name and email address in the Zelle memo so we can send you a receipt for your taxes.

Other ways to give

If you'd prefer another way to give, or want to give through your employer's matching program or a donor-advised fund, get in touch and we'll help.

Get in touch about giving

Our nonprofit status

InterGen Connect is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, organized and operated exclusively for purposes within the meaning of section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

Tax ID (EIN): 41-4264222

Donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

This page is for counties, funders and institutional partners. Here to take part? Go to the main site.

For counties, funders and partners

A preventative public-health service, built for contracting

This is not companionship. It is a preventative public-health intervention, designed to reduce downstream public costs, with measurable outcomes for both seniors and youth.

Download the program overview (PDF) Talk to us about a contract

The problem

Seniors 50+

Social isolation and digital exclusion drive ER visits, crisis calls, falls, cognitive decline and premature institutionalization.

Youth 14–24

Too few structured opportunities to build leadership, service-learning records and workforce-ready skills.

Counties

Spending grows on reactive, fragmented crisis responses that cost 2–3× more than prevention.

The response

One standardized weekly service that produces measurable outcomes for both generations at once.

The economic case

2–3×Higher cost of crisis response vs. prevention
$2,250Contract price per senior per year
$5,000+Typical downstream crisis cost per senior
85%Target attendance and retention

Service components

Structured intergenerational sessions

Cohorts of 8–12 seniors and 8–12 youth, weekly, 1.5–2 hours, led by one trained facilitator and one youth co-lead. Every session produces a deliverable, an attendance record and a well-being pulse check.

Digital literacy and access

Devices plus a structured curriculum from email to telehealth, banking and AI tools, with youth as digital tutors.

Connection monitoring and escalation

Attendance, mood and engagement tracking surface early warning signs and trigger check-ins or referrals to county services before a crisis.

Youth leadership and workforce skills

Peer mentoring, service-learning projects and a portfolio of deliverables recognized by schools and employers.

Outcomes and accountability

Facilitators log participation digitally, youth track project outputs, and data feeds quarterly, county-aligned, audit-ready dashboards. No story-only evaluation.

SeniorsYouthSystem
Reduced loneliness and isolation (UCLA Loneliness Scale)Leadership and teamwork growthReduced crisis escalation and ER diversion
Digital competency (pre/post benchmarks)Workforce-readiness indicatorsImproved cost efficiency for counties
Social engagement and participationService-learning project completionHigh retention and engagement

Funding model

Designed for contract-based county funding with per-senior pricing, making it a predictable public service rather than a grant-dependent pilot.

Primary buyer

County Aging and Adult Services, funding prevention to reduce ER visits, crisis response and institutionalization.

Secondary buyers

Behavioral Health, Public Health, and Education and Workforce Development.

Recurring revenue

Contracts priced per senior per year, tied to service-delivery metrics.

Bridge philanthropy

Foundation and digital-equity grants for pilot development, evaluation and new modules.

Five-year roadmap

No expansion without signed revenue. Centralized training and standardized quality at every step.

YearStageGoalScale
1Pilot and validationProve outcomes, unit economics and procurement readiness in San Mateo County50–100 seniors
2Contract and local scaleConvert the pilot to a renewable county contract200–300 seniors
3Multi-county expansionReplicate the model across 2–3 counties500–700 seniors
4Statewide positioningAlign with state priorities; pursue master service agreementsStatewide preparation
5InstitutionalizationDurable long-term contracts as a permanent public service line8–10 counties
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