Generations United’s Response to President Biden’s Address to a Joint Session of Congress

Generations United
5 min readApr 29, 2021

President Joe Biden called on Americans of all generations to “do our part” to rebuild the nation, revitalize our democracy, and win the future for America” in his address to a joint session of Congress, just shy of his 100th day in office.

The president touched on several intergenerational issues including the American Rescue Plan, vaccines, support for kinship and other caregivers, the opioid crisis, jobs, white supremacy, and immigration reform.

The American Rescue Plan

President Biden called the American Rescue Plan, which he signed into law last month, “one of the most consequential rescue packages in American history.”

Generations United applauds the passage of the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package that provides immediate relief for children, older adults, and families, works to address the racial and economic injustices that COVID-19 has exacerbated, cuts child poverty in half in 2021, and creates a National Technical Assistance Center on Grandfamilies and Kinship Families. Learn more.

Vaccines

On his first day in office, President Biden set a goal of getting 100 million Americans vaccinated against COVID-19 in 100 days. The Biden administration exceeded those goals by providing “over 220 million COVID shots in those hundred days” with vaccinations at “nearly 40,000 pharmacies and over 700 community health centers.”

The president gave examples of Americans returning to some form of normalcy: “Grandparents, hugging their children and grandchildren, instead of pressing hands against the window to say goodbye.”

Generations United echoes President Biden when he urged all ages to “Go get vaccinated.” In fact, we were ahead of the curve in 2016 when we launched our Valuing Vaccinations Across Generations campaign in partnership with The Gerontological Society of America and the American Academy of Pediatrics. This campaign bridges the importance of immunizations within segmented groups into an intergenerational conversation within families and among generations. Beginning in the United States, the campaign went international when Generations United worked with the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute on Gerontology in Japan and the University of Granada in Spain to lead the work in their countries. Learn more.

Support for Kinship and Other Caregivers

President Biden touted the successful execution of getting $1,400 rescue checks to 85 percent of American households. He remembered “a grandmother in Virginia” who used the rescue check to take her granddaughter to the eye doctor, something she put off for months because she did not have the money.

Generations United hears similar stories from our GRAND Voice Network. This select group of grandparents and other relative caregivers from across the country serve as strategic partners to inform policies and practices affecting grandfamilies and help reveal family strengths, needs and service gaps. They provide guidance and feedback on Generations United’s resources and advocacy on behalf of grandfamilies.

Like the Virginia grandmother, our GRAND Voice Members shared their stories of COVID-19 hardships. They also shared stories of hope, which we recorded in partnership with StoryCorps to help us understand the unique impacts COVID-19 is having on various types of families, including grandfamilies.

Generations United didn’t just hear and understand them, we acted to meet their urgent unmet needs by creating the Grandfamilies COVID-19 Response Fund to receive and disseminate funds to local nonprofit services providers to directly support grandfamilies.

President Biden also mentioned his administration’s investments to address the opioid crisis and cut child poverty in America in half this year.

Generations United also released Grand Resource: Help for Grandfamilies Impacted by Opioids and Other Substance, which includes recommendations and resources on five topics identified by kinship caregivers as uniquely challenging for grandfamilies impacted by substance use.

Jobs

President Biden called the American Jobs Plan “a once-in-a-generation investment in America itself.” The plan will help millions of Americans get back to work, including the two million women who dropped out of the work force during the pandemic “because they couldn’t get the care they needed to care for their child or care” for an older parent.

Generations United is calling on the Biden Administration to invest in intergenerational shared sites — which, prior to the pandemic, paired younger generations with older adults in the same physical location with periodic activities or programs that bring them together.

Intergenerational shared sites make sense, in terms of reducing social isolation, creating livable communities and positively impacting participants’ lives.

Those two million women could’ve used a shared site to care for their child or older parent while they continued working.

Caregiving for children or elders is the reason 34% of Americans in multigenerational families formed, according to our new report, Family Matters: Multigenerational Living Is on the Rise and Here to Stay.

Generations United applauds the American Families Plan, which will provide up to 12 weeks of medical leave and paid leave. This step lines up with Generations United’s Public Policy Priorities for the 117th Congress.

On the topic of child care, President Biden stressed the importance of high-quality preschool for every child, no matter their background, no matter who’s raising them.

We couldn’t agree more.

Terrorism

According to intelligence agents, white supremacy is the most lethal terrorist threat to our homeland. Generations United condemned the insurgence, violence and destruction in our statement on the Jan. 6 Capitol Attack.

We advocate for change within a framework that values our democratic process and differences. After all, our country’s changing demographics is our greatest asset. We highlighted that in our Out of Many, One report that challenges traditional approaches to changing demographics and elevates intergenerational solutions that strengthen our families and communities.

Immigration reform

President Biden urged his colleagues to act on immigration reform and end the exhausting war over immigration.

Generations United believes that immigration reform should recognize the critical role of immigrant grandfamilies. Our report, Love Without Border: Grandfamilies and Immigration, highlights the additional hurdles faced by grandfamilies who come together because of a parent’s detention or deportation.

Our concrete policy and program recommendations include advocating against policies that discourage relatives from stepping forward to care for children of parents who were detained or deported. We also encourage the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to require follow-up contact for children released from ORR custody to connect them to services. Learn more.

Throughout his remarks, President Biden reaffirmed the critical interdependence of generations. “In another era when our democracy was tested, Franklin Roosevelt reminded us, in America, we do our part,” he said. “That’s all I’m asking. That we do our part, all of us.”

Well said, Mr. President. It’s all hands-on deck to rebuild our nation, revitalize our democracy, and win the future for America. Because we are stronger together. Read Generations United’s Priorities for the Biden Administration.

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Generations United

National nonprofit that improves children, youth and older adults' lives through intergenerational programs and policies. Why? Because we're stronger together.