Bridging Generations, Sparking Innovation:
An Intergenerational
Co-Lab
Wisdom + Innovation + Real-World Challenges
Bringing together kids, elders, and local organizations to co-create solutions to “wicked problems” — issues that require creativity, empathy, and collaboration to tackle.
We are living in a time of profound transition and uncertainty. Among the most pressing challenges our communities face are rising youth anxiety and growing loneliness across all ages.
Coming together through this project offers an antidote.
The Intergenerational Co-Lab is launching in January, 2026 in partnership with Wakefield Elementary School and the broader La Pêche community.
What Is It?
Participating organizations or businesses will identify one of their “wicked problems” – something that: has no single right answer, involves trade-offs, and can’t be solved by expertise alone. After hearing the community problems, elders and grade 6 students will choose one that they are most excited to explore and will work together in small teams to generate possible solutions using the frameworks described below. After working together over the course of three in-school sessions, the intergenerational teams will present possible solutions to the organizations/businesses and share what they have learned from working together. This final event is on June 2, 2026 and is open to the public.
This pilot project represents innovative, community-based education that:
Fosters a sense of belonging and solidarity between generations by reimagining and co-creating a shared future.
Connects youth and elders to their community through lived experiences of meaningful civic participation and volunteerism.
Teaches students and older adults problem-solving, leadership, and collaboration skills that position difference in opinion as useful to the decision-making process, rather than something to be avoided or feared.
Contributes to collective well-being by reducing isolation, loneliness, and disengagement.
Increases visibility for local participating organizations and businesses, while proposing solutions for their real problems.
Strengthens the relationship between schools and their wider communities, opening new channels for dialogue and connection.
Frameworks Guiding The Co-Lab
We use a combination of human-centered and relational tools to approach the presented wicked problems:
Human-Centred Design: A relational approach to problem-solving that begins with empathy and lived experience rather than assumptions or expert authority.
Restorative Practices: A way of being that reduces polarization by focusing on what we share in common and offering tools to support us when we see things differently.
Art of Hosting: Participatory leadership in action — emphasizing co-creation, shared ownership, and collective intelligence.
Nonviolent Communication: A needs-based lens that helps us identify what truly matters and express it with clarity and compassion.
We are grateful for our supporting partners.
Individual Donors:
Chris Corcoran
Peter Gillies
Philip Ostien
Keith Ostien
Meet Your Facilitators
Abby Karos
Abby Karos is an educational changemaker and justice-centered entrepreneur committed to reimagining education as a relational and liberatory practice.
Her work supports young people, educators, and communities in moving beyond compliance-driven models of schooling toward learning cultures rooted in trust, restorative practices, and a love of learning.
She is the founder of two education-impact initiatives: Compass Centre for Self-Directed Learning, a learning centre for teens, and Education Liberation, a consultancy informed by global Indigenous restorative justice beliefs and practices.
Abby holds a Master’s in Educational Philosophy and has training in Non-Violent Communication, Healing-Centered Education, embodied racial healing work, Restorative and Transformative Justice, Ember Circle/Council coaching, and Roadmap to Liberation. She is currently a Fellow of the Acosta Institute.
Outside of her work, Abby finds joy skiing, canoeing, dancing, baking, and bringing people together—ideally with good music and something warm in the oven.
Jennifer Williams
Jennifer Williams is an experiential educator, facilitator, and community builder passionate about the power of gathering.
Her work centres connection - to self, to others, and to the land - and invites people of all ages to learn and gather in ways that are relational, creative, and emergent. Her approach blends participatory leadership practices with a deep belief in the wisdom that emerges when people come together with intention.
Jenn holds a Master’s in Environmental Education from Royal Roads University and has additional training in the Art of Hosting, Nature-Informed Therapy, Non-Violent Communication, Deep Democracy, Rewilding Leadership, and Creative Facilitation.
She loves weaving these threads together to design and deliver projects that cultivate curiosity, connection, and community across perspectives and generations.
When not working, you can often find Jenn out a stroll, paddling, skiing, or floating on a lake on her inflatable unicorn.