Objective: To examine the effect of access to outdoor space and buildings and social or community events on elders’ perceived disconnectedness. Method: Data were from a representative survey conducted as part of an age-friendly community initiative in a large midwestern city in the United States. Hierarchical logistic regression was employed to examine the relationships between environment, engagement, and connection. Results: Having access to ramps to enter buildings reduced the odds of perceived disconnectedness by 79%, participation in social or community events reduced the odds of perceived disconnectedness by 83%. The odds of perceived disconnectedness for elders “not sure” of their access to public buildings were around 6 times that of those without access, holding all else constant. Discussion: Ensuring access to ramps to enter buildings, disseminating information about the accessibility of parks and buildings, and social or community events may reduce elders’ perceived disconnectedness.

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Children and older adults are especially vulnerable to the negative effects of food insecurity. Intergenerational strategies often engage youth and elders in shared programming that supports each group's needs. With community partners, we established a community-based participatory action research (CBPAR) partnership to improve knowledge, access, and consumption related to healthy food at four child care centers in two states using intergenerational practices. The current paper represents work of a dedicated planning year (Year 1) to develop implementation and research plans for subsequent years of the 5-year grant. Work was guided by Israel and colleagues' CBPAR principles. KEYWORDSFood security; healthy food access; community food access; intergenerational program; early childhood; older adult; communitybased participatory action research CONTACT Shannon E. Jarrott

Purpose Worldwide mandates for social distancing and home-quarantine have contributed to loneliness and social isolation. We conducted a systematic scoping review to identify network-building interventions that address loneliness and isolation, describe their components and impact on network structure, and consider their application in the wake of COVID19. Methods We performed forward and backward citation tracking of three seminal publications on network interventions and Bibliographic search of Web of Science and SCOPUS. We developed data charting tables and extracted and synthesized the characteristics of included studies, using an iteratively updating form. Findings From 3390 retrieved titles and abstracts, we included 8 studies. These interventions focused on building networks at either individual- or group-levels. Key elements that were incorporated in the interventions at varying degrees included (a) creating opportunities to build networks; (b) improving social skills; (c) assessing network diagnostics (i.e. using network data or information to inform network strategies); (d) promoting engagement with influential actors; and (e) a process for goal-setting and feedback. The effect of interventions on network structures, or the moderating effect of structure on the intervention effectiveness was rarely assessed. Conclusions As many natural face-to-face opportunities for social connection are limited due to COVID19, groups already at risk for social isolation and loneliness are disproportionately impacted. Network-building interventions include multiple components that address both the structure of individuals’ networks, and their skills and motivation for activating them. These intervention elements could be adapted for delivery via online platforms, and implemented by trained facilitators or novice volunteers, although more rigorous testing is needed.

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