ALEXANDER CIFFO

Teen Connect is a community service program that pairs teens with senior citizens to converse by telephone, sharing life’s experiences. It keeps senior citizens and teens, two vulnerable segments of our society, connected with each other and able to share various life experiences. The program is a service-learning model that builds bridges between generations. He stepped up to fill the void of leadership when the prior leader left for college at MIT. Since he has taken that position, Teen Connect has continued to expand to other schools in the nation.

Alexander has also instituted a scholarship program to reward teen participants for their generous community service, sharing and caring for senior citizens. These awards will help deserving Teen Connect participants attend college so they can return home and share more of their talents with the generations before and after them.

Recently, Alexander has developed a web site that affords Teen Connect chapters around the country as well as senior citizens, teenager and other groups, and a vehicle to review the program. This site is also a means of communication for interested parties so they can contact Alexander. Because of this technology, every town and city will be able to have participants in the Teen Connect program even if their local high school or college does not have a chapter.

Alexander also reached out to professionals in the community for assistance in setting up a nonprofit corporation for Teen Connect. This will allow him to raise money to continue to expand Teen Connect. Alexander’s efforts for Teen Connect have been ongoing, and the organization has received positive responses from seniors as well as teen throughout the county. He has been an integral part of its success, from the start of its first chapter, to its introduction in other states. Alexander has been working with Teen Connect for more than five years and given more than 3,000 hours of service which include speeches, the website, meeting with legal and accounting professionals as well as taking it to the next level as a 501(c)(3) organization.