🔗 Generations Connect

🤝 Bridging the gap between generations: Connecting senior citizens with local high school students for tasks and tech assistance.

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💡 Overview

Generations Connect is meant to help connect highschoolers and senior citizens in communities. It was built for the Congressinal App Challenge 2025, for Oregon district 4

Senior citizens (Elders) can easily post various tasks—from yard work and errands to companionship and technology assistance. High school students can be hired for these jobs, and earn money on a flexible schedule.

If I made a 2.0, I would add more pictures and images as well as talking with more elders and students to gather more information and data on how I could better the app. I would also try it market it too retirement and assisted living homes to better help my community. I would also make easier account setups for elders and students.

Our mission is to provide seniors with reliable, local help while offering students valuable work experience, income, and a chance to engage positively with their community.

Check out the app live! https://ry-backend--rylan-app-project.us-central1.hosted.app/

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✨ Features

For Senior Citizens (Elders)

• Easy Task Posting: Quickly create a detailed task listing with a description, required date, time, and a proposed payment amount.
• Secure Hiring: Review profiles of interested students, including ratings and reviews, before selecting who to hire.
• Secure Payments: Payments are handled securely through the app and are only released to the student upon verified task completion.

For High School Students

• Flexible Work Schedule: Students can set their unavailability (during school hours, sports practice, etc.) so they are never hired for a task they cannot fulfill.
• Local Task Feed: A geo-fenced feed of available tasks in their immediate community.
• Profile & Rating System: Build a reliable, professional profile based on completed tasks and positive senior reviews.
• In-App Messaging: Communicate directly and securely with the senior citizen to confirm task details.

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🚀 Getting Started

Follow these steps to set up the project locally.

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v18+)
• npm or yarn

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone [https://github.com/TheNeverEndingError/Generation-Connect.git](https://github.com/TheNeverEndingError/Generation-Connect.git)
   cd GenerationsConnect

2. Install backend and frontend dependencies:

   npm install
   # or install dependencies for client and server separately
   # cd client && npm install
   # cd ../server && npm install

3. Configure environment variables:
   • Create a .env file in the appropriate directory (e.g., in server/).
   • Add necessary API keys and database credentials (e.g., DATABASE_URL=..., STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=...).
4. Run the application:

   npm start

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📄 License

Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for more information.

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