Larger type, more space between lines, calmer motion, bigger buttons.
Your settings are saved on this device. If your device is set to reduce motion, Unita follows that automatically.
Unita is a non-profit organization that connects people across cultures and generations through shared experiences, meaningful relationships, and opportunities to learn from one another.
We support immigrant families by creating spaces to celebrate heritage, exchange stories and knowledge, build intergenerational friendships, and connect with resources and opportunities. Through cultural events, community gatherings, and programs that foster belonging, Unita helps people feel seen, supported, and valued—while creating a stronger, more connected community for everyone.
Where
Baltimore
In senior centers, libraries and community rooms. We publish each address as soon as it is confirmed.
When
Sunday afternoons
One activity, one Sunday afternoon a week — the lineup rotates.
Cost
Free, always
Every session, every activity. There is nothing to pay and nothing to sign up for.
Language
Any language
You do not need English. Games, food and music work perfectly well without it.
Why Unita exists
Immigrant communities carry an enormous amount — languages, recipes, songs, customs, histories, hard-won judgment. Most of it is passed on face to face, or not at all. Unita exists so that it gets passed on.
We connect immigrant elders and young volunteers in lasting, recurring relationships — the same two people, meeting again and again over months. Not a one-time visit. Long enough that it becomes a friendship.
And this is not charity going one direction. Elders join us as mentors, storytellers, teachers and cultural leaders, not as people who need fixing. Young people join as volunteers, learners and community builders, not as service providers. Both sides give. Both sides get something back.
Elders also come to meet each other — people from other countries, sharing their own culture and picking up somebody else's over a card game or a pot on the stove.
Our week
Once you are matched, you and your elder or volunteer meet twice a month, on a day and at a place the two of you choose. That is separate from the sessions above.
The big one: a shared meal on the last Sunday of the month, with food, music and storytelling from several communities at once. Families welcome.
Most volunteers are students, so Sunday sessions keep going straight through school holidays without a pause.
What a session is actually like
You arrive, somebody says hello and finds you a seat, and there is tea. That is the whole entry requirement.
First time?
No. This is close to the point of Unita. Cards, dominoes, chess, cooking, music and photographs all work without a shared language, and our sessions are chosen so that they do.
When words really matter we find help — a volunteer who speaks your language, a family member, or a phone. Nobody is ever turned away for not speaking English, and nobody has to wait to be understood before they can enjoy an afternoon.
No. Every session and every activity is free. There is no membership, no fee, and nothing to buy. If a session involves food, the food is provided.
No. Sunday sessions are drop-in — come when it suits you, leave when you like.
The one thing we do ask for commitment on is Generation Exchange, where you are matched one-to-one with the same person. That works because it repeats, so we ask for twice a month over six to nine months.
Yes, always. A spouse, an adult child, a neighbour, a friend, a grandchild. Many people come the first time with somebody and then keep coming on their own.
Nothing. If you want to bring something — a photograph, a recipe, a game from home, an instrument — it will be very welcome, but it is never expected.
Sessions are supervised by adults and held in public or partner-hosted places, never in private homes. We obtain parent or guardian consent where it applies, apply screening procedures where the role and the law require them, and keep clear rules about communication and boundaries.
Student volunteers never independently give legal, medical, financial or immigration advice. Those needs go to organizations qualified to handle them. There is a named way to raise a concern, and we act on it.
Come to any Sunday session and see whether you like it — you do not have to commit to anything to visit. If you want to be matched with an elder, we run an orientation first on cultural sensitivity, respectful communication, boundaries and confidentiality.
As little as possible. We ask for what we need to contact you and to match you safely, and nothing more. We do not ask about immigration status. We do not publish anything about you — a photograph, a story, a name — without asking you first and letting you say no.
Getting there
Unita does not have a building, and we are not planning to get one. We meet in places our communities already know and already trust — senior centers, public libraries, faith community halls and community rooms — hosted by partner organizations across Baltimore.
That means each session has its own address, and we are still confirming them. Rather than print a location we are not certain of, we publish each one here as soon as it is agreed, and we will tell anyone who has written to us directly.
If you run a space that would suit an afternoon like this, we would very much like to hear from you.
What we promise about every venue
Across languages
Unita is not only for elders who already speak English, and it is not only elders meeting young people. Elders come here to meet each other as well.
People arrive from different countries, having cooked in different kitchens and prayed in different rooms, sometimes without a single word of one another's language. That is not a problem to be solved before the good part starts. It is the good part.
Two elders can teach each other a card game by playing one round slowly. They can cook side by side and understand each other perfectly. One person's music can play while another person's soup is on the stove. None of that waits for a translator.
No one is turned away for not speaking English. When words really matter, we find help — a volunteer who speaks your language, a family member, a phone. When they do not, nobody should have to wait to be understood before they can enjoy an afternoon.
Things that need no translation
Take part
Pick the one that fits. We will take you to the form with your answer already filled in.
What we do
Generation Exchange opens first, and everything else follows only as we have the people and partners to run it properly. We would rather do one thing well than four things thinly.
Opens first
One elder and one young volunteer, meeting twice a month for six to nine months. Long enough that it stops being a visit and starts being a friendship.
A one-time visit is a nice afternoon. A relationship that repeats is what actually reduces isolation, builds trust, and gives a language somewhere to live.
Read this as
You do not need to be a translator, a social worker, or an expert in anything. You need to be reliable, curious, and willing to listen. We train you before you start.
And here is what you get back: a second language practiced the way it is actually spoken, recipes nobody wrote down, music you would never have found, and the judgment of someone who has already lived through the thing you are worried about.
What you would actually do
Before your first meeting
Every volunteer completes an orientation on cultural sensitivity, respectful communication, boundaries, confidentiality, and what the program is and is not for.
You choose what you share and how much. You can speak your own language — you do not need English to take part. You can stop at any time. Meetings happen in places you already know and trust, at times that suit you.
You will also meet other elders, from other countries, at our gatherings — to share your culture, learn theirs, play games, and simply have company. Those afternoons are built to work whether or not you share a language.
And here is the practical side: a young person who visits regularly, helps with a phone or a form, practices English at your pace, and can help you take part in things happening around the neighborhood.
What you would teach
What we ask of ourselves
We keep the group small, we do not collect personal information we do not need, and we send anything legal, medical, housing, or immigration-related to organizations qualified to handle it.
What actually moves between them
Here is the exchange, side by side. Neither column is a favour.
These are the kinds of exchange Generation Exchange is designed to make possible. Unita has not opened yet, so no pair has met — every row above describes the program's design, not a real relationship.
What comes next
Generation Exchange first. The rest follow as capacity, partnerships and demand grow — not before. Open any one to read the detail.
Volunteers sit down with elders and ask about the things families usually only half-remember: childhood and home, parents and grandparents, the journey here, first languages, celebrations, food, the hardest years, the proudest ones, and what they hope the next generation keeps.
With informed consent and clear privacy protections, those conversations become written profiles, photographs, audio recordings, recipes, and artwork — building, over time, into a digital collection of the immigrant histories of Baltimore.
Illustrative interview themes
These are prompts we plan to use — not quotations. Unita has not opened, so no interviews have taken place and no elder's story appears anywhere on this site.
A regularly updated, multilingual directory that connects immigrant families to schools, libraries, English-language programs, food assistance, community centers, transportation, employment resources, and immigrant and refugee service providers.
Baltimore already has skilled organizations doing this work. Families often simply do not know which door to knock on, or in which language. Unita's job is to be the trusted bridge — not to rebuild services that already exist.
Where we refer out
Specialist needs go to qualified organizations, every time. Student volunteers never independently provide professional legal, medical, financial, or immigration services.
Recurring intergenerational, multicultural gatherings built around the things that make strangers into neighbors: food, conversation, culture, music, storytelling, games, and shared activity. Cultural dinners, language exchanges, cooking demonstrations, cultural presentations.
This is also where elders meet other elders — people from different countries sharing their own traditions and picking up somebody else's. Every activity is chosen so it still works when two people have no language in common: a game, a dish, a song, a photograph, a seat at the same table.
The long-term goal is an annual Baltimore Intergenerational Cultural Night, where participating communities share their traditions across both generational and cultural lines — in one room, on one evening.
What a table looks like
This is where the two threads stop being two. It is also the easiest thing for a local business or restaurant to sponsor.
How we hold it together
These are not three stages. Every program above is doing all three at the same time — that is what makes it hold.
We protect what people carry with them.
Languages, stories, traditions, histories, and everyday cultural knowledge — recorded, practiced, and passed on so they carry forward instead of thinning out with each generation.
People arrive with their own distinct cultures. We start by treating that as an asset, not a barrier.
We build the relationships that carry it.
Real, recurring relationships between immigrant elders, younger generations, families, volunteers, and community organizations — the kind that outlast a single event.
People share what they know, and something new forms in the mixing. That is the point of the program.
We open doors that were hard to find.
Helping immigrant youth and families reach resources, mentorship, educational opportunities, and clear ways to take part in the life of the city around them.
Connection over culture creates a thread through everyone. Enough threads, and you have a community.
Where we actually are
Unita has not launched. We are starting with one focused group in Baltimore rather than a citywide launch — a small first cohort is easier to support well, easier to learn from, and honest about where we are.
Pilot target
25–30
immigrant elders in the first cohort
Pilot target
25–30
young volunteers, matched one to one
Duration
6–9months
long enough for relationships to hold
Cadence
2× a month
plus cultural activities and gatherings
Every figure on this page is a target for a pilot that has not started yet. Nothing here is a result, and we will not present it as one.
Safety & trust
The program brings together minors and older adults. That means the boring parts have to be right before the good parts can happen. Here is exactly what we hold ourselves to.
What student volunteers do not do. Volunteers never independently provide professional legal, medical, financial, or immigration services. Those needs are referred to qualified organizations — always, without exception. Unita also avoids collecting sensitive personal information it does not need, and does not ask about immigration status.
Accountability
Unita has no results yet, because Unita has not run yet. What we can tell you is precisely what we will measure — and that we will publish it.
Counted
And the part numbers miss. Alongside the counts we will gather feedback from elders, volunteers, and families on belonging, social connection, cultural understanding, confidence, and satisfaction — because "met twelve times" and "felt less alone" are not the same finding.
As the program grows, Unita will publish annual impact reports.
Who runs Unita
Unita is youth-led and pre-launch. These are the roles the organization is built around — several are open, and if one of them sounds like you, that is a very good reason to write to us.
An adult advisory board is being assembled — community leaders, educators, nonprofit professionals, and immigrant community representatives — to hold the organization accountable as it grows.
Working with others
Baltimore already has immigrant-serving nonprofits, schools, libraries, senior centers, and cultural organizations doing excellent work. Unita's stance is to complement them, not compete with them.
We are specialists in a narrow thing: intergenerational connection, cultural exchange, storytelling, belonging, mentorship, and connecting people to resources. For nearly everything else, we lean on partners.
What we ask partners for
Support the pilot
The pilot runs on individual donations, local businesses and restaurants, schools, community organizations, sponsorships, grants, and in-kind contributions — space, food, transportation, printing, translation, and activity materials.
In kind
A meeting space, a kitchen, a projector, or printing. Often the most useful thing anyone gives us.
Sponsorship
A restaurant or business covers the food for a single gathering. Concrete, one evening, easy to say yes to.
Sponsorship
Underwrite the materials, translation, and activities for one full group of pairs across the pilot.
Grants
For foundations and community funds backing youth-led, measurable, small-scale intergenerational work.
Unita is pre-launch and does not yet have online donation processing. To support the pilot, write to us and we will send the current budget and sponsorship detail.
Join us
Pick whichever one fits, and it will fill in the form below for you. If none of them quite fits, write anyway — plenty of good things start with "I'm not sure where I fit."
Write to us
A real person reads every message. Because Unita is small and not open yet, a reply may take a few days — it will come.
Everything you entered is valid. This demo form has no backend, so nothing has been delivered and no confirmation email will arrive. Use a button below to send the same message from your own email app.