Barbados’ Ministry of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs has unveiled two interconnected community-focused programs designed to bridge generational divides, address gaps in positive male guidance for young boys, and safeguard the island nation’s fading oral historical heritage, during an official public launch event led by Minister Adrian Forde. The flagship Granddaddy Intergenerational Mentorship Project is built to recruit selfless, experienced older men — ranging from retirees to still-active working adults — to serve as volunteer role models for pre-teen and adolescent boys across local communities. These mentors, drawn from diverse professional backgrounds including former educators, law enforcement officers, skilled tradespeople, public transit workers, and local barbers, will offer targeted life guidance, share hard-earned lessons from their decades of experience, and help instill core positive values to steer young men away from risky, self-destructive life paths. Minister Forde noted that dozens of local men have already submitted informal expressions of interest in the volunteer scheme, with formal stakeholder consultation sessions scheduled to kick off in the coming weeks to refine program logistics before a phased pilot rollout. The pilot phase will be evaluated for efficacy before a full island-wide expansion targeted for the end of 2025, with program leaders actively partnering with established local groups including the Boy Scouts, Cadet Corps, faith congregations, parent-teacher associations, and neighborhood community organizations to expand reach. Special Advisor to the Ministry Cynthia Forde emphasized that the mentorship scheme was developed as a direct response to longstanding community concerns: a growing share of Barbadian households, many headed by single mothers, lack consistent, positive adult male figures to provide guidance for growing boys, a gap that has correlated with rising rates of young men as young as 15 appearing in local courts and entering the national prison system. Beyond personal mentorship, the program will also create structured opportunities for senior men to pass on beloved traditional Barbadian cultural and practical skills to younger generations, including handcrafted kite-making, oral storytelling traditions, and artisanal wooden toy crafting. The second complementary initiative unveiled at the launch, titled *Pillars of Barbados: Voices of Our Elders*, is dedicated to documenting and preserving the unrecorded life stories, lived experiences, and societal contributions of the island’s rapidly ageing senior population, including its growing cohort of centenarians. Led by Elder Affairs consultant Dr. Jacqueline Wiltshire, the project will pair young local volunteers with elderly Barbadians to conduct recorded one-on-one interviews, capturing first-hand accounts of the island’s 20th century social, economic, and cultural development that would otherwise be lost when senior community members pass away. Dr. Wiltshire noted that the project is rooted in the local adage that wisdom deepens with age, but only delivers its full public value when it is shared across generations.