Project SHINE (Students Helping in the Naturalization of Elders) was developed by the Center for Intergenerational Learning at Temple University to utilize intergenerational partnerships to meet the needs of elderly immigrants and refugees. In 1985, SHINE started as Project LEIF (Learning English through Intergenerational Friendship) and was funded by the Florence V. Burden Foundation to work with Southeast Asian refugees in the Logan neighborhood of Philadelphia. After a successful pilot year, LEIF was replicated in three cities across the country. It is our hope that through shared experiences between generations and across cultures, communities will become more complete, while creating stronger, more enduring links.  

In 1993, the Center for Intergenerational Learning received a grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education to explore the impact bi-lingual students have on LEIF's tutoring programs. With a new direction came a new name: Our Elders, Our Roots. An additional grant from the Administration on Aging helped Our Elders, Our Roots replicate itself at institutes of higher education in three different cities across the United States.

When U.S. Congress jeopardized public benefits of legally-immigrated, non-citizens by passing the Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, Our Elders, Our Roots increased its focus on tutoring language skills and civic knowledge to more effectively aid in the process of naturalization. This shift in focus lead to the creation of Project SHINE. A grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service provided the funding for this change in focus.

Building on the ever-changing work of LEIF and Our Elders, Our Roots, SHINE continues to look for new ways to engage students in service to elderly immigrants and refugees, and partnership creation continues to be a bedrock of the SHINE program. In 2000, SHINE received a second grant from CNCS to facilitate partnerships between universities and community colleges in five communities across the country. SHINE received funding in 2003 from MetLife Foundation to create programs that increase immigrant and refugees access to healthcare. The result is the Health Literacy Initiative, linking students of health professions with community organizations to develop and disseminate a series of lesson plans that cover the English skills needed to interact with medical professionals.

Project SHINE continues to build on its work connecting college students and older immigrants and refugees in service to their communities, through partnerships between institutions of higher education and community-based organizations.