Abstract: In the pursuit of joint construction, collaborative governance and shared benefits, the younger elderly represent a vital force in fostering grassroots governance within communities. However, their participation encounters various obstacles, such as challenges related to the integration of stakeholders, the fragmentation of grassroots participation activities, and the misalignment between supply and demand. This paper examines these obstacles through the lans of an obstacle logic framework centered on “relationship-motivation”. It reveals that communities often take strategic compromises due to external constraints and competing interests, which weakens cooperative support on the supply side while eliminates the participation motivation on the demand side. Moreover, the interplay between the supply and the demand sides further hinders elderly’s participation in grassroots governance initiatives. Therefore, it is crucial to enhance the emphasis on the supply side and amplify the demand side expressions to facilitate efficient and smooth resource and information flows, thereby encouraging the younger elderly to participate in the construction of grassroots governance and realize co-construction, co-governance and sharing.

Key words: young elderly people, grassroots governance community, community, generation mechanism