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Montpelier, VT
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: To provide a place for cyclists and walkers to rest and socialize, this project developed a pocket park along an existing bike path. Guertin Pocket Park features a pergola -- a wooden structure with a roof -- to provide shelter from the sun or rain. Project organizers also incorporated seating and bike racks, as well as a rainwater collection system that feeds a small decorative garden. In 2021, the city decided to move the pocket park to a new location in the heart of downtown.
Willcox, AZ
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: Despite years of neglect, the Heritage Courtyard represents a beloved and beautiful part of Willcox's downtown. To make the space more welcoming to residents of all ages, Willcox Theater and Arts -- whose building is adjacent to the courtyard -- installed benches, bulletin boards and planters. Additionally, a local craftsman constructed a new gateway for the space, which is coated in copper to pay homage to Arizona's mining history. The courtyard contributes to downtown walkability and is first project in the town's Downtown Revitalization Plan, paving the way for future community improvements. The City plans to use the park for special events, exhibits and storytelling activities.
Port Orford, OR
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: To revitalize Port Orford's downtown and make it more walkable, the City installed benches with built-in planters along Main Street. Sites chosen for the new benches included the local food co-op, a quilt shop and a Norwegian restaurant. A construction crew from a nearby correctional facility built four bench-planter combos. High school students made plaques to recognize the inmates for their work and AARP for funding the building supplies. After installation, the local arts council set up the community's traditional holiday crab-pot tree next to one of the benches and added festive decorations to its planter. Project organizers report downtown property owners are thrilled with the improvements and the City plans to continue adding seating to Main Street.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Columbus, OH
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020
Project Category: Public place improvements to withstand extreme weather events
Description: To reduce the urban heat island effect, Friends of the lower Olentangy Watershed planted large canopy trees at an elementary school playground and near a housing complex. The area has traditionally lacked tree cover, with the nearby properties having the least canopy cover of any residential area in the local watershed. The new trees increased the local canopy from 7 percent to 22 percent -- the average for Columbus as a whole. Volunteers -- including local Scouts -- helped plant the trees. In addition, project organizers installed benches at the playground to provide a respite to teachers, children and families using the playground equipment.
Columbus, OH
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: The International Harvest Garden lacked shade and seating, leaving gardeners age 50-plus and families without a comfortable place to rest or gather. The project added a picnic table with side access for mobility aids, a shade trellis and improved walkways for easier navigation. These upgrades will support cultural events and reduce isolation, with volunteers saying the changes will make the garden "a sanctuary as well as a place of growth and education."
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
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