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Stamps, AR

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020

Project Category: Park enhancements

Description: A lack of accessible restrooms made Maya Angelou Park unwelcoming to older adults, people with disabilities and families with young children. To address this, the City of Stamps made several accessibility upgrades, including installing concrete sidewalks, new doors, hardware and handrails. The park, named for the late author, poet, and activist who grew up in Stamps, is located along the banks of Lake June.

New Milford, CT

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2018

Project Category: Park enhancements

Description: To create social opportunities for people of all ages, the Town of New Milford added benches and game top tables along the walkway to the Young's Field Park. Town employees installed the tables, which can host chess and checkers games. Project organizers say they hope the tables encourage intergenerational activities in the riverfront park. Today, teens from a New Milford High School after-school club use the table for regular games with players from the New Milford Senior Center.

Estherville, IA

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021

Project Category: Park enhancements

Description: To improve its recreation facilities, the City of Estherville asked residents for their ideas about how to improve local outdoor spaces. In response to this feedback, the City added special playground swings at the community's parks that are suitable for users of various skills, sizes and ages. The generation swings are two swings in one -- a combined adult swing and a swing for babies and toddlers. This enables children to swing face-to-face with their adult.

Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects

Anchorage, AK

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019

Project Category: Roadway/sidewalks/crosswalk improvement

Description: Organizers with Bike Anchorage wanted to give neighbors a glimpse at what their streets could look like with tweaks to make them safer and more pedestrian-friendly. They equipped a trailer with cones, spray chalk, signage and other traffic calming supplies, ready to deploy to locations ripe for pop-up demonstrations. In one such demonstration at a busy intersection near the public library, volunteers installed a temporary roundabout which successfully calmed vehicle traffic. They also created a temporary protected bike lane downtown. The project has already inspired more permanent improvements -- officials have earmarked funds for a future roundabout at the site near the library.

Anchorage, AK

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017

Project Category: Engaging people in transportation options/safety

Description: Alaska Trails worked with Bike Anchorage to shape sustainable transportation in Anchorage. The two organizations educated residents about the city's Non-Motorized Transportation Plan, an effort to integrate bike, pedestrian and train networks into a multi-modal system. They also informed residents about Anchorage's Complete Streets policy, which aims to remake city streets to safely accommodate pedestrians, bicyclists, drivers and bus riders of all ages and abilities. In addition, Alaska Trails supported Safe Routes to School, an initiative that promotes walking and bicycling to school. This outreach effort included social media posts, print and television news coverage and a newsletter. Alaska Trails continues to work to encourage locals to use the state's trails and each year Bike Anchorage holds a Winter Bike Fest to promote cycling in the city.

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