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Topeka, KS
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2026
Project Category: Digital navigation skills
Description: The city will provide hands on technology classes at community sites with transportation and recorded sessions. Participants will practice everyday digital tasks and receive tablets to stay connected to services, health care and friends.
Spokane, WA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025
Project Category: Digital navigation skills
Description: Refugee and Immigrant Connections Spokane addressed gaps in digital access that left many older adults struggling to communicate, find information and take part in daily activities that increasingly require online skills. For older adults, limited experience with computers and concerns about online safety increased isolation and dependency. The project delivered a series of hands-on digital literacy workshops supported by staff and volunteers, with small-group and one-on-one instruction tailored to older learners. Participants practiced core skills such as using laptops and tablets, navigating websites, sending email and recognizing common online risks. As confidence grew, several participants began applying these skills to their phones and other devices, strengthening independence and connection.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
Bunkie, LA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2026
Project Category: Digital navigation skills
Description: The Senior Center will add desktop computers and printers and host hands-on digital training sessions. Participants will practice basic tasks, manage paperwork and access online services more easily in a supportive and familiar setting.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Baltimore, MD
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: Older adults in a Baltimore's North Avenue neighborhood needed an accessible place to gather. The project transformed the Red Shed garden with a concrete ADA walkway, a pergola for shade and lighting and spaces for community mosaics. Volunteers created a welcoming event area that now hosts gatherings and cultural celebrations. One participant said, "It means the world to me to be part of building this. We have helped our neighborhood and made something beautiful!"
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
Baltimore, MD
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024
Project Category: Public spaces improvements to increase high-speed internet availability
Description: Baltimore's digital divide leaves many older adults without affordable internet, cutting off access to telehealth, banking and social connection. At Stadium Place, home to 450 residents age 50-plus, Open Works installed two solar-powered benches offering free Wi-Fi, device charging and seating. Each station operates off-grid with solar panels and 5G routers, creating a resilient resource during outages. Early data shows steady use despite winter weather, and a digital navigator is being trained for upkeep. Designs are being open-sourced to encourage replication. "We hope the solar stations will help connect folks who do not have access to the internet... and spark social connections as folks sit and charge their phones," the team noted.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
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