Stevens Point, WI

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023

Project Category: Public or private transit access

Description: This project will install five age-friendly benches at selected transit stops, all of which have a high-degree of usage and are situated along major transportation corridors.

Lynchburg, VA

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021

Project Category: Public space activation

Description: To organizers with the Downtown Lynchburg Association, an underused, dead-end street had potential to draw visitors downtown. The Association transformed the space into Art Alley -- a vibrant, outdoor art gallery. To activate the space, volunteers covered the pavement in turquoise, orange, pink and green paint. They also set up string lights overhead to provide illumination. Finally, they created the Spark Joy Gallery by installing panels that display digital artworks. Project organizers say the placemaking effort has since inspired nearby property owners to spruce up their building facades, and the Art Alley has become a must-see for tourists passing through town.

Miami Beach, FL

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021

Project Category: Inclusive civic engagement efforts

Description: While Miami Beach is home to many LGBTQ families, the stories of older gay couples go largely untold. Miami Beach Gay Pride Inc. created the Legacy Couples Project to tell the love stories of 14 older, queer couples who were at the forefront of the fight for equity and fairness. Project organizers commissioned portrait-style photographs, hour-long audio stories, on-camera interviews and a curated selection of personal artifacts. The audio stories, which a team multi-generational LGBTQ interns produced, were featured at two local museums and are now permanently archived at HistoryMiami.