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Center for Creative Aging North Carolina (2021) Print
2021 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Public places
└ Community Gardens
└ Community Gardens
Creativity as a Catalyst for Inclusion, a project of the Creative Aging Network, worked to create a community garden and outdoor classroom for community events. Assembling a team of volunteers and community activists, they cleaned up the grounds, built raised garden beds, created walking paths and planted native vegetation. A local artisan created custom benches for the garden, created from the wood of a fallen tree on the property. To bring people into the space, local artists led a series of workshops onsite. Project organizers say activities programmed for the garden are meant to be inclusive and appeal to people of all ages and abilities.
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Stoneham, MA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: The Boys Girls Clubs of Stoneham and Wakefield built an intergenerational community garden where older adults can mentor children from the clubs. They installed four garden beds, a rain barrel and a compost bin. They also provided to tools, soil, seeds and other supplies for use in the garden. Today, the Boys Girls Clubs hosts intergenerational programming at the garden, which allows older adults to teach children the value of gardening as a healthy outdoor activity.
Scarborough, ME
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: Older adults in Scarborough face challenges staying active and managing heating costs on fixed incomes. Project GRACE expanded three community gardens, adding 15 new beds and growing over 800 pounds of produce for local food pantries. It also hosted a "Snug It Up" workshop for 75 older adults, offering weatherization tips, free DIY supplies and emergency fuel assistance for dozens of households. The gardens fostered social engagement and healthy eating, while the workshop helped residents prepare for winter. "I applaud the essential work... that helps our community to stay comfortably warm and snugged up this winter," one attendee wrote.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
Phoenix, AZ
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: This project created waist-high, raised-bed planters for the Society of St. Vincent De Paul's urban farm. Designed to hold up in the Arizona sun and heat, the raised beds sit at the farm's entrance. Project organizers also planted shade trees and installed benches to better serve the garden's older adult volunteers and people with disabilities. A new chalk board also helps remind garden volunteers about progress on day-to-day tasks. Project organizers report that since the upgrades, many older volunteers have renewed interest in working in the garden.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Greensboro, NC
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025
Project Category: Walk Audits
Description: This project will partner with neighborhood organizations to conduct two meetings and two walk audits. The project will gather testimony to produce a community walk report for future street and sidewalk plans.
Greensboro, NC
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025
Project Category: Pedestrian Safety
Description: Speeding traffic, trucks and bus activity made it risky to cross W. Elmsley Dr., a link to shopping and a transit corridor used by many older adults. The city installed a permanent high-visibility crosswalk with pedestrian-activated flashing lights, ADA ramps and a refuge island, then added a new sidewalk to complete the connection. Walk audits with residents informed the location and built buy-in. During filming, staff saw drivers slow and stop for the beacon, and crossing felt noticeably safer. The project also aligned with plans for higher-frequency transit and spurred interdepartmental coordination on future safety upgrades.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
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