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Shawnee, OK
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2026
Project Category: Transportation Other
Description: The housing authority will extend walkways, add an accessible pavilion and install lighting, benches and driver warning signs in two neighborhoods. These changes will create safer routes, reduce conflicts with vehicles and support daily travel.
Putney, VT
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2026
Project Category: Transportation Other
Description: The project will use walk audit findings to identify pedestrian safety improvements, including crosswalk testing, benches, signage and traffic calming. The effort will improve walkability in a busy downtown area for residents of all ages.
Iowa City, IA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025
Project Category: Transportation Other
Description: Many older adults and wheelchair users in Iowa City are unable to ride bicycles independently, limiting access to outdoor recreation and social connection. The Bike Library addressed that barrier by launching the state's first community-based chapter and introducing a wheelchair-accessible trishaw that allows riders to participate without transferring. Trained volunteer pilots, including many older adults, began offering free rides through neighborhoods, parks and riverfront trails from a central hub. One wheelchair user said it was the fastest and farthest they had traveled in 30 years, calling the experience a gift. By embedding adaptive cycling into local recreation and disability partnerships, the project created an ongoing way for residents to reconnect with nature and community.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Staten Island, NY
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023
Project Category: Walkability
Description: Transportation Alternatives addressed safety concerns along Staten Island's Richmond Terrace corridor through walk audits that identified hazards like poor lighting and uneven sidewalks. The effort prompted lighting upgrades on six blocks, sinkhole repairs and plans for a bus shelter near Snug Harbor Cultural Center. These improvements have made the area safer and more inviting, with one resident saying better lighting and clear walkways would make her "more inclined to take walks with her family to local parks and facilities."
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
Brooklyn, NY
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Activities that address social isolation and facilitate community connections
Description: Organizers with Jamel Gaines Creative Outlet hoped to document the experiences of local African-American older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. To do this, the Brooklyn-based danse and cultural institution launched its Wellness Works initiative. The outlet trained volunteers to conduct interviews using the StoryCorps model. Volunteers then interviewed more than 25 people from each of New York's five boroughs -- including their own grandparents. Information from the interviews helped shape local health policy, highlighting disparities in health care during the pandemic. Since the project concluded, organizers have continued to offer webinars and look for ways to preserve oral history.
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