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Christian City Inc. (2023) Print
2023 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Public places
└ Park enhancements
└ Park enhancements
This project will turn an unused wooded lot into a centrally-located, easily-accessible dog park with accessible gates, benches and a gazebo to provide a gathering spot for older neighborhood residents.
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See More Projects Like This One
Tolland, CT
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Park enhancements
Description: To give older adults in Tolland an outdoor space to gather and spend time, the Tolland Conservation Commission created a new park. The Commission worked with landscape architecture students at University of Connecticut to design Wanat Senior Park, a 13-acre area with accessible woodland trails, space for stargazing, a wheelchair-accessible meadow trail and meditative labyrinth. Engagement with older adults, including a design charrette and guided site tour, informed plans for the park. Volunteers of all ages planted vegetation and helped install hardscaping. The park features a pollinator garden, ADA-compliant benches and a variety of native plants. Public art -- including a sculpture of a heron and a sundial -- welcome visitors to the space.
Asheville, NC
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019
Project Category: Park enhancements
Description: After Buncombe County Recreation Services installed new instruments in Charles D. Owen Park -- including lily pad cymbals, a tenor tree, tuned drums and flower gongs -- park attendance increased nearly 20 percent in one year. The instruments, created by the Freenotes Harmony Park company, don't include sharps or flats and are designed to be played using arm and hand muscles rather than fingers. That way, people of all musical abilities can play them without training. More than 400 people also participated in three workshops focused on designing artistic tiles for the new space with themes of compassion, peace and diversity. The creation of the Real Possibilities musical garden sparked new projects, including the park's first TRACK Trail (self-guided, family-friendly outdoor adventures with prizes), enhanced sports courts and bird nest boxes that allow researchers to study tree swallows.
Greensboro, VT
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022
Project Category: Park enhancements
Description: To increase enjoyment of outdoor public places, this project built a nature trail and added a deck to the town's pond.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Union City, GA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017
Project Category: Addressing community health
Description: Christian City, a 500-acre charitable campus near the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, provides housing and other support for people who are in need. The organization offers affordable housing older adults, as well as assisted living, skilled nursing and memory care. To encourage older people to lead healthier, more active lives, it operates a Senior Wellness program. The initiative also helps stave off social isolation, which cant contribute to physical and mental decline. This project added mile marker posts, a message board, side markers and signs identifying walking paths on the campus. In addition, Christian City provided residents with walkers with built-in pedometers. Following these improvements, the organization reported a 20 percent increase in participation in its walking program. Today, Christian city offers an array of other senior fitness activities, including Tai Chi and chair aerobics.
South Fulton, GA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025
Project Category: HomeFit Modifications
Description: This project will improve home accessibility for older adults with mobility impairments by installing raised toilet seats in their residences. It will conduct educational trainings demonstrating home modifications.
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