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Houston, TX
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: Many residents of Houston's Gulfton neighborhood live in apartment buildings, which lack outdoor space. Organizers with My Connect Community set out to give these residents a place to gather. They created a placemaking tool kit tailored to multifamily property owners. The kit includes portable carts adorned with laser-cut designs meant to represent Gulfton's diversity. Each cart also features a shade umbrella and a chalkboard. Additionally, the kits include outdoor rugs, bistro lighting and seating. Then My Connect Community hosted a series of pop-up events on side streets and in on-street parking spaces. The temporary activations gave Gulfton residents a chance to socialize with one another and allowed organizers to share information about community resources, such as public transit service and library programming. In the future, My Connect Community hopes to ensure community events are culturally informed and engage volunteers who speak residents' languages.
Burlington, VT
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: Pandemic restrictions exposed the lack of safe outdoor spaces for older adults in Burlington, leaving them with temporary plastic chairs and no accessible options. The center converted parking spaces and lawn into a permanent patio featuring wheelchair-friendly raised beds, cedar benches, heavy-duty tables and chairs, privacy screens and decorative planters. Volunteers built and installed everything, creating a vibrant setting for meals, games and performances. The space now supports gardening and social connection while offering a long-term solution for distancing during health crises. "It's just so beautiful. I really love sitting outside and listening to the birds," said one participant.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
Nashville, TN
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: To help older adults age in place in their community, Rebuilding Together Nashville made improvements to three community spaces in the Bordeaux neighborhood. The nonprofit gathered feedback from residents to choose which spaces to update. At FiftyForward Bordeaux -- a senior center -- volunteers installed a shade structure, allowing visitors to comfortably gather outdoors. They also added a shed onsite and updated the center's interior, including painting and installing shelving. The Infinity Center is an after-school center that hosts children's theater and community classes. There, volunteers replaced windows, sealed water leaks and repaired a dilapidated deck. Finally, they helped Brooklyn Heights Community Garden transition from a group of raised beds to a full-scale urban farm. Volunteers demolished and moved old garden beds and prepared the site for a new pack and wash station, greenhouse and production garden.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Amherst, MA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: This project will add seating, lighting, and greenery to create a safer, more accessible, and inviting plaza. This revitalized area near senior housing and a community center will foster social connections for older adults.
Belchertown, MA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: A revitalized walkway near the Senior Center lacked seating, discouraging older adults and those with cognitive impairments from taking longer walks. To address this, six sturdy benches were installed along Carriage Drive, secured on concrete slabs and surrounded by grass. Outreach included a ribbon-cutting event that drew residents age 50-plus. The benches now offer safe resting spots, encouraging more time outdoors and improving well-being. Plans for additional benches are underway. One participant said she was proud to live in a town that invests in projects showing care for older adults.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
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