Madison, WI

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021

Project Category: Trails

Description: The spot where a popular pedestrian and bicycle path connects with Leopold Community School has needed repairs for years. The Cannonball Path's entrance was cracked and overgrown with weeds. To make the gateway to the path more welcoming, volunteers laid new concrete, planted native perennials alongside the path, added interpretive signage and installed solar lighting. New benches give people a space to sit and to appreciate the sculpture that adorns the trail entrance. The artwork depicts a fiddlehead fronds -- an homage to the local ecology. Today, the space gives educators the opportunity to teach students about local wildlife and also acts as a drop-off location for parents escorting their children to school. Project organizers say the improvements are part of community-wide efforts to give people more resting spaces along local trails.

Evanston, IL

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020

Project Category: Accessory dwelling units, tiny homes and manufactured housing

Description: To help mitigate housing affordability challenges, the City of Evanston created a digital guide for homeowners looking to build accessory dwelling units to their property. Written in partnership with the Evanston Development Cooperative, the guide covers zoning, financing, design and construction, as well as information about who typically lives in ADUs. Additionally, the City hosted a webinar on ADU construction, which it recorded and posted on its website. In fall 2020, the City updated its ADU ordinance to give homeowners more flexibility, allowing them to create separate housing units either attached to or within their existing homes. Project organizers say the guidebook has helped spread the word about the update. ADU construction in Evanston has increased since the guidebook's publication and City has worked to make model ADU blueprints available to residents.

Port Orford, OR

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017

Project Category: Public space activation

Description: To revitalize Port Orford's downtown and make it more walkable, the City installed benches with built-in planters along Main Street. Sites chosen for the new benches included the local food co-op, a quilt shop and a Norwegian restaurant. A construction crew from a nearby correctional facility built four bench-planter combos. High school students made plaques to recognize the inmates for their work and AARP for funding the building supplies. After installation, the local arts council set up the community's traditional holiday crab-pot tree next to one of the benches and added festive decorations to its planter. Project organizers report downtown property owners are thrilled with the improvements and the City plans to continue adding seating to Main Street.