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City of Imperial Beach (2024) Print
2024 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Public places
└ Community Gardens
└ Community Gardens
Imperial Beach lacked accessible spaces for older adults to garden and connect, despite strong community demand. The city converted a 4,500-square-foot lot near its adult center into an intergenerational garden with 18 raised beds and wheelchair-accessible planters. It also added a greenhouse, compost bins, a tool shed and seating areas. More than 150 volunteers, including many age 50 or over, helped build the space and joined planting days and nutrition workshops. The garden now hosts monthly classes on gardening and healthy cooking, offering residents a welcoming place to socialize. They are able to stay active and grow fresh produce-turning a vacant lot into a hub for health and community.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
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Cordova, AK
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2026
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: An community greenhouse will be constructed with accessible beds and paths to support tribal Elders. The project will strengthen access to fresh food and social connections.
Philadelphia, PA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: West Philadelphia lacked accessible green spaces, leaving older adults and marginalized residents without safe areas for recreation and social connection. The Park in a Truck initiative partnered with LandHealth Institute to build four demonstration gardens-Natural, Edible, Sanctuary and Event-at a former vacant lot. Volunteers installed raised beds, pollinator plants and seating amenable to people age 50-plus. The project united older adults and youth to create inclusive spaces and provided hands-on education about gardening and pollination. One participant shared, "Building demonstration gardens helped me learn what I can plant in other areas of my neighborhood." The gardens now serve as models for future community-led green spaces.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
East Pittsburgh, PA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2026
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: An underused neighborhood space will be transformed into an accessible community garden. The garden will offer older adults better access to fresh food, safe outdoor activity and a place to gather and connect with others.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Imperial Beach, CA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025
Project Category: Bike Audits
Description: This project will conduct four bike audits along the Bayshore Bikeway trail and major avenues, and hold four community meetings in English and Spanish.
Chula Vista, CA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Activities that address social isolation and facilitate community connections
Description: To honor community elders and bring awareness to the value of older adults in the community, the City of Chula Vista invited older residents to submit photographs and stories of their lives. They then selected several to adorn banners, which the City displayed on light posts along major streets. Additionally, the banners included the URL for a website where residents can read the featured stories and find age-friendly resources. "This program ensures that the older adults in our lives know that they are appreciated for the important role they have in our community," Mayor Mary Casillas Salas said.
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