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City of Kendallville (2021) Print
2021 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Public places
└ Public space activation
└ Public space activation
The City of Kendallville was looking to add more greenspace to its downtown as part of a streetscape revitalization project. To achieve this, the City created an ADA-compliant pocket park with walking paths, tables, benches, shade pergolas and new trees and flowers. Organizers also added a large driveway to accommodate the village's mobile stage, which allows the space to host outdoor entertainment. Ambient lighting and parking pads for food trucks rounded out the improvements, which make the park welcoming for visitors of all ages and abilities.
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Medicine Lodge, KS
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022
Project Category: Trails
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Anchorage, AK
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019
Project Category: Inclusive transportation solutions
Description: To encourage fitness, intergenerational connections and knowledge of local culture, the Cook Inlet Housing Authority worked to improve a walking trail at the Muldoon Creekside Town Center. CIHA designed a colorful map highlighting walking routes with various lengths and difficulties along the trail. To honor Anchorage's Dena'ina history they installed wayfinding signs incorporating indigenous place names and featuring traditional symbolism. CIHA also added dog waste stations and trash receptacles along the trail.
Kansas City, MO
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Park enhancements
Description: Major Murray Davis Park in Kansas City's Midtown neighborhood needed a functional and aesthetic makeover. To improve the pocket park, Midtown KC Now removed old landscaping and planted fruit trees and native plants. They also added a walkway, concrete planters, game tables and a portable kiosk to display information. The pocket park is now an attractive space for people of all ages and provides fruit for members of the community. In the future, Midtown KC hoped to turn a nearby parking lot into more park space for residents to enjoy.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
LaGrange County, IN
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023
Project Category: Walkability
Description: The project will conduct walk audits, identify areas with the greatest need for new sidewalks and work with a contractor to build them.
Fort Wayne, IN
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017
Project Category: Roadway/sidewalks/crosswalk improvement
Description: To encourage walking, cycling and other forms of active transportation, Active Living Indiana worked with Team Better Block to install a temporary traffic-calming plaza on Columbia Avenue. Located near Fort Wayne's greenway, the site featured blue-and-white crosswalk striping, public art installations, foliage and a temporary, bright purple bike path offset from traffic by cones. In order to show residents how changes to the streetscape can make walking safer, the organizations also hosted an event promoting active communities. There, attendees could take in live music, enjoy local food vendors, play street games and experience the traffic calming interventions in-person. Project organizers say they hope the pop-up demonstration will be a springboard for more permanent street redesigns in the future.
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