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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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See More Projects Like This One
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.
San Francisco, CA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: This project enlivened an alleyway with murals, planters, tables and chairs, ADA-compliant benches, music performances and more.
Greenfield, MA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: The City of Greenfield removed 250-square-feet of asphalt from a downtown parking lot, converting it to a pocket park -- a space for people instead of cars. The Fiske Avenue Pocket Park features benches, a chess table, a bike repair station, a pollinator garden and a quirky bee sculpture. Project organizers say the new, centrally located green space supportz a central goal of the city's Sustainable Master Plan: to create a vibrant, walkable downtown. Additionally, removing the asphalt supported efforts to mitigate stormwater runoff. The project's success also helped the City secure a 200,000 grant from the state Department of Transportation.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Kendallville, IN
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025
Project Category: Pedestrian Safety
Description: This project will improve pedestrian safety at three busy intersections in downtown Kendallville by installing 12 artistic crosswalks and Yield to Pedestrian signs.
South Milford, IN
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024
Project Category: Park enhancements
Description: This project will expand a local park by clearing an area overgrown with weeds and creating ADA-compliant trails onsite. The organization will also install wheelchair-accessible benches.
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