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City of Lincoln (2024) Print
2024 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Digital Connections
└ Digital navigation skills
└ Digital navigation skills
Older adults in Lincoln faced barriers to using personal devices, limiting access to family, services and fraud protection. Pop-up workshops gave 139 participants hands-on help with their own devices, supported by college volunteers. Seventeen attendees received new tablets with setup assistance, and all learned to spot scams. The program boosted confidence and prompted libraries to expand digital literacy classes, while Aging Partners explores sustaining similar efforts.
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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Worcester, MA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024
Project Category: Digital navigation skills
Description: Older adults in Worcester public housing lacked affordable internet and digital skills, leaving them isolated and unable to access telehealth or manage benefits. The Senior Tech Savvy Pilot Program installed computers and Wi-Fi in community rooms and offered 12 classes for 120 residents. Eighty percent reported confidence using email and browsing safely, and 75% could now navigate health portals. With permanent access to technology and plans for ongoing classes, residents gained independence and security online. One participant said that now she didn't feel the same frustration and was confident enough to practice at home.
Providence, RI
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023
Project Category: Digital navigation skills
Description: To combat isolation and bridge the digital divide, Mount Hope Community Center created a modern computer lab and offered hands-on classes for older adults. Participants learned essential skills like sending emails, navigating the internet and spotting scams, supported by volunteers and a dedicated instructor. The lab is now a permanent resource, and future workshops will expand to video calls and social media. One participant captured the impact: "What a great feat!" after emailing her child for the first time.
Salt Lake County, UT
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020
Project Category: Digital navigation skills
Description: After the COVID-19 pandemic prevented older adults from visiting family, friends or medical offices, the University of Utah's Geriatric Psychiatry Clinic wanted to help people stuck at home connect virtually. The Clinic lent tablets to its patients, as well as to residents of local assisted living facilities and nursing homes. High school and college students volunteered to train recipients to use the tech. I really had to overcome my fear of technology to make it work, one participant told project organizers. The tutor did an excellent job of making me feel comfortable with the hardware and software. To help maintain interpersonal relationships, the Clinic also hosted a series of Conversation Cafes -- weekly virtual gatherings between residents and their family members.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Lincoln, NE
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: NeighborWorks Lincoln turned a vacant lot into a community garden. Volunteers installed fifteen raised garden beds, along with lighting and an arbor entranceway. Other improvements include walkway and seating. Residents have access to fresh produce grown onsite. In addition, project organizers recruited experienced gardeners to help beginners learn the ropes. Today, residents -- many of whom represent the area's Latino, Iraqi and Karen communities -- use the garden as a space to socialize. Locals have told NeighborWorks that they feel safer walking past the site now that it's a garden instead of an abandoned lot. And work on the garden paved the way for future projects as well. Organizers also said they worked with the City of Lincoln to work around rules restricting planting in a public right-of-way, which helped make future gardening plans feasible.
Lincoln, NE
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023
Project Category: Walkability
Description: Residents along Lincoln's 11th Street faced unsafe crossings and heavy traffic, leaving older adults and families vulnerable. Civic Nebraska organized six walk audits covering eight intersections, surveyed residents and hosted an open house with city staff to spotlight hazards. Volunteers, including older adults, gathered feedback that shaped the 11th Street Corridor Improvement plan. The effort forged a partnership with Lincoln Transportation & Utilities, ensuring future projects reflect lived experience and giving residents a stronger voice in street safety.
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