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Rochester Hills, MI
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2018
Project Category: Park enhancements
Description: This grant set out to create an intergenerational exercise space in Bloomer Park. Equipment for the space includes apparatuses for building core muscles, improving posture and working the upper and lower body. Additionally, the space features a water fountain and benches.
Saint Paul, MN
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020
Project Category: Park enhancements
Description: After a survey of North End residents revealed a need for additional seating in the Trout Brook Nature Sanctuary, the District 6 Planning Council installed benches along the site's accessible walkways. A local artist designed each bench to depict colorful animals, including a blue and orange turtle, a bright orange otter, a red rabbit and a yellow and green frog. Project organizers say they hope to give visitors a place to rest, enjoy the outdoors and make social connections.
Los Angeles, CA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019
Project Category: Park enhancements
Description: The 35,000 inhabitants of Los Angeles' Westlake/MacArthur Park community live within a 10-minute walk of Golden Age Park, and a third of those residents live in poverty. Working with city agencies and local senior centers, the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust wanted to beautify the small park and provide a space for gardening and gathering. New picnic tables, a barbecue pit, tool shed and plantings transformed the park into an inviting center for recreation. Since the improvements, the City has footed the bill for continued maintenance. A mural to enliven the site is now in the works.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Rapid City, SD
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: Visitors in busy community spaces often had no place to sit, leaving people without a comfortable spot to rest during walks or long visits. To address this, the group partnered with a welding class to design and build two ADA-compliant benches, which were finished with powder coating and installed on new concrete pads. Placing them in the market park created the only seating in that area and offered shaded resting spots for people spending time there. Members said the project helped them recognize broader unmet needs in their community and inspired future efforts. One volunteer noted that the benches were placed in "perfect shaded areas", making the park easier for people to enjoy.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
Brookings, SD
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2026
Project Category: Accessibility of amenities
Description: The project will rebuild restrooms in a downtown building to create fully accessible, clearly signed public restrooms. The improved facilities will provide residents and visitors with a safe, comfortable option while spending time in the city center.
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