Cascade, MT

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020

Project Category: Park enhancements

Description: The Town of Cascade created an accessible picnic area in North Railroad Park, within walking distance of many local amenities. Town staff poured a concrete pad for the site, where they installed a walled seating area with two ADA-compliant picnic tables and a new flagpole. The local garden club lent a hand by filling at the site planters with flowers. Each year, the Town evaluates the accessibility of the projects it undertakes, and town leaders are committed to providing gathering spaces where residents of all abilities can gather.

Frankfort, IN

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024

Project Category: Park enhancements

Description: This project will update a walking path by adding benches at several stopping points, along with attractive landscaping. The Center will also expand the path to a full loop, improving safety.

Fort Scott, KS

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021

Project Category: Park enhancements

Description: Fort Scott's Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes mission is to share stories of lesser-known great Americans through project-based learning. The Center created a downtown park next to its museum facilities. The new space features six narrative boards, which commemorate the contributions of individual heroes. Students in grades four through twelve researched and chose the subjects, who include scientists who discovered dinosaur bones and measured the extent of the universe, as well as a Navajo code breaker, a pioneer of modern education and others. Project organizers say the story rails will allow visitors to learn about historical figures outside the nearby museum's operating hours.