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Henderson, NC

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021

Project Category: Public art installations

Description: The Flint Hill Kittrell Vance Community Development Corporation hoped to help foster economic development in Henderson's Flint Hill neighborhood, a low-income community. To create a sense of place there, the CDC created the Henderson Art Walk. First, volunteers worked to install murals and crosswalk art reflecting the area's history and culture. Local youth also took part in an oral history project, recording stories from their elders. A local website hosts an archive of the stories, along with photos of local public art installations. Then the CDC launched its walking tour, which highlights local Black history and culture. The walk leads visitors past local galleries and museums, as well as murals and crosswalk art. One mural honors Ben E. King, a Henderson native best known for writing and performing the song Stand by Me. The success of this placemaking project has inspired similar efforts in nearby communities and has spurred the CDC to create more public art.

Bismarck, ND

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024

Project Category: Public art installations

Description: This project will host community paint parties, where residents will create a mural inside a pedestrian tunnel along the local trail system. The tunnel is currently uninviting and feels unsafe, in part due to vandalism.

Holdrege, NE

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024

Project Category: Public art installations

Description: This project will transform a downtown site once occupied by a derelict building into an accessible sculpture garden. Designed to host community events, the garden will feature trees, a mural, lighting, tables and seating.

Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects

Crossville, TN

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022

Project Category: Park enhancements

Description: This project transformed an Obed River Park shelter into an outdoor classroom. Among other uses, Cumberland County Soil Conservation District held classes there on plant and pollinator identification and monarch butterfly gardening.

Athens, TN

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019

Project Category: Lifelong housing and accessibility

Description: Habitat for Humanity of McMinn hoped to provide housing and other resources to a local family of older adults living in substandard conditions. Like other Habitat chapters across the U.S., the organization builds homes for people in need of housing. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization completed the frame for a new home, reconvening to complete it once shut-down orders lifted. Habitat also provided training on the need for safe housing options, especially as homeowners choose to downsize as they age.

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