See More Projects Like This One

Monroeville, AL

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022

Project Category: Public space activation

Description: This project created Story Trail panels to share books along a path leading from the downtown square to Monroe County Public Library.

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.

Houston, TX

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021

Project Category: Public space activation

Description: Many residents of Houston's Gulfton neighborhood live in apartment buildings, which lack outdoor space. Organizers with My Connect Community set out to give these residents a place to gather. They created a placemaking tool kit tailored to multifamily property owners. The kit includes portable carts adorned with laser-cut designs meant to represent Gulfton's diversity. Each cart also features a shade umbrella and a chalkboard. Additionally, the kits include outdoor rugs, bistro lighting and seating. Then My Connect Community hosted a series of pop-up events on side streets and in on-street parking spaces. The temporary activations gave Gulfton residents a chance to socialize with one another and allowed organizers to share information about community resources, such as public transit service and library programming. In the future, My Connect Community hopes to ensure community events are culturally informed and engage volunteers who speak residents' languages.

Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects

Coamo, PR

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024

Project Category: Public space activation

Description: This project will renovate a shuttered school building to create a community multipurpose room where local nonprofit organizations can host meetings and events.

Lajas, PR

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022

Project Category: Public space improvements to support recovery after extreme weather events

Description: This project improved technology to ensure continued availability of power, drinking water and communication outlets in Lajas.

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