Hattiesburg, MS

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2026

Project Category: Park enhancements

Description: The local farmers market will add accessible parking, smoother paths, a bridge to nearby restrooms and a shaded cooling area at its new location. These changes will make it safer for older adults to shop for local food and stay comfortable.

Ferrum, VA

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025

Project Category: Park enhancements

Description: Friends of Ferrum Park responded to the lack of safe, accessible outdoor space that had limited physical activity and social connection for older adults in this rural community. The project built the first section of an ADA-accessible walking trail, a quarter-mile crushed-gravel path with stable surfaces, space for side-by-side walking, benches for rest and accessible parking at the trailhead. Volunteers, including older adults, helped install the improvements, reinforcing community ownership. The new trail created a permanent, no-cost place to walk, meet neighbors and attend events. Early use shows older adults returning for gentle daily activity that was not possible before. One regular visitor shared that the smoother surface let him walk farther and maintain routines that matter, setting the stage for future accessibility improvements.

Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.

Falcon Heights, MN

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020

Project Category: Park enhancements

Description: The Philando Castile Peace Garden Committee prepared the site of its planned memorial garden honoring Falcon Heights resident Philando Castile, who was killed by police in 2016. The Committee completed surveys of the property, conducted soil testing and created renderings of the planned garden. They created mockups of a fence designed to feature community art, as well as a remembrance bench. The Committee also hosted community work days, where volunteers prepared the soil and planted greenery. In the months since, the Committee has continued to raise private donations for the garden's creation and long-term upkeep. They recently completed accessible pathways, the remembrance bench and art at the site. Located at the site of the 2016 shooting, the garden is designed to give visitors a space to collective reflect, explore solutions to combat violence and foster community agency.