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Lexington, KY
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017
Project Category: Park enhancements
Description: To give residents a comfortable space to hold a conversation, the Lexington Senior Center installed new accessible benches and raised planters in Idle Hour Park. Guided by a physical therapy student's research, which showed many people are uncomfortable twisting to converse with someone seated beside them, the benches sit in a U shape. This placement allows people to choose whether to sit next to or across from one another. Each seating area also includes extra space for a wheelchair user to join in.
Mount Airy, NC
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019
Project Category: Park enhancements
Description: Mount Airy Parks and Recreation installed decorative benches and bike racks, planted trees and improved signage along the Granite City Greenway to make the area more accessible and user-friendly for people of all ages. Already the most-used outdoor recreation facility in town, the visits to the Greenway increased more than 30 percent since the COVID-19 pandemic. Project organizers report that visitors use the benches and bike racks on a daily basis. They say exposure for this project helped secure local funding and made the greenway more visible tourists. Work is now underway to expand the Greenway by 1.3 miles.
Walcott, IA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024
Project Category: Park enhancements
Description: The city will revitalize one tennis court with new asphalt and paint and convert a second court into pickleball courts. Pickleball offers beneficial exercise for older adults, since the sport is gentle on the joints.
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Webster, SD
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020
Project Category: Public places
Description: Day County does not have a curbside recycling pick-up program for its residents. To give the rural county opportunities to recycle, the Day County Recycling Team and Conservation District purchased a recycling trailer. Residents can now drop off recyclable materials, such as plastic bottles, at the trailer's location in the county seat of Webster. The Conservation District board tracks how often the 25-cubit ton trailer needs emptying to better understand local demand for recycling services. To familiarize residents with recycling, project organizers also posted signs with instructions and published recycling guidance in local newspapers.
Sisseton, SD
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: To encourage residents to walk and increase the vibrancy of Sisseton's downtown, The Sisseton Arts Council created a new community gathering spot, which they dubbed the Midway Green Space. The site features a sculpture of a reflective, eight-point star, designed to represent the area's native Dakota and Scandinavian immigrant heritage. To make the Green Space inviting to visitors, volunteers installed granite benches and seeded native grasses. Since these improvements, project organizers secured funding for a second sculpture for the site, created by a local Native artist.
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