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Matanuska-Susitna Borough, AK
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020
Project Category: Park enhancements
Description: In partnership with Great Land Trust and Matanuska-Susitna Borough, the Mat-Su Trails and Parks Foundation constructed an ADA-accessible, scenic overlook viewing platform at the newly opened Settlers Bay Coastal Park. The platform, which includes a safety railing and seating, allows visitors of all abilities to enjoy the panoramic views at Mat-Su Valley's first and only coastal park. Prior to the development of Settlers Bay Coastal Park, locals lacked access to public lands for outdoor recreation. At an unveiling event for the new platform, the Great Land Trust announced they had acquired an additional 180 acres of land adjacent to the existing park, expanding the total permanently protected land area to 500 acres.
Fort Scott, KS
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025
Project Category: Park enhancements
Description: This project will add three new Kansas Unsung Hero panels to the Unsung Heroes Park. These panels will include QR codes for language translation.
Asheville, NC
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019
Project Category: Park enhancements
Description: After Buncombe County Recreation Services installed new instruments in Charles D. Owen Park -- including lily pad cymbals, a tenor tree, tuned drums and flower gongs -- park attendance increased nearly 20 percent in one year. The instruments, created by the Freenotes Harmony Park company, don't include sharps or flats and are designed to be played using arm and hand muscles rather than fingers. That way, people of all musical abilities can play them without training. More than 400 people also participated in three workshops focused on designing artistic tiles for the new space with themes of compassion, peace and diversity. The creation of the Real Possibilities musical garden sparked new projects, including the park's first TRACK Trail (self-guided, family-friendly outdoor adventures with prizes), enhanced sports courts and bird nest boxes that allow researchers to study tree swallows.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Carson City, NV
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019
Project Category: Public or private transit access
Description: Organizers at the Brewery Art Center hoped to improve accessibility at a nearby bus stop. So they installed new lighting and benches at the site, allowing more residents to take advantage of public transportation to get them to the Center's events, classes and galleries. Project organizers also worked with the local transportation department to increase transit service hours during the Center's events. These accessibility improvements enabled the Center to offer new programming for older adults, including a rock choir called School of Rock, Senior Years. Additionally, grant funding allowed for the restoration of a mural painted in the 1990s, which depicts the family who ran the Carson Brewery Company.
Rocklin, CA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2026
Project Category: Expansion and enhancement of transportation options
Description: Free on-demand rides will be offered to older adults in low-income housing. The service will reduce missed appointments and support independent living.
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