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Community Gardens of Tucson (2021) Print
2021 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Public places
└ Community Gardens
└ Community Gardens
The Blue Moon Community Garden in Tucson is located next a 17-story apartment building with hundreds of residents, many of whom are older adults. However, the garden lacked shade and amenities, including public bathrooms and benches, which discouraged potential volunteers. Community Gardens of Tucson, which manages twenty gardens across the city, installed tables, benches and pop-up shade structures. They also built raised garden beds, improved pathways and added a compostable toilet onsite. The improvements allow garden to offer more diverse programming for community members, which has led to more volunteer engagement.
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See More Projects Like This One
Newport, NH
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: This project turned a vacant lot into a dog park and community garden, both fully ADA accessible, with walkways, benches and raised-bed gardens.
Long Beach, CA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: This project will build a community comal -- or traditional griddle -- and engage older Meso-American women to revive the weekly tradition of tortilla making. This initiative will foster intergenerational connections and enhance the women's connection to the community.
Wheeling, WV
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: This project will convert a vacant space near older adult housing and a retirement community into a new community garden. The garden will include raised beds for growing fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Tucson, AZ
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019
Project Category: Park enhancements
Description: City officials set out to revitalize the underused Francisco Elias Esquer Park, located around the corner from a large public housing community for older adults in Tucson's Barrio Blue Moon neighborhood. To address the needs of locals with disabilities, volunteers installed a wheelchair accessible walking path, benches and a dog comfort station for service animals. They also added passive water harvesting basins to draw birds, bees, butterflies and other wildlife. At a planting party for community members -- one of several events to publicize the new amenities -- neighbors spent a day digging in the dirt and enjoying a renewed sense of community.
Tucson, AZ
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023
Project Category: Housing Choice Design Competitions
Description: This project will develop a design competition to promote accessory dwelling units and create a model plan catalog featuring ADUs that support a variety of needs, including for older adults and multigenerational families.
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