York County, PA

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021

Project Category: Inclusive civic engagement efforts

Description: To better capture local history, the York County History Center launched its Share Your Story initiative. Organizers specifically hoped to include the voices of underrepresented community members, including BIPOC residents and people with disabilities. The Center constructed a mobile recording booth, which it set up in local schools and a senior center and at community events, including a Juneteenth celebration, a community theater performance and a local street fair. The listening booth's first outing allowed the History Center to record stories of lives lost during the COVID-19 pandemic. Organizers say the stories they collect will inform museum exhibits, as well as the Center's online offerings.

Lancaster, PA

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023

Project Category: Public safety interventions

Description: The Clean, Green and Safe project will make it safer for older residents to walk to the Marin Senior Center by adding shade trees, plants, benches, trash receptacles and public safety cameras along the route and outside the center.