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Destination Caldwell (2018) Print
2018 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Public places
└ Public space activation
└ Public space activation
Organizers with Destination Caldwell think of Indian Creek Plaza like the front porch on a farmhouse -- a place for sitting and chatting with neighbors. The nonprofit hoped to activate the space with interactive outdoor games. They engaged residents to decoupage vintage photographs onto cornhole boards and piece together glass-mosaic tabletop gameboards for chess, checkers and backgammon. This project is part of larger efforts to bring public art to the plaza. Today, the game tables are available throughout the year.
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Lawrence, NE
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Park enhancements
Description: The local park in Lawrence lacked places for visitors to sit. To make the park more accessible for people of all ages and abilities, the Nuckolls County Federation and Lawrence Community Fund installed park benches and ADA-compliant picnic tables near the town's swimming pool and sports fields. The improvements built on work the partners already do to provide amenities for the village, including playground equipment and trash receptacles. Now that the park is more welcoming, community members are looking into other ways to improve the space, including replacing an outdated merry-go-round.
Washington County, VT
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020
Project Category: Community Health and Economic Empowerment
Description: To help homebound older adults engage in the visual arts, the Central Vermont Council on Aging delivered creative care kits to residents of Washington, Orange and Lamoille counties. The kits contained art supplies and instructions. For example, one included paper, watercolor paints and a guide to making color choices. Volunteers also checked in on kit recipients, with many participants joining video calls to share their creative work. In 2022, the Council on Aging launched a second year of the initiative, and provided tablets, internet access and tech support to older adults taking part. The program's popularity led to partnerships with the Vermont Arts Council and Meals on Wheels to provide kits to more people.
Lincoln County, ID
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Addressing community health
Description: When the Lincoln County Youth Center opened in 2021, children would run laps around the building's wide, circular hallway. To allow visitors to exercise, the Lincoln County Youth Commission created an indoor fitness track in the hall. With the track, the Lincoln County Youth Commission hoped to make the Center a welcoming space for residents of all ages. The rural community lacks sidewalks, making walking outdoors difficult for the community's older adults. The Lincoln Loop is ADA-accessible and offers a climate-controlled environment for people to exercise all year round. The path also includes stations where people can perform stretches and warm-up exercises.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Emmett, ID
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022
Project Category: Accessibility of amenities
Description: This project installed a digital locker system outside the library so patrons can pick up and drop off materials when the building is closed.
Kuna, ID
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: Kuna has a large parking lot in the center of its downtown that goes largely underused for most of the year. To spark the community's imagination, the City and Idaho Smart Growth hosted the Park for a Day event, which turned the lot into a pop-up plaza. The event featured live music, a food vendor and sketches illustrating ways the space could be permanently transformed. Attendees also contributed their own designs for the parking lot. Suggestions included using the space for a series of short-term, recurring events, such as an Oktoberfest, a Christmas village, a renaissance fair or themed dance nights. The City went on to explore several ideas from the pop-up event, including paving the parking lot with solar panels and installing green stormwater infrastructure to sustain landscaping at the site.
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