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Downtown Brattleboro Alliance (2020) Print
2020 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Public places
└ Public space activation
└ Public space activation
Residents considered the Brattleboro Transportation Center's parking garage to be ugly and uninviting. To change this, the Downtown Brattleboro Alliance worked with local artists to create signage for each level of the garage. The new signs feature a different animal for each level, with each creature -- the osprey, river otter, American shad and sea lamprey -- significant to the Abenaki indigenous community and the Connecticut River ecosystem. Additionally, the Alliance held a pop-up event in the garage's elevator to display the prototype for a new Ask the River kinetic sculpture. Visitors to the garage could view the sculpture and give their feedback. Today, the full-size version of the artwork decorates the facade of the Transportation Center building.
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See More Projects Like This One
San Jose, CA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: The COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted the local economy in San Jose's Washington neighborhood. To help meet the community's needs, Veggielution hosted free arts and environmental education programming. The local nonprofit, which aims to connect people through food and farming, invited people to the SoFa pocket park, which the organization created on the site of an underused parking lot. Events included a monthly garden art workshop and live musical and theater performances by local arts organizations. Additionally, Veggielution worked with a local arts school to create a mural for the pocket park. The activities helped link residents to resources, such as food assistance and entrepreneurship training, and connected local nonprofit organizations to each other, creating a better web of support for the community.
Loiza, PR
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: Older adults in Torrecilla Baja lacked a free, accessible outdoor place to gather, be active and take part in wellness programs. The project built the Gazebo Amor Mayor at the community center, adding accessible benches and game tables, raised garden beds and solar lighting. Older residents helped through volunteering and a wellness planting workshop. The gazebo created a permanent gathering place that reduces isolation and supports ongoing wellness, cultural and intergenerational activities.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
Albuquerque, NM
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: The Barelas Community Coalition hoped to create a welcoming, multigenerational gathering space to allow community members to eat, play, and learn together. The organization constructed a shade structure, added a bench, installed solar lighting and displayed signage at a public courtyard. The outdoor area is part of the Las Esquinita complex, an indoor commercial space that includes a small food hall and artisan market. It is also located next to a new food truck park, which the Coalition helps manage. Today, the space serves as a public art venue where resident can communicate their ideas, wants and feelings alongside an existing mural. Project organizers say the project helped secure long-term support for their activation efforts and allowed the community to rally around local revitalization activities.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Brattleboro, VT
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023
Project Category: Engaging residents in vibrant public places
Description: After catastrophic flooding exposed gaps in river access and safety, Brattleboro residents-many age 50-plus-joined the Face the River initiative to shape a new riverside park and learn floodplain science. The project delivered bird walks, river ecology workshops and mindfulness sessions, along with tours of restoration sites that engaged over 100 participants. Their insights are guiding permanent projects with ADA trails and amenities, underscoring the need for trails near downtown. The effort sparked lasting momentum for inclusive recreation and resilience planning.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
Keene, NH
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024
Project Category: Housing Choice Design Competitions
Description: Southwest New Hampshire faces a housing shortage that leaves older adults with few options to age in place. To address this, the commission launched an ADU Design Challenge using real homeowner case studies instead of generic sites. The effort drew 30 submissions for 11 sites, hosted an awards event with 100 attendees and created a web page showcasing designs and resources. Interest was strong, with 75 homeowners volunteering as case study sites, and architects from across New England participating. The challenge sparked conversations about statewide replication and policy reform. One organizer said homeowners' gratitude for the project "was unwavering."
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
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