Devens, MA

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021

Project Category: Public space activation

Description: As part of larger efforts to create a community space that honors veterans, Clear Path for Veterans added Adirondack chairs and tables to the Devens Memorial Courtyard. Project organizers hope the space offers visitors the opportunity to sit and quietly reflect on those who have served the nation. The new seating is also set up to facilitate private, face-to-face mental health and integrative wellness coaching sessions -- ensuring veterans and their health care providers had a safe, outdoor space to meet during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since installing the seating, Clear Path for Veterans has used the courtyard to host meetings with veterans and mental health professionals, as well as community meals and vaccination clinics.

Ashland, WI

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021

Project Category: Public space activation

Description: A survey showed residents in Ashland wanted more outdoor seating in the city's downtown. As part of larger efforts to revitalize the commercial district the City worked with Ashland Main Street to install decorative benches. The City engaged teams of artists -- including college students and staff from the local food co-op -- to design artwork for the seating. Then, with the help of volunteers, project organizers then installed one bench on every block of Ashland's nine-block commercial area. Each depicts imagery related to the community's identity, including scenes from local history or ecology. Paying homage to nearby Lake Superior, several benches have a water theme. Project organizers say Ashland is known as the mural capital of Wisconsin, and the benches work with other public art installations to draw people to visit downtown.

Ellsworth, WI

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019

Project Category: Public space activation

Description: Ellsworth's once-bustling East End corridor had declined over several decades, with a 60 percent vacancy rate along Broadway Street. The Local Chamber of Commerce hoped to see the neighborhood rise again as a pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use area. To promote its vision, the Chamber commissioned six murals celebrating local agricultural history. They also put up light pole banners and window clings with branding for the neighborhood and added benches, bistro tables and hanging planter baskets along Broadway Street. The Chamber then staged a historical walking tour, which garnered local news coverage and spurred the County historical association to consider designating the East End as an official historic district. In conjunction with these placemaking efforts, the Chamber launched a pop-up program for small businesses opening in the East End. Following that initiative, two of the participating decided to operate permanently in the neighborhood.