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Elkhorn, WI

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024

Project Category: Public space activation

Description: This project will create a dementia-friendly park, focusing on the needs of older adults and downtown workers. Plans include quiet areas for reflection, seating areas for socializing and entertainment spaces.

Baltimore, MD

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022

Project Category: Public space activation

Description: This project helped activate an alleyway by creating an Outdoor Community Library and installed an artistic metal gate to secure it. The Urban Oasis uses the space to host story times with older adults reading to local students.

East St. Louis, IL

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021

Project Category: Public space activation

Description: As part of its efforts to boost public transit use and spart economic development around transit stations, Citizens for Modern Transit activated the Emerson Park light rail and bus station in East St. Louis. To choose a theme for the station and ensure the new amenities would meet the community's needs, project organizers held design workers and other community engagement events. They then installed new seating, shade structures and a sound system to pipe music into the space. A local artist collaborated with community members to create pavement art and a mural, which pay tribute to the area's musical history. Organizers say they hope the new space promotes creative play, cultivates community and encourages people to ride public transit.

Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects

Rock Hill, SC

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023

Project Category: Public space activation

Description: This project will create a pollinator garden at the Northside Recreation Center, which will provide residents with an opportunity to learn about the benefits of pollinator gardens and how to care for them.

Rock Hill, SC

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025

Project Category: Lifelong housing and accessibility

Description: The Housing Development Corporation addressed home safety risks that made it harder for older adults to remain in their homes as mobility needs changed. Limited access to small but critical modifications, such as bathroom supports and safe entryways, increased fall risk and daily strain. The project installed grab bars and transition mats in several homes, with volunteers assisting to ensure installations were safe and functional. The work also launched an "Aging in Place" program and established partnerships with local groups to help identify needs and extend outreach. One homeowner shared, "Now that I have the grab bar, it makes it much easier to get my husband and his wheelchair in and out of our home." These immediate improvements made daily tasks safer while creating a framework for ongoing home accessibility support beyond the initial installations.

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