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Lemmon, SD
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: Staff at the Lemmon Public Library saw a need to reduce social isolation in town, particularly among older residents. To address this, they set out to improve the library's public gathering space. Project organizers created a new bakery cafe, purchasing folding tables with stacking chairs, an acrylic pastry cabinet, a cake cover and cupcake display, tablecloths and pump pots for coffee. Since the cafe's opening, the library has used new tables and chairs at hundreds of events and the space has accommodated pop-up shops. The opportunity to bake for the cafe led some residents to launch their own baking businesses and one retired baker was inspired to plan a workshop for women starting businesses. Sparked by the success of the cafe, library staff have since pursued other opportunities to expand community space, including providing library patrons with an outdoor area for reading and gathering.
Castleton-on-Hudson, NY
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2018
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: The Village of Castleton-on-Hudson regularly hosts a Repair Cafe event, where volunteers repaired any item brought to them, if possible. One problem: the event takes place on the second floor of a Village Hall, which has no elevator. This posed an accessibility issue -- locals often complained about climbing the building's difficult staircase. To solve this, the Village moved its Repair Cafe to Noyes Engine House. They also worked to activate a vacant lot next door, installing a community bulletin board, benches and planters onsite. The improvements support wider efforts to revitalize the village's downtown, with the goal of drawing more people to the central business district.
St. Paul, MN
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2018
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: This project installed a garden with native and pollinator-friendly plants at a local elementary school. Residents -- including a neighborhood Boy Scout troop -- pitched in to prepare the site and plant foliage. Community members have continued to tend to the garden since its installation. Spurred by the success of the garden, school staff area considering planting more native gardens in the future -- including rain gardens to absorb stormwater runoff.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Lynnwood, WA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023
Project Category: Transportation Systems Change
Description: This project will provide fare-free rides to older adults, making transit more accessible and affordable while also demonstrating the benefits of rural transit routes in underserved communities.
Seattle, WA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024
Project Category: Digital navigation skills
Description: This project will provide digital literacy classes to Latino immigrant workers. This will give lower-income residents access to computers and improve their technology skills, allowing them to access job opportunities.
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