Honolulu, HI

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017

Project Category: Engaging residents alongside thought leaders in problem solving

Description: An interactive exhibit at Children and Youth Day events educated young people about the importance of age-friendly cities. The event, held annually at the state capitol building, attracts 40,000 attendees each year. Students from a local high school created the virtual reality experience using the popular Minecraft video game. The virtual video presents a simulated tour of an age-friendly neighborhood. The student designers based the experience on a World Youth Congress workshop, where delegates conducted a walk audit of Honolulu's Chinatown. After donning their virtual reality goggles, Youth Day participants took a survey on age-friendly communities. In the years since, Age-Friendly Honolulu has continued to conduct walk audits and engage schools and youth groups in its advocacy work.

Seattle, WA

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017

Project Category: Engaging residents alongside thought leaders in problem solving

Description: Seattle's city government invited technology specialists, designers and older adults to take part in a weekend hackathon. Participants brainstormed ways to use public data and technology to understand the built environment and improve the lives of Seattle's older adult residents. The City offered cash prizes to teams with winning ideas. Team Pandora for Streets took home the top prize for their map that used unusual crowdsourced data to evaluate the urban environment, such as street-level smells and noises. Other winning projects used crowdsourced bus stop data to evaluate accessibility and visualized needed repairs to Seattle's sidewalk network. Part of the Age-Friendly Seattle initiative, the civic hackathon reflects Seattle's commitment to becoming a livable community for people of all ages and abilities, Candice Faber, the city's civic technology advocate, said.

Columbus, OH

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022

Project Category: Engaging residents alongside thought leaders in problem solving

Description: Central Ohio is home to a large Bhutanese migrant population. This project engaged women from this community, who often face linguistic isolation, economic barriers and mental health struggles. To help them gain independence and integrate into the community, the Bhutanese Community of Central Ohio held weekly classes and educational field trips. Participants learned how to access community resources -- including libraries, parks and museums. To help them get around, they also gained familiarity with the local public transportation system. "We have a place for us, like our birthplace in Bhutan," one participant shared. "We thank BCCO for this opportunity. We enjoyed it a lot. We would love to have this kind of program in future."