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Gibson Center For Senior Services with Age-Friendly Mount Washington Valley (2023) Print
2023 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Housing
└ Lifelong housing and accessibility
└ Lifelong housing and accessibility
The Gibson Center and its partners hosted a Safe and Smart Home Expo to help older adults explore practical ways to age in place. The event featured the "Smart Home on Wheels" as well as demonstrations of adaptive devices, safety checklists and universal design concepts. Hundreds of visitors learned about affordable technology, with one exhibitor noting, "Visitors were excited to hear how affordable and easy to use smart plugs are." The expo sparked ongoing conversations about livable housing and inspired plans for future demonstrations.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
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Tucson, AZ
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Lifelong housing and accessibility
Description: Like many communities, Tucson has struggled to meet the needs of older adults who want to age in place but lack the resources to stay in their homes. To address this, Tucson created a formalized home sharing program through a new organization, Tucson Home Sharing Inc. The organization has hired staff, formed relationships with county leaders, conducted public meetings, created promotional materials and built an online presence -- all with the goal of connecting older adults with younger roommates. The housemates can help with meal preparation, shopping, transportation, small home repair tasks and pet care. In exchange, they receive decreased or no rent. Organizers hope this decreases social isolation and increases the supply of the affordable housing within the community, enabling older adults to remain in their neighborhoods.
Washington, DC
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020
Project Category: Lifelong housing and accessibility
Description: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Iona Senior Services needed to transform its Aging Solo series from in-person classes to Zoom instruction. The popular series provides information, strategies and a supportive community to older adults who don't have a family support network. Iona offered the virtual classes for six weeks and -- to reach a larger audience -- recorded them for future sharing. The new online format allowed Iona to reach individuals who would not have been able to participate in person, and course leaders modified the curriculum to recognize the pandemic's impact on older adults. To expand the initiative's reach, project organizers also created and distributed an electronic discussion guide for use by faith communities, aging-in-place villages and other organizations.
Akron, OH
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024
Project Category: Lifelong housing and accessibility
Description: Summit County's housing crisis leaves families and older adults spending much of their income on shelter, limiting stability and aging in place. Habitat began building Silver Maple Ridge, a 16-home development with features like single-story layouts and blocking for grab bars. The project engaged more than 400 volunteers age 50-plus and educated 32 partner families. Three homes were completed and three more nearly so, and the effort prompted Akron's first new park in 40 years, adding green space for residents while creating long-term affordable housing.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
North Conway, NH
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025
Project Category: Engaging residents in vibrant public places
Description: Older adults in the rural North Conway community often faced isolation and limited access to programs that support healthy eating and social connection, especially for those living alone or on fixed incomes. Pope Memorial Library addressed this gap by building a fully functioning kitchen within its meeting space, allowing food-centered programs to take place on site rather than relying on meals prepared elsewhere. The kitchen supported nutrition education, shared meals and hands-on cooking classes that lowered barriers to participation. By cooking and eating together, older adults built routines around gathering and learning, not just attending events. Anchoring these programs in a permanent, accessible space strengthened the library's role as a reliable place for belonging and positioned it to sustain wellness programming that keeps older adults engaged over time.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
Conway, NH
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017
Project Category: Accessory dwelling units, tiny homes and manufactured housing
Description: In 2017, the New Hampshire legislature legalized the construction of accessory dwelling units throughout the state. To promote this age-friendly housing option, the Mount Washington Valley Housing Coalition created information about the benefits of ADUs. This included print resources, videos and in-person presentations, which they distributed throughout the 10 towns encompassing the Mount Washington Valley. "What was most gratifying were the responses from everyone who heard the multiple benefits of ADUs, realized their own properties could qualify, saw the possibilities for elderly parents, learned that the old regulations no longer applied and felt empowered to talk to their own planning board members to advocate for flexible and permissive interpretations of the law," a representative of the coalition said. Since launching the initiative, the coalition has worked to educate real estate agents about ADUs. The organization has since added a town-by-town guide to local ADU ordinances.
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