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Goodwin College (2019) Print
2019 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Transportation
└ Trails
└ Trails
To improve its South Meadows Greenway trail network, Goodwin University created a wheelchair accessible picnic area. The University installed four picnic tables with seating in a location overlooking the Connecticut River. In collaboration with the East Hartford Senior Center, university officials then hosted trail walks with the goal of increasing healthy outdoor recreation for residents of the largely industrial City of East Hartford. Goodwin's campus is located on a former EPA-designated brownfield site, which the school cleaned up. Through its improvements to trails, the university hopes to improve livability in East Hartford.
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See More Projects Like This One
Poplar Bluff, MO
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023
Project Category: Trails
Description: The project will add a connector trail for walking and biking, enabling residents to get to the Mark Twain National Forest.
Manchester, NH
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Trails
Description: The local chapter of the Nature Conservancy hoped to make the Manchester Cedar Swamp -- a popular nature preserve within Manchester's city limits -- more accessible to visitors of all ages and abilities. To do this, the group built the 1.2-mile All Persons Trail, which they designed to be level and unsloping. The trail is wide enough to accommodate two wheelchairs or two people with guide dogs. To help people with low vision navigate, project organizers created an audio tour app in English and Spanish. The Conservancy also installed benches and interpretive signs along the path.
Jackson, MS
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024
Project Category: Trails
Description: This project will create hydration stations and rest areas along a walking and biking trail frequented by older adults. Planned amenities include new water bottle filling stations, benches, bike racks, trash cans and shade trees.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Hartford, CT
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Roadway/sidewalks/crosswalk improvement
Description: To draw more visitors to Colt Park, organizers with the Green and Blue Foundation hoped to make the area around the green space safer for pedestrians. Hartford's professional soccer team, the Hartford Athletic, hosts games at the park's stadium, the green space is otherwise underused. The Foundation joined with local partners and community leaders to host a walk audit to identify safety and aesthetic improvements that would make Colt Park more attractive to visitors. This project improved crosswalks near the park and installed traffic calming device, including speed bumps. Additionally, the Foundation beautified parking barriers, planted flower beds and added ADA-compliant benches.
Hartford, CT
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: KNOX rebuilt and upgraded the Hartford's Broad Street Community Garden to allow people of all ages and abilities to easily garden there. They added 22 raised garden beds, making plots more accessible to children, people with disabilities and older residents. Additionally, the organization hired a contractor to repair a garden fence and purchased a picnic table and a pergola -- a structure to create shade for gardeners. Since then, KNOX continues to create gardening opportunities for Hartford residents. The Hartford Courant reported in 2021 that KNOX manages 20 community gardens with a cumulative five acres of space. These include nearly 660 plots, each with an average size of 12 square feet.
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