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Davis, WV
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: An unused section of campus offered no space for growing food or community engagement. The project transformed it into a garden with 20 raised beds and four accessible benches, successfully producing potatoes and garlic on land once used for coal mining. The garden is now a permanent feature supporting education and local agriculture, with plans to expand crops for families and the food bank. "It was incredible to see our potato harvest just a few months after planting," one participant said.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
Hudson, NH
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: Nashua has a large migrant population from Zambia, Burundi and Honduras, many of were farmers in their native counties. The ReGeerative Roots Association hoped to give them the opportunity to use their skills in their new home. The organization's ReGen Roots program, which provides free community garden plots to immigrant families. To give more families the opportunity to grow culturally familiar foods, this project expanded the garden's footprint by two acres. Participants can sell any extra produce, supplementing their household income. Additionally, community garden members donate ten percent of their peak harvest to two nonprofits that combat food insecurity in Nashua.
Byhalia, MS
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: Older adults in Byhalia needed a safe, inviting space to relax and connect. The project repaired sidewalks and added raised garden beds around a new three-acre orchard, creating a setting for gardening workshops, cooking classes and social activities. Fresh produce and fruit trees now provide healthy food, while the garden offers a serene environment for older adults and families. This space has become a hub for engagement and wellness, inspiring plans for additional community gardens and orchards to strengthen local connections.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
East Lansing, MI
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020
Project Category: Activities that address social isolation and facilitate community connections
Description: Michigan State University's AgeAlive initiative hosted free weekly, virtual lectures for more than 300 older adults. Speakers -- who included Michigan State professors and students -- shared their research on a range of topics, including social media, gene editing, gentrification and the transatlantic slave trade. In addition, the University purchased Virtual Senior Center subscriptions, which provide older adults with access to hundreds of lifelong learning classes. To combat social isolation, they also launched the Senior Ambassador Program, which matches students with older adults for weekly virtual social visits.
Lansing, MI
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019
Project Category: Bikeability
Description: The Allen Neighborhood Center installed a bike repair and air station in Hunter Park, Lansing's second busiest park. Located in a low-income neighborhood, Hunter Park's repair station provides tools to residents who may not otherwise have access to them. The station sits next to a bus stop, providing easy access to riders who ride their bikes to and from their bus rides. The Allen Neighborhood Center has hosted bike repair trainings and project organizers report many cyclists regularly make repairs using the tools.
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