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Hattiesburg Landmark Preservation (2021) Print
2021 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Public places
└ Park enhancements
└ Park enhancements
Duncan Lake Park in Hattiesburg's East Jerusalem neighborhood is popular with residents, yet many of the park's amenities were in disrepair. To give the park new life, Hattiesburg Landmark Preservation refurbished picnic tables with new tops featuring painted checkerboards. They also installed new benches, added a wheelchair-accessible sidewalk and created two murals depicting native plants and animals. Today, the park hosts free arts programming for residents of all ages.
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See More Projects Like This One
San Antonio, TX
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022
Project Category: Park enhancements
Description: Palomino Park offers older adults living in San Antonio's South Side a no-cost space to exercise. To help residents stay fit, the Alamo Colleges Foundation created a fitness trail by installing 12 pieces of fitness equipment along the park's walking loop. To shield visitors from the sun and allow them to exercise in the summer heat, volunteers also added a shade structure. Today, the park hosts fitness activities, including yoga sessions, lessons on proper stretching techniques and nutrition training. To reach more people, the sessions are streamed online. Organizers hope the fitness trail improves community members' physical and mental health for years to come.
Cutler Bay, FL
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017
Project Category: Park enhancements
Description: To encourage residents to exercise and socialize with one another, the Town of Cutler Bay added accessible exercise equipment - with a shade canopy to keep visitors cool -- to Cutler Ridge Park. Although Hurricane Irma damaged the park during installation, the new equipment now gives older adults the opportunity to improve their balance, strength, flexibility, range of motion and coordination. Project organizers say many older adults visit the park with their children and using the new fitness machines, which resemble playground equipment, can feel more like playing than exercising. Since the project's completion. the Town has installed similar fitness equipment at two other local parks.
Savonburg, KS
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Park enhancements
Description: City leaders hoped to give Savonburg residents a park suitable for people of all ages. The City, in partnership with a local service club, added a quarter-mile walking trail, ADA-compliant picnic tables and benches to the park. Built next to a new children's playground, the additions allow intergenerational families to enjoy the public greenspace.
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Hattiesburg, MS
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2026
Project Category: Park enhancements
Description: The local farmers market will add accessible parking, smoother paths, a bridge to nearby restrooms and a shaded cooling area at its new location. These changes will make it safer for older adults to shop for local food and stay comfortable.
Hattiesburg, MS
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022
Project Category: Park enhancements
Description: Midtown's only public park had broken basketball hoops, little seating and no vibrant features, limiting recreation and social connection. The project transformed the space with new basketball hoops, a professionally painted court mural, two large-scale murals and four age-friendly benches along the walking track. Colorful crosswalk art improved safety and visual appeal. The park now serves as a lively gathering space for all ages. "Revitalizing and beautifying neighborhoods and parks is important work... These additions represent the power of community and working together," said a local representative.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
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