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Hawaii Age-Friendly with Hawaii Pacific College Business Initiative (2017) Print
2017 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Public places
└ Engaging residents in vibrant public places
└ Engaging residents in vibrant public places
The Age-Friendly Honolulu initiative launched Kind2Kupuna, a public awareness campaign to help shops, restaurants, health care providers and other public-facing businesses better serve older adults. While preparing the campaign, Age-Friendly Honolulu found the most common complaints kupuna had about shopping were difficulties reaching items on shelves, poor customer service and employees failing to smile or not making eye contact. To address these issues, they created a poster featuring ten culturally appropriate tips, including start with aloha, be mindful of memory loss, step into their shoes and make it readable. "A workforce that is more aware and equipped to accommodate physical and cognitive changes with age will be better able to support older adults in many ways, both big and small," Hawaii Pacific University Vice President Sam Moku said.
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Glasgow, MT
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025
Project Category: Engaging residents in vibrant public places
Description: This project will build Montana's first outdoor fitness court, providing free physical fitness access. The court will encourage healthy habits and be accessible 24/7, benefiting older adult residents and those with disabilities.
Wichita, KS
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017
Project Category: Engaging residents in vibrant public places
Description: The Wichita Public Library and Bike Walk Wichita launched three historical walking tours, which can be accessed through a smartphone app. It's all about inspiring curiosity in people about their hometown. According to Jeff Flor of the Downtown Development Corporation, Wichita has a lot of stories to tell, from the drugstore sit-in during the Civil Rights movement to the now-gone Victory Arch honoring World War I soldiers. To promote the app, library staff and volunteers participated in an open streets festival while wearing t-shirts with the message Ask me how to travel time.
Philadelphia, PA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017
Project Category: Engaging residents in vibrant public places
Description: Among the goals of the Go, Go, Go: Making Our Community More Livable project was to enable Chinatown's residents to build friendships -- Go outdoors. Go be creative. Go make friends -- in a linguistically and culturally accessible way. One out of five Chinatown residents is an older adult and nearly 90 percent of those individuals have limited English proficiency. To help foster social connections, the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation offered free art classes, with local artists serving as instructors. The organization then created a pop-up Chinatown art gallery featuring work created in the classes. In addition, PCDC founded a community garden club. More than 150 people ranging in age from 3 to 87 participated in the activities. The PCDC hopes to continue offering free community at its Crane Community Center, which broke ground in 2017 -- the first space of its kind in Chinatown.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Honolulu, HI
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2018
Project Category: Micromobility enhancements/management
Description: When Bikeshare Hawaii launched its Biki bikeshare program, it found that older adults were not using the resource at the same rate as younger people. In response, it invited Hawaiians age 50 and older to sign up for Biki Social Rides. The rides, held in partnership with Blue Zones Hawaii and the Hawaii Bicycling League, included a tutorial on how to use the Biki app to find stations. Instructors also showed riders how to dock and undock the service's turquoise bicycles. Additionally, Bikeshare Hawaii provided each participant with a helmet and a trial Biki membership.
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.
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