Manchester, CT

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024

Project Category: Community Gardens

Description: This project will transform five parking spaces into a community garden for six months each year. Three new raised garden beds will allow gardeners to grow fruit and vegetables for a food pantry and soup kitchen.

Brevard, NC

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023

Project Category: Community Gardens

Description: The project will expand a community garden for Hispanic families by adding a 50-foot-by-50-foot patch of tilled rows. Cooking, exercise, and gardening classes will augment the physical improvements.

Indianapolis, IN

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021

Project Category: Community Gardens

Description: Indianapolis' Far Eastside neighborhood needed accessible, public green space. Keep Indianapolis Beautiful partnered with the Community Alliance of the Far Eastside to transform a vacant lot into a community orchard with native shade trees, benches, accessible pathways, nature play space and public art. The orchard and green space, which are adjacent to a community center, also feature raised garden beds, fruit trees, native shrubs and more than 700 native perennial plants. Educational signage informs visitors about the benefits of playing in nature and the role of native plants.