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2018 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
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Public places
└ Community Gardens
└ Community Gardens
The JOY (Just Older Youth) Center's staff saw a need to build connections and prevent loneliness. To do this, the Center added a new community garden. Engaging the expertise of a local gardener, Center staff built elevated garden beds, designed to be easier on aging knees than ground-level plots. They also purchased seedlings for the space. Today, the garden isn't just producing broccoli and collard greens. Project organizers say the garden is also a nurturing place for older adults to get together, socialize and learn new skills. And over the growing season, nearly 100 community members worked in the gardens.
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San Francisco, CA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2018
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: When the Florence Fang Asian Community Garden opened in the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood in 2014, it focused on serving Asian immigrant elders and filled a need for green space and fresh food. This project expanded the garden, adding 3,000 square feet of gardening space and making it the second largest urban farm in San Francisco. The additional space allowed gardeners to try new techniques -- such as row planting -- that increased the garden's yields. Additionally, organizers upgraded the garden's compost system and set up beehives to help with pollinating crops. The larger harvest allowed garden organizers to distribute four tons of produce annually to local families in needs, including culturally relevant foods such as bok choy and Chinese chives.
Billings, MT
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: Older gardeners struggled with heavy clay soil and low beds, making gardening painful and limiting produce donations to food pantries. The garden added four tall raised beds, five fruit trees and drip irrigation systems. It also put in kneeler benches and hose hangers to reduce strain and improve safety. These upgrades let older adults keep gardening and boosted donations of fresh vegetables. One gardener said moving to a raised bed let her continue gardening despite physical limitations, while others praised the ease and sense of community the improvements provide.
Juneau, AK
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: Steep terrain and thick tree cover make gardening in Thane difficult, limiting residents' ability to grow their own food. To address this, organizers with the Thane Community Garden Association found a flat, sunny piece of land at an unused hatchery -- perfect for a new garden. Part of larger efforts to create small community gardens throughout the area, this project added accessible garden beds, fencing and a tool shed to the site. Organizers say the space will support the Association's education program, which teaches residents about gardening and nutrition. One resident said the garden is "going to change the nature of Thane for the good."
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Florida City, FL
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: Food insecurity in Florida City left many residents, including older adults, without reliable access to fresh produce or safe spaces to connect. Sprout Up introduced aeroponic gardening, creating a shared garden where volunteers grow fruits and vegetables for community fridges and choice pantries. The project not only improves food access but also fosters social ties and a sense of purpose. "Being able to come to the garden and have someone to talk to has really made me feel less alone," said one participant.
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.
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