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Knowledge Quest (2021) Print
2021 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Public places
└ Community Gardens
└ Community Gardens
To help more South Memphis families access fresh food, Knowledge Quest made upgrades the hydroponic system at its Green Leaf Learning Farm, installing fifty new grow towners onsite. The infrastructure improvements allow the three-acre urban farm to produce more vegetables, which Knowledge Quest makes available to local lower-income families. Project organizers say the farm's increased capacity also allows them to offer more farming and nutrition education programming, which helps community members become more self-reliant. Today the farm is an agritourism destination, hosting school field trips related to beekeeping, vegetable growing, aquaponics, green building and more.
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Green Bay, WI
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: The project will create a landscaped garden for growing medicinal plants traditional to the Oneida Nation. Signage will describe each plants importance, history and use and community elders will harvest the plants for social and medicinal purposes.
Newport, NH
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: This project turned a vacant lot into a dog park and community garden, both fully ADA accessible, with walkways, benches and raised-bed gardens.
Albany, NY
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: The Underground Railroad Education Center constructed an accessible, indoor garden in the Arbor Hill neighborhood, whose residents lack access to fresh produce and gardening space. Designed for year-round use, the new hoop house represents an intergenerational collaboration between younger and older adults. Local teenagers created and installed planters and now help grow food there. Albany businesses and volunteers also contributed to the project by building benches for the site. Today, the Center grows produce, such as lettuce, in the greenhouse, which it donates to people in the community.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Memphis, TN
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2018
Project Category: Roadway/sidewalks/crosswalk improvement
Description: The City of Memphis hoped to encourage residents of the Crosstown neighborhood to walk. They replaced and repaired sidewalks at the Lewis Center, the local senior center. To encourage people to use a new urban walking trail, the City also installed signage directing people to the path. A designated rest stop along the trail includes benches and planters, giving walkers a place to stretch, rest and socialize. Future plans include upgrades to crosswalks at the neighborhood senior center, as well as accessibility improvements at other public facilities and outdoor spaces. The Lewis Center also hopes to convene walking groups, giving older adults the opportunity to exercise in a social setting.
Memphis, TN
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024
Project Category: Entrepreneurship and improved economic resilience
Description: This project will provide free personal will and estate planning services to older adults unable to afford private attorneys. The goal is to ensure participants' homes and assets are passed down to the intended recipients.
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