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Mobile, AL

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022

Project Category: Community Gardens

Description: This project renovated walkways around the museum's community garden to make them fully ADA-compliant.

Chicago, IL

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020

Project Category: Community Gardens

Description: The El Paseo Community Garden in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood added a new gathering space, dubbed El Convivio or The Gathering. The goal of the project was to make the garden more accessible to Latino older adults living in nearby apartment buildings. Improvements to the space include an outdoor kitchen and patio with a fire pit, ADA-compliant seating, walking paths and an accessible planting station. Planters at the site were specifically designed to grow culturally relevant produce, including tomatoes, peppers, garlic and onions. The picnic area's stucco and ceramic tiles mimic designs seen in Mexican haciendas. Garden leaders partnered with nonprofit architectural firm Human Scale to involve garden members in the space's design and volunteers from the neighborhood installed the new amenities. As El Paseo's leadership finalized El Convivio, they also worked with the City of Chicago to secured additional land to expand the garden.

Brevard, NC

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022

Project Category: Community Gardens

Description: This project equipped Brevard's new community garden with raised beds. Additionally, volunteers installed benches in the garden, as well as in the nearby skate park and along the Estatoe Trail.

Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects

Hartford, CT

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021

Project Category: Roadway/sidewalks/crosswalk improvement

Description: To draw more visitors to Colt Park, organizers with the Green and Blue Foundation hoped to make the area around the green space safer for pedestrians. Hartford's professional soccer team, the Hartford Athletic, hosts games at the park's stadium, the green space is otherwise underused. The Foundation joined with local partners and community leaders to host a walk audit to identify safety and aesthetic improvements that would make Colt Park more attractive to visitors. This project improved crosswalks near the park and installed traffic calming device, including speed bumps. Additionally, the Foundation beautified parking barriers, planted flower beds and added ADA-compliant benches.

Hartford, CT

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020

Project Category: Park enhancements

Description: This project improved accessibility at Pope Park for older adults and people with disabilities. Project organizers installed ADA-compliant picnic tables with benches, designed to accommodate individuals using scooters or wheelchairs. The added amenities upgraded an area of the park with a play area and spray pool for small children. In this predominantly low-income neighborhood few homes have front or back yards, making Pope Park an important outdoor space for residents of all ages. Project organizers say the new seating highlighted a need for more accessible pathways in the park, which are now being designed.

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