New York, NY

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020

Project Category: Capturing data and feedback from residents

Description: To gather data on the health impacts of noise pollution, New York University's Grossman School of Medicine installed sound sensors in Manhattan's Chinatown. Project organizers also created a bilingual website, which visualized the sensor data and featured a sound map and resources for self-guided sound walks. To inform the map, organizers made audio recordings of Chinatown residents talking about their experiences with noise. The Grossman School of Medicine then featured the information at the community's first Noise Forum, attended by policymakers and city agencies. Overexposure to noise is associated with health impacts such as anxiety, sleep disturbances and high blood pressure. Older adults face additional risks due to sensory changes that come with aging.

Frederiksted, VI

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022

Project Category: Community Gardens

Description: This project repaired damage to the historic Orchid House at the Garden by replacing the ridgepole and rafters, shade cloth and grillwork on the front of the building. It also updated the irrigation system.

Washington, DC

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017

Project Category: Engaging residents in vibrant public places

Description: The large concrete plaza near the Van Ness Metrorail Station was barren and lifeless. Calling themselves the Van Ness Social Club, a group of residents and local organizations got together to create a temporary town square onsite. They created an invitation that read, in part: Get to know your neighbors at a good old fashioned social. We'll meet each other on the plaza...and learn some dance steps...drink tea, eat cake, play games...and have conversations with each other. The gathering featured life-sized checkers, dancing, free ice cream and yoga. After the plaza party, the newly acquainted neighbors were filled with ideas for future gatherings: a community potluck, a clothing swap meet, relay races, birthday parties, game nights, pizza nights and a Halloween party.