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Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government (2017) Print
2017 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Public places
└ Park enhancements
└ Park enhancements
To give residents a comfortable space to hold a conversation, the Lexington Senior Center installed new accessible benches and raised planters in Idle Hour Park. Guided by a physical therapy student's research, which showed many people are uncomfortable twisting to converse with someone seated beside them, the benches sit in a U shape. This placement allows people to choose whether to sit next to or across from one another. Each seating area also includes extra space for a wheelchair user to join in.
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Crossville, TN
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025
Project Category: Park enhancements
Description: This project will revitalize Veterans Memorial Park with ADA-compliant features to honor veterans and ensure safe access for all, especially older adults. The project includes safe seating, a wider walkway, and a stable surface.
Savonburg, KS
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Park enhancements
Description: City leaders hoped to give Savonburg residents a park suitable for people of all ages. The City, in partnership with a local service club, added a quarter-mile walking trail, ADA-compliant picnic tables and benches to the park. Built next to a new children's playground, the additions allow intergenerational families to enjoy the public greenspace.
Bolton, CT
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022
Project Category: Park enhancements
Description: To help local older adults stay physically active, this project installed a new pickleball court behind Bolton's senior center. Volunteers also installed a bench onsite to give players and spectators a place to rest. Pickleball -- a fast-paced game combining elements of tennis and ping-pong -- is popular with older adults since is low-impact.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Lexington, KY
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022
Project Category: Developing projects based on residents' priorities
Description: To strengthen relations between grandparents and grandchildren, this project staged events at which attendees could plant trees and flower bulbs or buildfree mini libraries(or both) in locations across Kentucky.
Lexington, KY
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: Organizers with Seedleaf hoped to provide a more comfortable experience for the many older adults who maintain one of its free community gardens. To do this, Seedleaf provided ergonomic garden tools -- including shovels and trowels -- designed for people with arthritis to use. They also purchased portable, raised seats that gardeners can place alongside garden beds, as well as a foldable wagon to collect harvested vegetables and a shed to house the new tools. To provide a space for visitors to rest and socialize, the nonprofit worked with a local carpenter to build two sturdy, cedar benches.
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