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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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See More Projects Like This One
Mounds, IL
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022
Project Category: Park enhancements
Description: The City of Mounds made accessibility improvements to its City Park to ensure the space is welcoming to people of all ages and abilities. This included outfitting restrooms to be ADA-compliant, adding a ramp to the park's gazebo and installing benches and picnic tables with shade umbrellas.
Gastonia, NC
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025
Project Category: Park enhancements
Description: The Highland neighborhood lacked a safe outdoor space for older adults, as overgrown land and debris limited use of the existing garden. Keep Gastonia Beautiful expanded the garden by clearing the wooded area, adding accessible raised beds, installing ADA-friendly paths and placing new seating and fencing. Volunteers helped build structures and prepare the site while community workshops encouraged participation. The improvements increased safety, supported gardening and social activities and laid the groundwork for long-term features like shade structures and art installations. These are expected to strengthen the space as a gathering place for older adults.
Manchester, NH
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025
Project Category: Park enhancements
Description: Queen City Bicycle Collective addressed safety and access barriers that discouraged older adults from biking or walking in public parks. Limited bike parking, visibility concerns and fear of theft made active travel feel risky. The project installed new bicycle racks in parks and distributed free locks, lights and rechargeable high-visibility vests and sashes. The additions helped residents feel safer and more confident using parks for walking and biking. One older adult said the vest improved his visibility and made daily walks feel safer.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
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.
Hazard, KY
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022
Project Category: Addressing community health
Description: This project installed equipment, including workbenches, a 3-D printer, pipe benders and a drill press, to bolster a program in which volunteers refurbish used medical equipment and adapt toys to aid people with disabilities.
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