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Marion Gerrish Community Center (2019) Print
2019 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Public places
└ Public space activation
└ Public space activation
To encourage community bonding and intergenerational connections, the Marion Gerrish Community Center created an outdoor space for people to play games. The Center chose large games -- including cornhole, bocce, Jenga, Connect Four, Yardzee, Farkel, chess and checkers -- that would be easy to play and visible from the street. They made the area designated for the games level, ensuring it would be accessible and safe. The Center offers weekly times for older adults to play cornhole and bocce. Community members can sign out the games for use on the property and the Center also loans them out for local events, including Derry Fest, the Derry Farmers Market and the local police departments' National Nite Out.
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See More Projects Like This One
Glen Ullin, ND
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: The project will install permanent cornhole boards in outdoor public spaces, which will give residents of all ages a place to enjoy the popular game.
Orange County, FL
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: To promote safe, physical distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic, Curry Ford West created a pop-up park on a vacant lot. During a community event, two-hundred volunteers constructed a labyrinth onsite made of brightly painted recycled pallets. The park remained in place for a month. Project organizers say the park and labyrinth helped connect the community during a time when people were separated. They also report the pop-up project helped demonstrate to local government leaders the importance of community green space. In the future, Curry Ford West hopes to install more pop-up parks as part of its advocacy for more public spaces in Orlando.
Malvern, AR
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: Established in 2020, Malvern's Story Trail and Garden is a well-loved feature of the Malvern-Hot Spring County Library. This project expanded the story trail, improving the space with new planters, windproof easels for painting classes and the installation of a butterfly-shaped table and chairs. Additionally, the library distributed nearly 2,000 children's books, with library staff assembling baskets for summer reading program participants.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Londonderry, NH
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019
Project Category: Accessibility of amenities
Description: To increase accessibility in its public spaces, the Town of Londonderry installed ten park benches in the Town Common and adjacent Kent Allen Town Forest. This accessibility upgrade sparked additional work there, including drainage improvements and the addition of native plants to the forest. In addition, the local Girl Scout troop installed a story book trail at the site. Since adding the benches, the town has also seen increased trail usage.
Fremont, NH
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020
Project Category: Accessibility of amenities
Description: To make Memorial Park more accessible for older adults and residents with disabilities, the Town of Fremont built a ramp from the park's parking lot to the playing fields. Previously, visitors had to navigate a steep dirt path to reach the ballfields. A local Eagle Scout candidate led the project. After the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in 2020, the Town moved many indoor events to Memorial Park's ballfields, so people could attend safely in the open air and practice the social distancing.
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