Carson City, NV

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019

Project Category: Public or private transit access

Description: Organizers at the Brewery Art Center hoped to improve accessibility at a nearby bus stop. So they installed new lighting and benches at the site, allowing more residents to take advantage of public transportation to get them to the Center's events, classes and galleries. Project organizers also worked with the local transportation department to increase transit service hours during the Center's events. These accessibility improvements enabled the Center to offer new programming for older adults, including a rock choir called School of Rock, Senior Years. Additionally, grant funding allowed for the restoration of a mural painted in the 1990s, which depicts the family who ran the Carson Brewery Company.

Chula Vista, CA

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2018

Project Category: Public or private transit access

Description: The City of Chula Vista wanted to increase older adults' familiarity with public transit options. Partnering with the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System, they held Travel Training 101 courses with more than forty older residents. Instructors provided trainees with information on how to read transit schedules, plan trips and purchase fares. Then they held field trips, using transit to visit a community festival and the Norman Park Senior Center. Additionally, participants received a 30-day senior transit pass. Following the training, participants said they felt more comfortable using transit, with 83 percent planning to renew their passes. One said she realized that the 20-minute bus ride between their home and the Senior Center saved her 62 a month. Previously she paid 40 round trip by taxi at least twice monthly.

Elsa, TX

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2018

Project Category: Public or private transit access

Description: People using the local bus service in Elsa had no designated bus stop facilities. To catch a bus, residents could stand on the side the highway and wave -- an unsafe situation on the area's busy roads. To make waiting for public transit safer and more comfortable, the City set out to add bus shelters along State Highway 107.