See More Projects Like This One

Ellsworth, WI

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019

Project Category: Public space activation

Description: Ellsworth's once-bustling East End corridor had declined over several decades, with a 60 percent vacancy rate along Broadway Street. The Local Chamber of Commerce hoped to see the neighborhood rise again as a pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use area. To promote its vision, the Chamber commissioned six murals celebrating local agricultural history. They also put up light pole banners and window clings with branding for the neighborhood and added benches, bistro tables and hanging planter baskets along Broadway Street. The Chamber then staged a historical walking tour, which garnered local news coverage and spurred the County historical association to consider designating the East End as an official historic district. In conjunction with these placemaking efforts, the Chamber launched a pop-up program for small businesses opening in the East End. Following that initiative, two of the participating decided to operate permanently in the neighborhood.

West Memphis, AR

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019

Project Category: Public space activation

Description: The town of West Memphis hoped to promote community connections, cycling and walking. To achieve this, the town set up three parklets in its Main Street District, located near an expanded bike trail that links West Memphis with neighboring Memphis, Tennessee. Parklets -- mini street oases created in the footprint of a parking space -- provide places to sit, talk and gather. The West Memphis parklets each feature LED lighting and public art. Sculptures created from donated bicycles distinguish two of the parklets. The other parklet features new wooden benches and an oversized sculpture of a guitar, meant to pay homage to the town's musical heritage.

Dade City, FL

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024

Project Category: Public space activation

Description: This project will add picnic tables to areas frequented by older residents. The new tables will be sturdy and ADA compliant and allow residents to gather and enjoy time in nature.

Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects

New Orleans, LA

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022

Project Category: Bikeability

Description: To improve bikeability in New Orleans' Algiers neighborhood, this project added bike racks, a bicycle repair station and decorative lighting along a three-block section of Kabel Drive, the area's major commercial corridor.

New Orleans, LA

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022

Project Category: Lifelong housing and accessibility

Description: Part of a larger effort to construct four affordable, ADA-accessible townhouses, this project installed a wheelchair lift in one home.

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