Camp Hill, PA

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025

Project Category: Engaging residents in vibrant public places

Description: This Foundation sought to reduce barriers that kept older adults and people with disabilities from enjoying outdoor recreation, including transportation challenges, limited access to equipment and uncertainty about how to participate. The project created educational materials, trained volunteers, offered skill-building sessions and launched gear-lending libraries so residents could try activities without cost. Partnerships with local community centers helped provide transportation to parks and forests. These efforts increased participation and built confidence among older adults, while volunteers and partners learned how to support inclusive recreation. One participant noted that barrier-removal training sparked practical ideas that made nature feel more accessible.

Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.

North Conway, NH

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025

Project Category: Engaging residents in vibrant public places

Description: Older adults in the rural North Conway community often faced isolation and limited access to programs that support healthy eating and social connection, especially for those living alone or on fixed incomes. Pope Memorial Library addressed this gap by building a fully functioning kitchen within its meeting space, allowing food-centered programs to take place on site rather than relying on meals prepared elsewhere. The kitchen supported nutrition education, shared meals and hands-on cooking classes that lowered barriers to participation. By cooking and eating together, older adults built routines around gathering and learning, not just attending events. Anchoring these programs in a permanent, accessible space strengthened the library's role as a reliable place for belonging and positioned it to sustain wellness programming that keeps older adults engaged over time.

Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.

Baltimore, MD

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019

Project Category: Engaging residents in vibrant public places

Description: Sundays in the Street was originally a proposal to close two busy streets to vehicle traffic -- for only two Sundays each month. But after the COVID-19 pandemic shut down Baltimore, the car-free experiment became permanent. Project organizers set out bollards and large planters to block off two streets in the Fells Point neighborhood, turning the area into an open-air plaza. This created space for children to play, older adults to stroll and residents to gather safely. The site hosted outdoor dining, kids' activities and live music. Already underway in the spring of 2020, the initiative gave Baltimore a jump start and provided a model for other communities dealing with COVID-19 shutdowns.