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Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation (2017) Print
2017 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Public places
└ Engaging residents in vibrant public places
└ Engaging residents in vibrant public places
Among the goals of the Go, Go, Go: Making Our Community More Livable project was to enable Chinatown's residents to build friendships -- Go outdoors. Go be creative. Go make friends -- in a linguistically and culturally accessible way. One out of five Chinatown residents is an older adult and nearly 90 percent of those individuals have limited English proficiency. To help foster social connections, the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation offered free art classes, with local artists serving as instructors. The organization then created a pop-up Chinatown art gallery featuring work created in the classes. In addition, PCDC founded a community garden club. More than 150 people ranging in age from 3 to 87 participated in the activities. The PCDC hopes to continue offering free community at its Crane Community Center, which broke ground in 2017 -- the first space of its kind in Chinatown.
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New Orleans, LA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025
Project Category: Engaging residents in vibrant public places
Description: This project will rehabilitate a community center to create a public space for older adults. The center will include a computer lab for digital literacy, health and nutrition education, and activities to promote social connectedness.
Blaine County, ID
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Engaging residents in vibrant public places
Description: Like many places, Blaine County struggled with community connectedness and social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic. To combat this problem, The Senior Connection created the Wood River Valley Daffodil Festival. Over three autumn days, a multigenerational group of volunteers planted 30,000 daffodil bulbs at the Sawtooth Botanical Garden. As planned, the flowers blossomed during the festival, which took place the following spring. The volunteers included older adults, school classes, landscape companies and other community businesses. The festival -- which features food trucks, live music and garden tours -- is now an annual event.
North Conway, NH
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025
Project Category: Engaging residents in vibrant public places
Description: This project will enhance the library's meeting space with a working kitchen to support programs for older adults in order to combat isolation and improve access to nutritious meals for patrons age 50 and over.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Philadelphia, PA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019
Project Category: Resources about housing options, safety and services
Description: An eviction prevention pilot program enabled tenants and landlords to resolve disputes before they escalated to formal eviction filings. The City of Philadelphia's two-month program provided mediation, financial assistance, information and referrals to help landlords and tenants reach mutually agreeable, out-of-court solutions. To do this, the City worked with partner agencies to train 10 experienced mediators in landlord-tenant law. The program also set up meetings between tenant advocates and tenants prior to mediation to assess their situation and offer advice. All participating landlords and tenants reported they were satisfied or extremely satisfied with the pilot. Moving forward, the City plans to use the results of this pilot as a model for a 12-month mediation program. In the long term, the City expects to see fewer evictions, reduced displacement and cost savings for landlords, property managers and the local homeless services system.
Philadelphia, PA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024
Project Category: Housing Choice Design Competitions
Description: Philadelphia's shortage of affordable housing and restrictive zoning left older adults with few options to age in place. The Discovering Philadelphia's Missing Middle project engaged residents through workshops and surveys to shape designs for accessory dwelling units and other housing types. It also hosted a citywide design competition to spark dialogue. The effort raised awareness, produced advocacy materials and built momentum for policy reform. One steering committee member said, "Convenings like this are essential...we need this type of comprehensive thinking in Philadelphia."
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