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Placemaking US (2024) Print
2024 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Public places
└ Community Gardens
└ Community Gardens
This project will build a community comal -- or traditional griddle -- and engage older Meso-American women to revive the weekly tradition of tortilla making. This initiative will foster intergenerational connections and enhance the women's connection to the community.
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Palmer, AK
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: This project created raised gardening beds, designed to be accessible for gardeners who use wheelchairs. Volunteers constructed two dozen planter boxes and benches, which project organizers then set up in several locations, including at senior housing complexes community and senior centers, on a town main street and at a community garden. The project also created educational programming to teach older adult residents about adaptive and accessible gardening. Organizers say they hope maintaining the new planters will give people access to fresh food, as well as the opportunity to socialize.
Wilmington, DE
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: As part of its efforts to turn several vacant lots into the 7th and West Streets Park, the Wilmington Alliance (then known as the Wilmington Renaissance Corporation) created a community garden onsite. The Alliance constructed a storage shed and raised-bed gardens, along with two beds for blueberry and raspberry bushes. The shed has lighting, a community bulletin board and a countertop workspace for gardeners. To offer gardeners expertise and support, project organizers also recruited a neighbor to serve as farmer-in-residence. During planning for the new park -- located on a remediated brownfield site -- residents specifically requested a vegetable garden. Today, the garden makes up one-third of the park. The green space has become a staple in the community, and the neighbors have embraced the opportunities the garden presents, said Laura Semmelroth, director of creative placemaking.
Green Bay, WI
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: The project will create a landscaped garden for growing medicinal plants traditional to the Oneida Nation. Signage will describe each plants importance, history and use and community elders will harvest the plants for social and medicinal purposes.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Long Beach, CA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023
Project Category: Transportation Systems Change
Description: This program will provide rides for adults aged 55 and older who lack other means of transportation to essential services needed for their health and well-being.
Long Beach, CA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2018
Project Category: Roadway/sidewalks/crosswalk improvement
Description: During Walk Long Beach's inaugural Ranchos Walk -- a 9.4-mile hike -- more than 400 walkers laced up their shoes and strode along the city's high ridge. Event organizers set up temporary wayfinding signs and made improvements to a crosswalk to make it more visible. Meant to raise awareness about the benefits of walking for fitness and recreation, the event introduced participants to streets and neighborhoods that many had never seen before. Stretching from Rancho Los Alamitos in the southeast to Rancho Los Cerritos in the north, the walk's route showcased Long Beach's agricultural history: The area's two original ranchos date to the 1800s. Organizers initially anticipated half as many walkers to participate, but residents of all ages flocked to the challenge. In 2021, Walk Long Beach repeated the event with the theme of women in Long Beach history.
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