AARP Hearing Center
AARP Livable Communities Map
Project Food Forest (2020) Print
2020 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Public places
└ Community Gardens
└ Community Gardens
Project Food Forest installed three sculptural trellises at the Prairie Ally Outdoor Center. Home to the community's food forest, garden beds at the five-acre site feature edible and medicinal plants. To commemorate Luverne's agricultural history, artists constructed each trellis out of old farm and garden tools. Project organizers also added signs displaying the common and scientific names for plants in the forest, as well as two picnic tables. Located near downtown, the site is accessible by a popular biking and walking path. The forest is open to the public daily and the Outdoor Center offers guided tours and workshops onsite.
Photo Gallery
Image:
Click on a photo to learn more
See More Projects Like This One
Findlay, OH
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: This project will create an accessible garden area in a community garden with raised beds and gathering spaces designed for residents age 50-plus. It aims to promote food security and intergenerational engagement.
Houston, TX
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: Once a vacant lot, the Harry Holmes Healthy Harvest provides free access to garden beds for resident of Houston's Sunnyside neighborhood, a historically Black community. The Houston Land Bank wanted to improve the space to make it more welcoming to people of all ages and abilities. Volunteers built raised beds and installed solar lighting to allow gardeners to work after dark. They also created an accessible pathway, which is designed to be less muddy and slippery after rain. New fig trees at the garden's entrance beautify the space and provide fresh fruit. To celebrate the project's completion, the Land Bank hosted a community event, which promoted grandparents and grandchildren gardening together. At the event, organizers distributed information on financial literacy and affordable paths to homeownership.
Richmond, VA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2018
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: The Greater Richmond Age Wave Coalition hoped to beautify the Green Park neighborhood and foster relationships between neighbors. To do this, the nonprofit worked to provide community gardening opportunities to residents. To allow older adults to grow produce at home, the nonprofit built 25 garden boxes. Additionally, they created an outdoor courtyard space with raised garden beds at Highland Park Apartments. The Coalition hired local youth to construct and deliver the self-water boxes. The Coalition also held two community gardening events. To help people participate, they offset a portion of public transportation fares for attendees. The Age Wave Coalition's gardening efforts operate under the talent-sharing model, which connects experienced gardeners with people interested learning more about growing fruits, vegetables, flowers and herbs.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Sioux Falls, SD
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2018
Project Category: Bikeability
Description: A community health assessment showed Sioux Falls residents wanted better bike amenities to help them keep physically active. To support bikeability, the City installed benches and bike maintenance stations along a popular bike route. Additionally, the City installed two electric wheelchair charging stations at public library branches that sit along the bike path, allowing people of all ages and abilities to use it. If individuals have more opportunities to get on a bike and know there are amenities on the trail to make their ride more comfortable, they will likely increase their regular activity levels using a bike for recreation and for commuting, project leader Mary Michaels said. Organizers say the project also raised awareness about safety on the trail, as well as the community's accessibility needs.
Sioux Falls, SD
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020
Project Category: Roadway/sidewalks/crosswalk improvement
Description: The City of Sioux Falls hoped to encourage residents to consider active transportation -- walking and biking -- as a way to get around. To do this, the City created a quick-build infrastructure kit, which it used to install a temporary protected bike lane at one location and a curb bump-out at another. The bump out -- a safe extension of the sidewalk into the street -- makes pedestrians more visible to drivers and shortens the distance needed to cross the street. City planners gathered feedback from cyclists in the community, who suggested possible future locations for protected bike lanes. Because the infrastructure kit is mobile, the City hopes to deploy it elsewhere in the future.
LEARN MORE AND STAY INFORMED
Find articles and resources about making communities more livable for people of all ages
Download or order free publications from AARP Livable Communities
Sign up for the free, weekly, award-winning AARP Livable Communities eNewsletter
Don't see your community listed?
LEARN HOW IT CAN JOIN THE NETWORKConnect with your AARP State Office
AARP has offices in all 50 states as well as in the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
AARP Minnesota State Office
1919 University Avenue
Suite 500
St. Paul, MN 55104
United States