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Rebuilding Together Nashville (2021) Print
2021 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Public places
└ Public space activation
└ Public space activation
To help older adults age in place in their community, Rebuilding Together Nashville made improvements to three community spaces in the Bordeaux neighborhood. The nonprofit gathered feedback from residents to choose which spaces to update. At FiftyForward Bordeaux -- a senior center -- volunteers installed a shade structure, allowing visitors to comfortably gather outdoors. They also added a shed onsite and updated the center's interior, including painting and installing shelving. The Infinity Center is an after-school center that hosts children's theater and community classes. There, volunteers replaced windows, sealed water leaks and repaired a dilapidated deck. Finally, they helped Brooklyn Heights Community Garden transition from a group of raised beds to a full-scale urban farm. Volunteers demolished and moved old garden beds and prepared the site for a new pack and wash station, greenhouse and production garden.
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Burlington, VT
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: This project will create an accessible outdoor seating area for older residents by repurposing several paved parking spaces near the local senior center and equipping them with bench seating, tables, chairs and planters for gardening.
Mansfield, OH
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: Mansfield's Carrousel District was cut off from the city's newly created Imagination District. To demonstrate the value of connecting the two downtown areas, the Richland Community Development Corporation created a temporary linear park along West Third Street. Organizers hoped the long, narrow park would double as a community gathering pace and pedestrian pathway. The CDC installed benches, pergolas and hammocks and outfitted. Volunteers laid down artificial turf and painted murals onto the pavement. To attract people to the space, the pop-up included activities including self defense classes, interactive art exhibits, children's storytimes, food trucks and live music performances. The two-week activation was part of the CDC's efforts to advocate for a permanent linear park, which organizers say will bring vibrancy to the Carrousel District and reintegrate it into the fabric of Mansfield's downtown.
South Bend, IN
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: Many older adults in South Bend have trouble connecting with their peers to engage in meaningful conversation. South Bend Heritage develops affordable housing for older adults and provides supportive services to facilitate aging in place. The organization transformed an alley that connects one of its apartment buildings to South Bend's downtown. The alley now features benches, picnic tables, lighting and grills. Since the improvements, the space hosts monthly events to encourage apartment residents and the wider community to gather and socialize.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Nashville, TN
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017
Project Category: Roadway/sidewalks/crosswalk improvement
Description: The Nashville Civic Center Design Center hosted the Nashville Neighborhoods Celebration at the intersection of 11th and Arthur Avenues. To showcase possibilities for public space there, organizers set up seating, street games and art installations. The gathering featured dance performances, food vendors and live music. Organizers wanted to ensure intersection upgrades aligned with Nashville's Walkike Master Plan. So they installed temporary streetscaping features, including vertical barriers to protect pedestrians crossing the street, signs to alert drivers to crosswalks, sensor lights and reflectors to increase visibility at night and bike lanes separated from traffic by planter boxes. At the event, residents had the opportunity to share their feedback on the improvements. Based on the pop-up efforts, the City permanently redesigned 11th street in 2019, adding a new bike lane. And since then, additional pop-up bike lane projects have informed permanent changes to downtown.
Nashville, TN
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022
Project Category: Bringing resident insight and volunteer power into local government
Description: This project cultivated leadership skills among people 50 or older at a series of lunch and learn events, helping them become more actively engaged in their neighborhoods.
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