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Red Cloud Indian School (2021) Print
2021 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Community Health and Economic Empowerment
└ Addressing community health
└ Addressing community health
Organizers wanted to ensure the Red Cloud Indian School's weekly farmers market was welcoming to elders. The Pine Ridge Reservation is a food desert, but the market offers residents access to fresh produce, as well as ingredients for traditional foods, teas and medicines. To attract older adults to the market, they launched Elder Hours, which feature traditional cooking demonstrations and other educational offerings. They also added wayfinding signage to help elders navigate to parking spaces and seating near vendors, which market organizers specifically set aside for older adults. To help people transport their purchases, Red Cloud purchased branded tote bags, which they distribute to elders who visit the market. Project organizers hope the outreach efforts help decrease longstanding health disparities among tribal members.
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AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020
Project Category: Addressing community health
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Dora, AL
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023
Project Category: Addressing community health
Description: Inflation and the end of pandemic SNAP benefits left many older adults struggling to afford food, with demand for assistance soaring. Mission of Hope responded by distributing groceries to over 5,000 people and purchasing steel carts to help volunteers move supplies efficiently. About 100 volunteers were trained to pack and deliver food, easing strain and speeding service. For homebound clients, weekly deliveries brought more than meals-one wrote, "These red bags of goodies sure can cheer a fellow up... It's just like Christmas."
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
Howard County, MD
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Addressing community health
Description: Many Howard County residents experience food insecurity. To provide non-perishable groceries to families in need, the Indian Cultural Association of Howard County set up five Little Free Pantries in the towns of Columbia, Ellicott City and Woodbine. Volunteers stock the pantries twice a week, and each operates on a give-and-take basis. In the first year after their installation, the pantries supplied more than 3,000 pounds of food to residents.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Pine Ridge, SD
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023
Project Category: Addressing community health
Description: On the Pine Ridge Reservation, families often travel 90 miles for fresh food, fueling health disparities. To address this, the Community Farmers Market expanded a food sovereignty program with garden plots, cooking demos and cultural education. Elders taught students traditional planting and food preparation, while events featured produce sales and spaces for socializing. The market improved access to nutritious food and strengthened intergenerational ties. Students gained farming and business skills, and elders shared cultural knowledge. One attendee said the program "provides a space for elders, parents and children to come together," fostering pride and self-sufficiency.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
Pine Ridge, SD
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019
Project Category: Park enhancements
Description: The Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation created an accessible, multigenerational playground at its Regenerative Community Development. Ahead of construction the organization held engagement sessions to get input from community members. Organizers wanted to ensure the playground's design was rooted in the Lakota way of life and elements of the site symbolize different teachings and traditions. For example, the facility's shape emulates the He Sapa, of Black Hills -- the heart at the center of everything. Play structures at the site represent elements of the Lakota creation story. With its grand funding, the Corporation installed a sidewalk and benches, including a semicircular bench to serve as a storytelling area. The Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation works to improve the lives of residents of the Pine Ridge Reservation, with its Regenerative Community Development focusing on providing culturally appropriate physical spaces for liberation and healing.
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