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Liberty, KY
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: The library will create a story walk -- a series of displays along an accessible path designed to display pages from a storybook. The project responds to local grandparents' requests for more activities they can do with their grandchildren.
Ashland, WI
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: A survey showed residents in Ashland wanted more outdoor seating in the city's downtown. As part of larger efforts to revitalize the commercial district the City worked with Ashland Main Street to install decorative benches. The City engaged teams of artists -- including college students and staff from the local food co-op -- to design artwork for the seating. Then, with the help of volunteers, project organizers then installed one bench on every block of Ashland's nine-block commercial area. Each depicts imagery related to the community's identity, including scenes from local history or ecology. Paying homage to nearby Lake Superior, several benches have a water theme. Project organizers say Ashland is known as the mural capital of Wisconsin, and the benches work with other public art installations to draw people to visit downtown.
Veneta, OR
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: During the COVID-19 pandemic, staff at the Fern Ridge Public Library were determined to offer a safe outdoor space for residents to congregate. When a large, centuries-old Heritage Oak tree fell on library grounds, they took the opportunity to construct a courtyard, enlisting local artists to create benches from the tree's wood. To make the space inviting, volunteers planted native Oregonian plants and laid down gravel to create an accessible pathway. What had been a weed-covered yard became a peaceful seating area for casual meetings, quiet reading and public performances.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Kansas City, KS
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: This project will revitalize an underused community garden to provide organic, free produce and a space for educational programming. The neighborhood association will install irrigation, build sheds, spray fruit trees, rehab raised beds and compost garden waste.
Kansas City, KS
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024
Project Category: Accessibility of amenities
Description: The county will install benches at several locations across Kansas City, Kansas, including at bus stops, parks and social service facilities.
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