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Salt Lake County Aging and Adult Services (2018) Print
2018 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Public places
└ Community Gardens
└ Community Gardens
Salt Lake City's Taylorsville neighborhood is home to refugee families from Syria, Myanmar and Afghanistan. Many new residents, however, struggle with social isolation. To help people feel connected, Salt Lake County created a community garden at the local senior center. Volunteers built four raised beds and the County provided ergonomic gardening equipment, seeds and starter plants. Project organizers say the opportunity to garden gives older adults -- who were often farmers and ranchers in their native countries -- a renewed sense of purpose. Gardening also allows them to form relationships with their neighbors.
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Lansing, MI
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019
Project Category: Bikeability
Description: The Allen Neighborhood Center installed a bike repair and air station in Hunter Park, Lansing's second busiest park. Located in a low-income neighborhood, Hunter Park's repair station provides tools to residents who may not otherwise have access to them. The station sits next to a bus stop, providing easy access to riders who ride their bikes to and from their bus rides. The Allen Neighborhood Center has hosted bike repair trainings and project organizers report many cyclists regularly make repairs using the tools.
Jackson, KY
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: This project will turn a flooded green space into a community gardens with raised beds, buckets and an accessible bench. Local senior centers will be invited to use the raised beds for educational classes and outings and produce grown in the garden will be distributed to the community.
Rushville, IL
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: This project will turn a vacant lot into a wheelchair-accessible community garden with 25 raised flower and produce garden beds for group therapy, educational and mindfulness sessions. All produce will go to a 24-hour community food pantry for those in need.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Salt Lake City, UT
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022
Project Category: Bringing resident insight and volunteer power into local government
Description: This project established a transportation committee within the Glendale Neighborhood Council to plot a course on issues related to transportation in Glendale and more.
Salt Lake City, UT
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017
Project Category: Engaging people in transportation options/safety
Description: The Transit Together initiative invited residents at two low-income, older adult communities to use public transit to get to the grocery store. Over the course of three weeks, project organizers assisted groups of older adults -- including those with mobility issues -- as they navigated the Trax light rail system's routes and fare collection system. To help them run errands via transit, the County Aging and Adult Services office offered each participant a grocery caddy and a monthly senior transit pass. At the end of the program, 22 out of 32 participants reported they would use public transit in the future. In addition, several volunteer-resident pairs planned to continue making grocery trips together. Project organizers report that other service providers throughout Utah have since reached out to find out how they can implement similar educational programs in their communities.
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