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St. Petersburg Housing Authority (2024) Print
2024 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Public places
└ Community Gardens
└ Community Gardens
This project will make a community garden accessible by constructing benches, an awning and raised beds for growing healthy, free food. The Housing Authority will also hold workshops on sustainable gardening, cooking and budgeting skills.
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See More Projects Like This One
Philadelphia, PA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: The Viola Street Community Garden has served the East Parkside neighborhood for half a century. But the garden faced challenges related to soil quality water access -- gardeners had to haul in water barrels from a fire hydrant down the block. And because the City owned the garden property, its future was uncertain. After Neighborhood Gardens Trust assumed ownership, they wanted to improve the space. The organization built raised beds, brought in fresh soil and installed a new irrigation system. Volunteers also laid down ADA-accessible pathways to accommodate gardeners of all ages and abilities. New fencing, as well as a picnic table and shade umbrella, made the space welcoming. Since the upgrades, the Trust has added new parcels to the garden's footprint. Organizers say the garden helps ensure food access for West Philadelphia families, helping heal disparities resulting from systemic racism and disinvestment.
Pablo, MT
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: This project created a greenhouse and an adjacent garden and supplied them with soil, cultivation materials and other necessities. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes gave the resulting produce to meal programs and individual families.
Luverne, MN
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: 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.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
St. Petersburg, FL
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017
Project Category: Roadway/sidewalks/crosswalk improvement
Description: The Florida Consumer Action Network Foundation temporarily transformed a street into a route capable of safely accommodating pedestrians, cyclists and motor vehicles all at once. The network saw the pop-up project as a way to build support among residents and business owners for Complete Streets. On a Sunday in October, they closed Central Avenue to vehicle traffic and installed four parklets. The parklets featured outdoor bookshelves, planers and seating, as well as a space to play bocce ball. In addition, project organizers added curb extensions at an intersection to slow traffic and narrow the crossing distance for pedestrians. While no vehicles were allowed on the road during the demonstration, the reconfiguration demonstrated pedestrian safety, even with traffic reintroduced. In 2019, the city approved a plan to redesign streets over the next two decades to accommodate cars, pedestrians and cyclists.
St. Petersburg, FL
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019
Project Category: Innovative home maintenance, repair and support services
Description: The Dream Center works with low-income families throughout Pinellas County, focusing on improving safety and livability for older adults in their homes. This project made home repairs and accessibility modifications to 25 houses, including widening doors and installing grab bars, chair lifts, wheelchair ramps, handrails and toilet seat lifts. Project organizers say these repairs shielded families from facing potentially expensive fines for code violations. The Dream Center also provided food assistance and hygiene items to older adults. Today the Center continues to provide home modification assistance through its Adopt A Block program.
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