Bethlehem, NY

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2018

Project Category: Trails

Description: The Mohawk Land Conservancy's Art on the Rail Trail sponsors art installations along the Albany County Helderberg-Hudson Rail Trail. The trail is popular with pedestrians and cyclists in warm weather and cross-country skiers and snowshoe hikers in the winter. To promote walking and biking, the Conservancy benches along the pathway and made repairs. Additionally, a new mural transformed a graffitied wall facing Hudson Avenue into a lush and pristine world of imagined creatures, according to artist Andrea Hersch.

Homer, AK

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019

Project Category: Trails

Description: To welcome visitors of all abilities, the Kachemak Heritage Land Trust installed large-font signage on its Poopdeck Platt property. Part of long-term efforts to create an accessible trail on the site, the signs display QR codes, which link to recordings of local people reading the sign text accompanied by soothing music. The park is in downtown Homer, and the trail connects Homer's Independent Living Center to nearby Bishop's Beach. Today, the property is home to a story walk and the local library has plans to expand the trail, with a focus on local indigenous history. Since installing the signposts, the Land Trust has referenced their design to inspire signage at kiosks along other trails.

Raytown, MO

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019

Project Category: Trails

Description: This project supported amenities for the new Rock Island Trail, which passes in front of the local Chamber of Commerce. The Raytown Chamber of Commerce Building Foundation installed two benches, a bike stand and a water fountain along the trail. They also hung a wall organizer in the building's lobby to display brochures featuring community information.