Buffalo, NY

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022

Project Category: Engaging residents in vibrant public places

Description: The Dorothy J. Collier Community Center serves residents of all ages, providing free and low-cost meals, exercise classes, social events and more. Organizers with the center hoped to offer residents another option: monthly jazz events. Participants enjoyed performances by local school groups and jazz musicians, received music lessons and enjoyed food from different cultures. Additionally, they had the opportunity to meet and share their needs with local elected leaders, who attended each of the five Jazz Nights. The events allowed the center promote efforts to beautify the community center. Following, project organizers completed an indoor mural in the space. In addition to increasing civic and social engagement, organizers said the Jazz Nights helped the community heal from a traumatic event -- the monthly gatherings kicked off in the wake of a mass shooting in Buffalo and gave attendees space to experience joy and comfort each other.

Philadelphia, PA

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017

Project Category: Engaging residents in vibrant public places

Description: Among the goals of the Go, Go, Go: Making Our Community More Livable project was to enable Chinatown's residents to build friendships -- Go outdoors. Go be creative. Go make friends -- in a linguistically and culturally accessible way. One out of five Chinatown residents is an older adult and nearly 90 percent of those individuals have limited English proficiency. To help foster social connections, the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation offered free art classes, with local artists serving as instructors. The organization then created a pop-up Chinatown art gallery featuring work created in the classes. In addition, PCDC founded a community garden club. More than 150 people ranging in age from 3 to 87 participated in the activities. The PCDC hopes to continue offering free community at its Crane Community Center, which broke ground in 2017 -- the first space of its kind in Chinatown.

Lexington, KY

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022

Project Category: Engaging residents in vibrant public places

Description: Kentucky has one of the highest rates of grandparents raising grandchildren, yet resources for older caregivers are scarce. To address this, PCAK partnered with 10 Cooperative Extension Offices to host Grandparents Day events featuring activities like planting trees and building mini library boxes. Each event provided educational materials, including a new guide called "Parenting and Caregiving Over 50". The gatherings strengthened intergenerational bonds and created lasting improvements such as library boxes and landscaping. "Overhearing the conversations between the grandparents and the grandchildren was so positive... connections can be made in the simplest things," one organizer said.

Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.