Mobile, AL

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022

Project Category: Community Gardens

Description: When the Mobile Medical Museum added a medicinal garden to its campus, the space included a a wooden boardwalk. However, older adults and people with disabilities struggles to navigate the boardwalk. This project made the garden ADA-compliant. Organizers removed the boardwalk and repaved and widened a crumbling concrete path leading to the garden. The garden -- which features medicinal herbs -- hosts community events, as well as art and horticultural therapy classes for people with disabilities and their families.

Anchorage, AK

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025

Project Category: Community Gardens

Description: This project will add accessible garden beds, benches, and signage to its community gardens. This will support older adults with mobility challenges and provide education on food security and local food production.

Boston, MA

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025

Project Category: Community Gardens

Description: Wakullah Street Community Garden worked to remove access barriers that limited older adults from fully using a long-standing neighborhood garden. Uneven paths, limited seating and low lighting reduced safety and shortened visits, making it harder to gather and garden. The project cleared and reoriented pathways toward shared seating areas, added lighting and prepared the site for benches, internet access and a greenhouse. Older adults volunteered alongside neighbors to shape the upgrades and plan how the space should function. Early improvements increased participation and time spent in the garden, while planned additions position the space for longer hours and resident-led activities. The work supports safer access, stronger social connection and continued use of the garden as a shared community space.

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