Windham, CT

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023

Project Category: Community Gardens

Description: The project will create a community gardening program to help older adults grow food locally. It will enrich the design of a new green space at a senior center and will provide tools and weekly group sessions led by a master gardener.

Houston, TX

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023

Project Category: Community Gardens

Description: This project will turn vacant land into a community garden with eight raised beds. It will focus on growing vegetables common in Southeast Asian cuisine that are hard to find in supermarkets and grocery stores in Houston.

Salt Lake City, UT

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2018

Project Category: Community Gardens

Description: 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.