Toledo, OH

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020

Project Category: Public space activation

Description: To transform a vacant lot into a pocket park, Salem Lutheran Church installed benches at the site. Inspired by the improvements, community members contributed donations to construct concrete pads for the benches and add trash receptacles nearby. The Church also built a pergola to provide shade at a nearby bus stop, making it the only stop with shelter in the immediate neighborhood. Project organizers engaged local teenagers to help with installation, who volunteered alongside residents. Salem Lutheran Church has since continued its efforts to revitalize North Toledo, hosting a summer youth program to build a community garden for the neighborhood.

Seattle, WA

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019

Project Category: Public space activation

Description: To help the Southwest Seattle Senior Center become a safer and more inviting gathering space, organizers with Rebuilding Together Seattle made physical improvements to the facility. This included refurbishing handrails, demolishing a shed and replacing it with expanded ADA-compliant parking for members, repainting the building's faade and sprucing up landscaping. RTS used the project to promote its Open Volunteer Days, attracting people from the community to assist with the work. The Center serves an area of Seattle with the city's highest poverty rates and largest share of low-income residents. Project organizers said they hoped the improvements would help position the Center as a safe haven and community hub.

Raleigh, NC

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017

Project Category: Public space activation

Description: As part of efforts to set up a new community center at a donated house, the City of Oaks Foundation purchased furnishings and equipment to host events onsite. To get the property ready, the Foundation hosted several volunteer days, where community members helped restore trails and clear underbrush onsite. In the months that followed, programming at the Joslin House and Garden ranged from plein air painting, art showings, a nature event featuring live owls and other creatures, a mother-grandmother tea, gardening workshops and a lecture on World Way I history. Project organizers say these events -- and others -- have helped with fundraising efforts as work on the house and surrounding gardens continues. The Foundation estimates more than 400 visitors each year have attended events in the community space, with many others visiting to stroll the property.