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Providence, RI
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023
Project Category: Digital navigation skills
Description: This project will purchase laptops that older residents can use to learn about technology and the internet. It will also provide residents with support and instruction.
Chicago, IL
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019
Project Category: Innovative home maintenance, repair and support services
Description: As part of efforts to provide affordable housing in Chicago, Elevate Energy set out to help an older adult homeowner renovate her two-unit building. The owner would be able to safely age in place in one unit, while renting the other unit out to a family in need of affordable housing. The improvements focus on accessibility upgrades and addressing deferred maintenance -- making the building less costly to keep up in the future. Project organizers rewired the entire building and replaced the roof -- improvements that helped project organizers attract funding from other sources to complete the renovation. They hope to use this project as a case study to demonstrate the potential for two-flats to enable aging at place and provide below-market rental housing.
Nashville, TN
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: To help older adults age in place in their community, Rebuilding Together Nashville made improvements to three community spaces in the Bordeaux neighborhood. The nonprofit gathered feedback from residents to choose which spaces to update. At FiftyForward Bordeaux -- a senior center -- volunteers installed a shade structure, allowing visitors to comfortably gather outdoors. They also added a shed onsite and updated the center's interior, including painting and installing shelving. The Infinity Center is an after-school center that hosts children's theater and community classes. There, volunteers replaced windows, sealed water leaks and repaired a dilapidated deck. Finally, they helped Brooklyn Heights Community Garden transition from a group of raised beds to a full-scale urban farm. Volunteers demolished and moved old garden beds and prepared the site for a new pack and wash station, greenhouse and production garden.
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Salinas, CA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Accessory dwelling units, tiny homes and manufactured housing
Description: California's housing shortage has spurred the state to adopt legislation to encourage the creation of accessory dwelling units, with many local governments embracing the small housing type. The City of Salinas created bilingual educational materials and hosted virtual and in-person workshops on regulations, permitting requirements and benefits of ADUs. The City tailored each workshop to either contractors and builders or consumers, with child care and Spanish translation available for attendees. Afterwards, the City posted the materials and workshop videos on the city's website.
Santa Cruz, CA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017
Project Category: Accessory dwelling units, tiny homes and manufactured housing
Description: An increasing number of older adults are at risk of losing their homes. Common reasons include rising housing costs or homes that are unsuitable for aging in place. According to David Foster, executive director of Habitat for Humanity Monterey Bay, 300 families in the high-cost Santa Cruz area are income-burdened. To address this, Habitat for Humanity's My House My Home program builds aging-friendly accessory dwelling units. This project involved building an ADU attachment onto an older couple's home. That allowed the couple to rent out the unit, providing them with rental income that allowed them to remain in their home of 50 years. Grant funding also supported accessibility to the main house, including a new walkway and ramp, as well as low-water landscaping. They have the option to move into the ADU - which also includes accessibility features - if they choose to downsize in the future.
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