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Urban Phoenix Project (2025) Print
2025 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Transportation
└ Pedestrian Safety
└ Pedestrian Safety
This project will use GIS technology to map shaded walkways, transit hubs, and key services. This will improve mobility, housing access, and resource navigation for older adults.
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Baltimore, MD
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025
Project Category: Pedestrian Safety
Description: Mount Clare Community Council addressed unsafe sidewalks that made everyday walking difficult for residents, particularly older adults and people with disabilities who rely on foot travel to reach bus stops, gardens and nearby services. Years of deferred maintenance had left cracked pavement, missing curb ramps and hazardous waiting areas along key routes. The Council completed targeted repairs to more than 1,200 square feet of sidewalks, including rebuilding an ADA ramp, fixing sidewalks in front of homes owned by retired residents and improving access at a busy bus stop and a community garden. The work removed long-standing trip hazards and restored code-compliant access where it was most urgently needed. One retired homeowner sent a brief message of thanks after the sidewalk in front of her home was fixed. The project made daily trips safer and supported ongoing efforts to secure broader, city-led sidewalk improvements.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
San Antonio, TX
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2026
Project Category: Pedestrian Safety
Description: The project will improve lighting along walkways throughout Tower Park. Better visibility will reduce fall risk and help people feel safer walking during evening hours.
Northport, AL
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025
Project Category: Pedestrian Safety
Description: A busy roadway crossing along Rice Mine Road made it difficult and risky for people on foot to reach a shared-use trail and nearby destinations. Older adults often avoided the crossing because of traffic speed and driver behavior. The City of Northport upgraded the crossing with new high-visibility striping and solar-powered flashing beacons. The city also hosted a public demonstration that encouraged residents to test the crossing and share feedback. The changes improved confidence among older adults, and community input is guiding additional trail and walking improvements.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Phoenix, AZ
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: This project created waist-high, raised-bed planters for the Society of St. Vincent De Paul's urban farm. Designed to hold up in the Arizona sun and heat, the raised beds sit at the farm's entrance. Project organizers also planted shade trees and installed benches to better serve the garden's older adult volunteers and people with disabilities. A new chalk board also helps remind garden volunteers about progress on day-to-day tasks. Project organizers report that since the upgrades, many older volunteers have renewed interest in working in the garden.
Phoenix, AZ
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022
Project Category: Expansion and enhancement of transportation options
Description: In Phoenix, many older adults lack public transportation options and must rely on cars to get around. But organizers with Elaine report that many older adults -- and especially Black and Latino/a individuals -- don't drive or own their own cars. To address this, the nonprofit offered free, on-demand rides to medical appointments, job and housing interviews and errands, such as grocery shopping. Elaine provided more than 300 rides to unhoused and low-income older adults. The organization's drivers also received training to assist their passengers with shopping, paperwork and help them tackle the community's social support systems. Organizers report the rides specifically helped two older adult client secure stable housing.
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