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Village of Middleburgh (2017) Print
2017 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Public places
└ Public space activation
└ Public space activation
To make its parks and business district more accessible to a wide range of people, the Village of Middleburgh installed six benches and two multi-use tables. Village staff report those benches and tables proved useful during the COVID-19 pandemic when they provided older adults with a place for safe, outdoor activities. The project also attracted additional private and nonprofit donations for future improvements in Middleburgh and inspired plans for other accessibility projects, such as adding a wheelchair lift to the village hall.
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Fort Lawn, SC
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: This project installed ADA-compliant picnic tables and a gazebo with porch-type swings in the town's mini park, as well as benches for its walking track. Franklin County Master Gardener Volunteers also created concrete walking paths at both locations.
Baltimore, MD
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: This project helped activate an alleyway by creating an Outdoor Community Library and installed an artistic metal gate to secure it. The Urban Oasis uses the space to host story times with older adults reading to local students.
Lemmon, SD
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024
Project Category: Public space activation
Description: A new, accessible parklet will create a gathering space outside the Palace Theater that is welcoming to older adult patrons and people with disabilities. Amenities -- including a new ramp and bench seating -- will allow the theater to host outdoor arts programming.
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Stamford, NY
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025
Project Category: Disaster Preparedness
Description: Frequent power outages and flooding left many older adults without clear steps to prepare for emergencies or access essential help. The Council responded by hosting eight disaster preparedness workshops and distributing 100 go bags with emergency items, plus radios and water purification straws. The sessions helped residents understand what to do during a crisis and where to turn for support. Local officials received toolkits to guide long term planning. One volunteer firefighter said she learned new information that she planned to share with her squad. Some participants now intend to create personalized emergency plans to improve readiness.
Bethlehem, NY
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017
Project Category: Trails
Description: As part of its efforts to bring public art to the Albany County Helderberg-Hudson Rail Trail, the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy created a mural along the trail in the Town of Bethlehem. Project organizers chose a local artist from a pool of applicants to paint the mural, which depicts a surreal landscape and adorns a formerly graffitied wall. Since then, the Art on the Rail Trail (ART) initiative has installed several more murals, as well as a mini art gallery and arts programming. The trail is popular with pedestrians and cyclists in warm weather and cross-county skiers and snowshoe hikers in the winter.
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