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Water Wise Gulf South (2019) Print
2019 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Public places
└ Community Gardens
└ Community Gardens
Located within a food desert, the Upper 9th Ward of New Orleans has endured hurricanes and years of disinvestment. To give residents a gathering space, provide healthy food and create a respite from hot weather, Water Wise Gulf South and the Bunny Friend Neighborhood Association planned a new community orchard and vegetable garden. Volunteers cleared the site of debris and overgrowth. They then spread hardwood mulch in the orchard area and planted orange, lemon and persimmon trees. In the garden they built planter boxes and filled them with spinach, lettuce, mustard greens and passionflower vines. The site incorporates solar-powered charging stations a pavilion to provide shade and green infrastructure to manage stormwater runoff. Organizers hope the orchard and garden will allow for neighborhood events, access to fresh food and opportunities to educate locals about stormwater management and food production.
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Ranson, WV
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2026
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: A gardening area used by older adults will be enhanced with raised beds, seating and adaptive tools. This space will allow participants to grow food together, stay active and enjoy time outdoors together.
Wilmington, DE
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: Gardening offers proven benefits for memory and mental health, yet many older adults struggle with mobility and strength, and residents in underserved neighborhoods lack access to fresh food. To address this, the organization purchased 105 ergonomic tools like telescopic rakes and kneeling benches, making gardening safer and more accessible. Volunteers, including 15 older adults, helped maintain community gardens and urban farms, fostering social connections and improving well-being. One volunteer said the new kneeling pads made gardening much more comfortable, enabling her to keep contributing.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
Chicago, IL
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Community Gardens
Description: North Lawndale, whose population is 70 African American and 50 aged over 55 years, is one of 22 Chicago community areas with neither a grocery store nor supermarket. To combat food insecurity there, Jesus Word Center converted a vacant lot into a community garden. Project organizers purchased gardening tools, compost and vegetable seeds for local volunteers, most of whom are older adults. The improvements allowed gardeners to grow vegetables, fruit and herbs and the Jesus Word Center planned health and wellness workshops onsite. In the future, organizers hope to introduce a farmers market in the area as well, with the goal of improving health outcomes in the majority-Black community.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
New Orleans, LA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022
Project Category: Lifelong housing and accessibility
Description: In New Orleans' Central City, soaring rents and a 20,000-person voucher waitlist left older adults facing unsafe housing. Bethlehem built a 2-bedroom ADA-accessible home with a wheelchair lift, partnering with Tulane architecture students for design and labor. The project drew more than 100 neighbors to a blessing event and mobilized 500 donors. It also prompted a zoning change allowing affordable housing in 3- and 4-plexes citywide and inspired plans for three more units. One visitor said, "He broke down crying... and told me his father had lived in affordable housing that was unsafe."
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
New Orleans, LA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017
Project Category: Trails
Description: Construction of an ADA-accessible footbridge and walking path connected a community FitLot to the Lafitte Greenway, an active rails-to-trails pedestrian path. Before, people had to jump across a muddy stretch of grass to reach the fitness park from the greenway. Since the City of New Orleans suffers from one of the largest health disparity gaps in the nation, project organizers also set up a no-cost fitness program taught by professional trainers. The classes attract local older adults. "Every time I'm here they are very happy and motivated," trainer Natoya Wayne said. "They interact with each other and encourage each other during the session, and that motivates me."
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