Malad City, ID

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023

Project Category: Park enhancements

Description: This project will build regulation-size outdoor pickleball courts for use by local residents, providing a popular recreational form for exercise to people aged 50.

Logan, UT

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020

Project Category: Inclusive civic engagement efforts

Description: Cache County is home to many migrants from Eritrea, Sudan, Somalia, Myanmar and other nations. To serve this community, Cache Refugee and Immigrant Connection launched its Neighbor Program, with matches refugee families with local U.S.-born families. The cross-cultural pairings help familiarize newcomers with local resources, as well as activities and restaurants. Most importantly, participants learned about each other's cultures and developed friendships. To reach more families, project organizers worked to translate information about the program into Spanish, Tigrinya, Somali, Karen and Arabic. To ensure safety during the COVID-19 pandemic, participants primarily met online, but facilitators also provided them with outdoor activity kits. During the winter holidays, they baked cookies to share with one another.