AARP Hearing Center
And the Winners Are ...
The list of AARP Community Challenge grantees (below) is organized by state and location, followed by the name of the grantee organization and a brief project description.
The projects had to be complete by November 10, 2021.
For the fifth annual AARP Community Challenge, AARP received more than 3,500 applications from nonprofits and government entities, resulting in a highly competitive selection process.
Nearly $3.2 million is being distributed to fund 244 quick-action projects across the country, helping urban, rural and suburban communities make immediate improvements and jumpstart long-term progress to support residents of all ages.
AARP Community Challenge grants will be funded in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Grants will help improve public spaces, transportation, housing and civic engagement with an emphasis on the needs of people 50 or older. Many of this year’s grants support revitalizing communities adversely impacted by the pandemic and include a focus on diversity, inclusion and disparities.
The winning projects are designed to achieve one or more of the following outcomes:
- Create vibrant Public Places that improve open spaces, parks and access to other community amenities.
- Ensure a focus on Diversity and Inclusion while improving the built and social environment of a community
- Deliver a range of Transportation and mobility options that increase connectivity, walkability, bikeability, wayfinding, access to transportation options and roadway improvements.
- Support local recovery from the Coronavirus pandemic with an emphasis on economic development, improvements to public spaces and transportation services
- Encourage the development of a range of Housing options to increase the availability of accessible and affordable choices
- Increase Civic Engagement and demonstrate the tangible value of “Smart Cities” with innovative and tangible projects that bring residents and local leaders together to address challenges and facilitate a greater sense of inclusion
- Implement Other Community Improvements that respond to local needs
Read the eligibility requirements for the 2021 AARP Community Challenge.
Alabama
- Birmingham: Freshwater Land Trust
The Highlands Connector project will upgrade and reinforce an on-street multi-modal pathway leading to a protected path and the Red Rock Trail System.
- Foley: Foley Main Street, Inc.
Musical instruments will be added to an existing pocket park so people of all ages can play and organizations can stage public performances.
- Monroeville: Monroeville Main Street
Game boards will be installed near City Hall and a program called "Play Chess with the Mayor" will help encourage inclusiveness and community connections.
- Montgomery: River Region Trails, Inc.
This demonstration project will create protected bicycle and pedestrian lanes on busy streets in the Old Cloverdale district to show the value of walk-bike infrastructure in the neighborhood and city.
Alaska
- Anchorage: Anchorage Park Foundation
Musical equipment will be added to the city's first "intergenerational health and healing park," which will also feature artwork, an inclusive playground, a paved labyrinth, fitness features and more.
- Anchorage: Catholic Social Services
An underused courtyard will be converted into a community garden that can provide garden-grown produce to food pantry clients and provide meaningful volunteer opportunities.
- Anchorage: Neighborworks Alaska
Local artists will create artwork that integrates culture and storytelling into interpretive signs placed along the Fish Creek Trail.
- Knik-Fairview, Matanuska-Susitna Borough: Great Land Trust
An ADA-accessible scenic overlook at the Settlers Bay Coastal Park will allow visitors of all mobility levels to enjoy the views of Cook Inlet.
Arizona
- Aguila: Aguila Community Center
The community center will be improved with a repaired roof and new flooring to make the venue safer and more inviting.
- Camp Verde: Town of Camp Verde Parks and Recreation Division
Seating is lacking along several key stretches of the Town of Camp Verde Sport Complex. Challenge funds will be used to place benches along the 1.6 mile Perimeter Loop Trail and around a pond.
- Fort Defiance: Navajo United Way
This project will support the installation of bus shelters throughout Navajo Nation to provide seating and shade for waiting passengers. Photo Album
- Tucson: Community Gardens of Tucson
The Blue Moon Community Garden is part of Tucson House, which provides rental support and low-income housing to older adults and people with disabilities. Challenge funds will be used to make improvements and help residents access healthy food.
- Tucson: Tucson Home Sharing Inc. | Pima Council on Aging
An education and outreach effort by Tucson Home Sharing will teach older adults about home sharing, which is an affordable housing option that can reduce loneliness and isolation.
- Willcox: Willcox Theater and Arts, Inc.
An unused lot in the downtown historic district will be transformed into a courtyard that celebrates the area's heritage and character through art installations, features accessible walkways and provides seating so visitors can enjoy and interact in the new space.
Arkansas
- Malvern: Malvern-Hot Spring County Library
This project expands an existing Story Trail & Garden by adding planters, decorative seating and supplies — including outdoor easels for painting classes, and books for summer reading baskets — to support library programs.
- Osceola: City of Osceola
A paved, tree-shaded walking path will be constructed near a playground that's close to the Osceola Senior Center to promote the integration of recreational spaces that serve older adults with those created for households with young children.
- Pine Bluff: City of Pine Bluff
This project will install eight artistic benches, an accessible pavilion and provide materials and supplies that support community gardening.
California
- Altadena: Altadena Town Council Safe Streets Committee
To advocate for safe access to parks, this demonstration project will include a bicycle park, an accessible nature trail loop and and ecology walk.
- Chula Vista: City of Chula Vista (Development Services Department and Age-Friendly Communities Initiative)
The “We Are Chula Vista” campaign will feature photographs of older Chula Vista residents on mounted banners throughout the city and post their life stories on the community’s website.
- Fresno: California State University Fresno Foundation
Leadership Academy classes offered through the Fresno State Gerontology Program will help older adults develop advocacy skills and connect with elected officials.
- Montclair: Montclair Community Foundation
Adding raised garden beds, a shade structure, lighting and seating to the Montclair Community Garden will allow people of all abilities to enjoy the space.
- Oakland: Habitat for Humanity East Bay/Silicon Valley
Working through the Oakland Community Garden program, Habitat for Humanity will supply skilled labor, volunteers and funding to repair and upgrade community gardens so the spaces can provide area residents with nutritious food and safe places to gather.
- Salinas: City of Salinas
A bilingual educational campaign about accessory dwelling units (or ADUs) will make the process of building one more understandable. Photo Album
- San José: Veggielution
An underutilized parking lot in the downtown arts district will be revitalized with a demonstration garden, farm stand, dog park, mobile food vending hub and artistic murals.
Colorado
- Boulder: City of Boulder
Solar pathway lights will be installed to illuminate a neighborhood so residents can more safely walk at night.
- Denver, Jefferson and Boulder Counties: Sprout City Farms
Local food solutions will be provided to people who live near three community farms.
- Fort Collins: City of Fort Collins Neighborhood Services Department
MHC WELL, a one-day event for mobile home communities, will feature a community clean-up and resource fair.
- Pueblo: Posada
A closed motel will be repurposed into single-room-occupancy housing for older adults who are experiencing homelessness and provide them with opportunities that encourage healthy, stable and self-sufficient living.
Connecticut
- Bridgeport: Groundwork Bridgeport
A series of walking events will pair older adults with local teens to encourage fitness activities, intergenerational connections and an exchange of stories about the city, its people and history. Video
- Hartford: Green & Blue Foundation
This project will enhance pedestrian safety, comfort and enjoyment with traffic calming features, accessible benches and a community garden.
- Tolland: Tolland Conservation Commission
The Wanat Senior Park will feature accessible walking trails, a labyrinth, a sundial, a pollinator garden and a silo for stargazing.
Delaware
- Wilmington: Urban Bike Project of Wilmington, Inc.
Open Streets Wilmington will hold events that close streets to motor vehicle traffic in order to create safe spaces for residents to engage in outdoor activities and connect with one another.
- Wilmington: Wilmington Alliance
Sculptural bicycle racks designed by local artists will enhance community spaces and the city's cycling infrastructure.
District of Columbia
- Washington: DC Greens
A roof and waterproofing will be added to the pavilion at Well at Oxon Run Park, a performing arts and outdoor classroom space.
- Washington: DC Office of Planning
Temporary, creatively designed age-friendly benches will be installed at high-priority bus stops until permanent bus shelters are installed.
- Washington: The George Washington University Center for Aging, Health and Humanities — in partnership with the Honey W. Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service | Age-Friendly DC | Age-Friendly Arlington (Virginia) | Age-Friendly Alexandria (Virginia) | Age-Friendly Hyattsville (Maryland) | Age-Friendly Montgomery County (Maryland)
The Age-Friendly Social Innovation Challenge will bring a diverse, intergenerational group of participants together for one day to design actionable strategies for how to communities can be more age-friendly.
- Washington: Vida Senior Centers
Funding will help a musical group formed at a local senior center acquire needed equipment for performing at weekend markets, street fairs and other community events.
Florida
- Casselberry: IDEAS For Us
The Hindu Temple of Central Florida will receive an educational community garden so community members can contribute to and observe the restoration of habitats for pollinator species.
- Deerfield Beach: City of Deerfield Beach | Broward Metropolitan Planning Organization
To increase the mobility, accessibility and safety of a roadway in a predominantly residential area, a “quick-build” project will temporarily install intersection improvements, informational signage, traffic calming features and highly-visible decorative crosswalks.
- LaBelle: LaBelle Downtown Revitalization Corporation
This project will enhance a multigenerational open space by installing concrete tables, canopies and accessible walking paths.
- Miami Beach: Miami Beach Gay Pride, Inc.
A museum exhibition featuring portraits and audio will bring to life "hundreds of years of love" through stories told by same-sex couples. Video
- Opa-locka: Opa-locka Community Development Corporation
To improve access to free, healthy food for low-income residents, fruit trees and park amenities will be installed in the common area of a multi-family residential development.
- Orlando: City of Orlando
Underserved neighborhoods with limited internet access will receive solar charging tables and artistic shade structures equipped as wireless hotspots. Video
- Pensacola: Bike Pensacola | Pensacola Community Action Network
The Gonzalez Street Shareway Project is a one-day bike lane test of a shared corridor that helps to connect people and neighborhoods across Pensacola. Photo Album
- Pinellas County: Florida Dream Center
This program will help older residents with home repairs or modifications such as adding grab bars, chair lifts, wheelchair ramps, staircase handrails and more.
Georgia
- Athens: Athens Downtown Development Authority
A new interpretive exhibit, an African American culture and heritage library, and a walking tour map will help generate conversation in the community and forge a connection between two historically significant buildings.
- Atlanta: Atlanta Downtown Improvement District
A mobile kiosk in Woodruff Park filled with games and recreational equipment will be improved with new accessibility features and artwork. Photo Album
- Augusta: Garden City Jazz | Greater Augusta Black Chamber of Commerce
Photographs, videos and live-streamed events from the Soul & Soil Initiative — an outdoor concert series of African American music held on African American-owned farmland — will be used to promote and support local arts and culture, agriculture and agri-tourism.
- Conyers: Conyers Rockdale Library System
Birdhouses and benches will be installed in a park adjacent to the public library.
- Dalton: City of Dalton Housing Authority
Accessibility ramps, picnic tables and improved laundry rooms are among the improvements planned for an affordable housing complex that's home to numerous older adults.
- Lee County, Albany, Sylvester, Thomasville: Southwest Georgia Regional Commission
Grant funds will be used to add accessible seating, recreational equipment and outdoor art displays in four communities.
Hawaii
- Hilo: East Hawai'i Cultural Council/East Hawai'i Cultural Center
The Out-of-Doors program will construct a modular, mobile theater for free and low-cost entertainment performances on the center's grounds and in venues throughout the community. State Video
- Honolulu: Age-Friendly Honolulu | Honolulu Department of Community Services | Palolo Chinese Home
The SafeHomes4Kupuna campaign will raise awareness about home safety modifications for aging in place and provide exterior home modifications to older homeowners.
- Honolulu: Better Block Hawaii
The installation of parklets in Honolulu’s Kalihi neighborhood will support local businesses as they recover from the pandemic, improve safety and livability, and demonstrate how parklets fit with and can enhance the city's transit development plans.
- Honolulu: Kanu Hawaii
Time-banking, also known as skill-sharing, enables people to barter services. Challenge funds will help the Kokua Exchange timebank in its work to alleviate economic burdens and deepen connections between community members.
- Honolulu: Krause Family Foundation — Alana Ke Alana | The ARTS at Marks Garage
Temporary "pop-up" installations at local galleries and senior centers will display art created by older adults from low-income neighborhoods.
- Kailua: Kailua Intermediate School
Transforming an exterior campus wall into a community mural will honor the history and heritage of area residents.
- O'ahu: North Shore Community Land Trust
Restoration efforts at Kahuku Point (one of the few places on Oʻahu with an intact coastal strand habitat) will add fences along trails and recruit volunteers to plant native plants that canprotect the dune ecosystem. State Video
Idaho
- Ada County: Ada County Highway District Commuteride
Challenge funds will help a workplace mobility pilot program assist small businesses in making facility or mobility enhancements that increase transportation options for employees. State Video
- Blaine County: Blaine County Seniors Council Inc. | The Senior Connection
The new Wood River Valley Daffodil Festival will provide the community with a fun activity and helpful boost to the local economy. State Video
- Hidden Springs: Hidden Springs Town Association
The creation of an all-weather path for the Hidden Springs community and greater Treasure Valley will provide an outdoor recreational option for all ages along scenic riparian trails, a community farm and agricultural fields. State Video
