AARP Hearing Center
AARP Community Challenge Flagship Grants provide an opportunity for communities to apply for funding across several categories — and be creative about doing so.
The 2024 AARP Community Challenge accepted applications for community improvement projects — such as those related to public places, digital connections, housing, and transportation — that benefit residents, especially those age 50 and older.
More 2023 Grantees: Demonstration Grants | Capacity-Building Microgrants
ALABAMA
- Aliceville: Aliceville Public Library
The project will result in new computers, upgraded software and faster internet service at the library’s computer lab. The library will also offer technology classes geared toward older adults.
- Heflin: Cleburne County Chamber of Commerce and Farmers Market
This project will allow older residents and people with mobility challenges to easily access the farmers market by adding ADA-compliant sidewalks and parking spaces.
ALASKA
- Anchorage: Bike Anchorage
The project will create temporary, protected bike lanes and hold group rides to introduce the community to this new infrastructure.
- Anchorage: Fairview Community Council
To improve walkability, this project will engage youth from the Fairview neighborhood to remove sidewalk obstructions during the summer and snow during the winter.
- Fairbanks and North Pole: Fairbanks Community Food Bank
This project will provide pots, soil and plants to older adults, allowing them to grow produce at their homes. The food bank will then share produce grown with local families in need.
- Juneau: Friends of Jensen-Olson Arboretum
This initiative will create an accessible concrete path, allowing visitors with mobility challenges to use a bench with optimal views of the arboretum’s gardens and canal. This will allow Juneau's senior living facilities to add the arboretum to their outings for provide residents.
ARIZONA
- Cottonwood and Clarkdale: Yavapai County Community Health Services
To offer a safe, convenient passage for commuters and recreational cyclists, this project will create a bike trail network. The grantee will install maps, signage and repair stations along the route.
- Phoenix: Fairview Place Neighborhood Association
To help newly planted trees survive in an area with little tree canopy, the neighborhood association will install watering hoses, digital timers and soil probes at older adults’ homes.
- Tempe/Phoenix: Sun Sounds of Arizona
This initiative will upgrade six recording studios and one computer, which reading volunteers use to record information for people who cannot read print material due to a disability.
- Tucson: Living Streets Alliance
This pilot program will allow community members to close local streets to vehicle traffic, creating a safe space for residents to gather outdoors. The small events are meant to be a miniature version of the community’s biannual Cyclovia open streets festival.
ARKANSAS
- El Dorado: South Arkansas College
Volunteers will teach a series of digital and financial literacy classes tailored to older adults. Two classes will specifically serve older veterans and people with disabilities, focusing on online tools and resources that benefit them.
- England: Melosong CITY
This project will add amenities to a half-acre garden, including a bike rack and repair station, circuit training equipment, interactive musical instruments and a farm stand for distributing fruits and vegetables.
- Heber Springs: Breakin’ Bread Community Kitchen
This project will replace broken heating and air conditioning unit in a community dining room, creating a comfortable space for the patrons to enjoy a free meal.
- Keiser: City of Keiser
The city will reimagine a local park, focusing on the older adults’ needs. The project will add amenities onsite, including low-impact exercise equipment, accessible walking tracks, ample shade and comfortable seating.
CALIFORNIA
- Imperial Beach: City of Imperial Beach
This project will build and maintain a garden for growing fruit, vegetables and flowers. The city will add raised beds and accessible benches to accommodate older gardeners. They will also hold classes and other gatherings onsite.
- Long Beach: Placemaking US
This project will build a community comal — or traditional griddle — and engage older Meso-American women to revive the weekly tradition of tortilla making. This initiative will foster intergenerational connections and enhance the women’s connection to the community.
- Sacramento: Sojourner Truth African Heritage Museum
This pop-up placemaking project will transform a parking lot into an outdoor plaza. Volunteers will install accessible benches to accommodate older adults attending planned events in the space.
- San Diego: Adams Avenue Business Association
This project will create a large mural, transforming an alley into a green space. A pop-up event will feature mural designs chosen based on community input. Residents will vote for their favorite design and join professionals and city staff to create the mural.
- Vallejo: Vallejo Main Street
This project will transform a neglected alleyway into a lively gathering space for residents of all ages. Volunteers will add temporary amenities to the space, which will support more permanent investment into Vallejo’s downtown revitalization.
COLORADO
- Denver: Centro San Juan Diego
This computer literacy project will teach Spanish-speaking older adults to navigate the internet and use software. Instructors will tailor each lesson based on the needs of the group.
- Denver: Denver Regional Mobility & Access Council
This project will train older adults to navigate public transit, allowing them to run errands, go to doctors’ appointments and attend social events independently.
- Fort Collins: City of Fort Collins
Licensed professionals will teach plumbing and power tool workshops. The trainings will focus on residents of mobile home parks, who will learn DIY skills and build self-confidence to maintain their homes.
- Montrose: All Points Transit
This project will install transit shelters and benches for new and existing bus stops, providing comfort for riders of all ages.
CONNECTICUT
- Bethel: Bethel Public Library
The library will install an adaptive audio system, allowing people who are hard of hearing to listen to presentations using an app on their smartphone or smart device.
- Ellington: Town of Ellington
The town will install a greenhouse at a senior center’s garden, which grows produce for the local food pantry. The greenhouse will lengthen the growing season, enabling volunteers to garden during colder months.
- Fairfield: Fairfield Museum and History Center
This museum will improve accessibility in its exhibit galleries to accommodate a wider array of visitors. Additions include closed-captioned videos, audio headsets, Spanish-language translation and large-print exhibit labels.
- Fairfield: The Connecticut Audubon Society
This project will construct an elevated, accessible boardwalk to give individuals with mobility challenges access to the popular Birds of Prey Compound.
- Manchester: Manchester Area Conferences of Churches Charities
This project will transform five parking spaces into a community garden for six months each year. Three new raised garden beds will allow gardeners to grow fruit and vegetables for a food pantry and soup kitchen.
- Torrington: City of Torrington Police Department
This project will make accessibility improvements to a crosswalk, making a busy intersection safer. The crossing connects residents to downtown amenities, parks and transit routes.
- ·Vernon: Town of Vernon Senior Center
This project will create a community garden at a senior center. Gardeners will grow fresh vegetables and herbs to supply the center’s breakfast and lunch programs.
DELAWARE
- Milton: Town of Milton
This project will expand a program that promotes pedestrian safety by adding artistic crosswalks and providing driver education. The town will engage residents to add murals to two crosswalks.
- Seaford: Seaford Community Garden
This project will improve a community garden, adding growing tables, water and soil for older adults who are unable to garden in plots. Expert gardeners will also provide training on growing flowers, herbs and vegetables.
- Wilmington: Delaware Art Museum
The museum will install eight murals throughout the community, including at two residences for older adults. The public art initiative will coincide with an exhibition on illustrations from the Jazz Age.
- Wilmington: Delaware Center for Horticulture
The center will provide ergonomic gardening tools to designed for older adults and people with mobility and strength challenges. Tools include hori horis (soil or weeding knives), adjustable telescopic rakes, two-wheeled wheelbarrows and kneeling benches.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
- Washington: District of Columbia Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency
This project will conduct emergency awareness workshops for older adults and people with disabilities to help them prepare for extreme heat events. The agency will also create a heat emergency preparedness wall calendar and distribute cool kits.
- Washington: Forest Hills of DC
To advance positive images of aging, this temporary public art initiative will create posters featuring photographs of older adult residents and their caregivers. The images will then display at an assisted living community during a citywide art festival.
- Washington: Seabury Resources for Aging
This project will expand shuttle transportation for older adults and people who are blind to increase their access to a wellness resources, grocery shopping and social outings.
FLORIDA
- Clearwater: 360 Eats
This project will outfit a mobile soup kitchen with additional refrigeration units. This will increase storage space for donated food, which the organization provides to people facing food insecurity, particularly older adults and those transitioning from homelessness.
- Dade City: City of Dade City
This project will add picnic tables to areas frequented by older residents. The new tables will be sturdy and ADA compliant and allow residents to gather and enjoy time in nature.
- Jacksonville: Cathedral District-Jax on Cathedral Hill
This project will install lit gateway markers throughout the Cathedral Hill neighborhood to enhance safety and wayfinding. The markers will also support gathering spaces within the community.
- Jacksonville: Support Committee at Jacksonville National Cemetery
This project will install benches in the cemetery’s visitor’s lobby to provide comfortable seating for older veterans and those with mobility challenges. The cemetery will also made aesthetic improvements, including displaying flags representing each military branch.
- St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg Housing Authority
This project will make a community garden accessible by constructing benches, an awning and raised beds for growing healthy, free food. The Housing Authority will also hold workshops on sustainable gardening, cooking and budgeting skills.
- Surfside: Town of Surfside
The town will install ADA-compliant beach mats, which provide a nonslip, semi-rigid walking surface for people with mobility challenges. The mats will help residents cross the beach to access the water and nearby shaded areas.
- Tallahassee: StarMetro
This project will teach older adults skills needed to navigate public transportation independently. The city’s transit provider will offer trainings to residents at no cost.
- Tampa-St. Petersburg: Feeding Tampa Bay
This project will install free-standing bike racks at a new food panty facility and café locations. The racks will protect bikes from theft and improve accessibility for neighbors experiencing food insecurity, as well as for staff and volunteers.
GEORGIA
- Atlanta: City of Atlanta Department of Transportation
The city will build micromobility corrals where residents can park electric scooters, bicycles and e-bikes. The designated areas will reduce sidewalk obstructions, making walkways passable for older adults and people with mobility challenges.
- Clarkston: Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light
This project will turn unused office space into a community center, which will host activities including crocheting and tai chi. The center will serve as a gathering space for residents, including the community’s many migrant families.
- Macon: Keep Macon-Bibb Beautiful
This project will expand a community garden in a park, adding raised beds for growing healthy food. The initiative will also improve park aesthetics with new benches, trees, flowers and a mural, creating a space for residents to play checkers, chess and card games.
- Mount Zion: City of Mount Zion
This city will construct two blessing boxes, which will offer residents access to free, non-perishable foods, basic toiletries and pet food. The boxes will be located near Mount Zion’s senior center and the local library.
- Waycross: Southern Georgia Area Agency on Aging
To provide shade and create a comfortable gathering space, this project will add a covered gazebo and benches to a park, which is located near housing for older adults.
- Wrens: City of Wrens
The city will build a pavilion at Johnson Lake featuring picnic tables, seating and greenspace. The space will host activities for older adults, including fishing and picnics.
HAWAII
- Honoka’a: Peace Committee of Honokaa Hongwanji Buddhist Temple
This project will update a kitchen used for community meals by replacing appliances, upgrading electrical circuitry and repairing a leaky roof. The improved facility will support the organization’s food distribution efforts and create a space for intergenerational cooking classes.
- Honolulu: The Pantry by Feeding Hawaii Together
This project will provide digital skills training, as well as laptops and tablets, to food pantry volunteers. Participants will learn to navigate the organization’s online volunteer and e-commerce systems, helping them serve residents facing food insecurity.
- Pearl City: Leeward Community Church
This project will transform a vacant lot into a garden and gathering space with raised vegetable beds and citrus orchards. The space will host educational workshops and concerts, which will welcome residents of all ages.
IDAHO
- Cascade: City of Cascade
The city will add benches to a two-mile paved trail, improving accessibility for older adults who use it for walking, running, observing nature and socializing.
- Marsing: City of Marsing
The city will install an outdoor fitness court, which will be available free of charge to residents of all ages and abilities. To make the space inviting, the city will also create a mural.
- Nampa: LEAP Housing
This project will renovate an affordable housing community for older adults, keeping rents affordable and allowing residents to age in place. Renovations will maintain common areas and upgrade building systems, such as plumbing, electrical and fire protection.
- Salmon: City of Salmon
The city will improve safety and accessibility by resurfacing worn-out pickleball courts with new concrete or asphalt. The courts are particularly popular with older adult residents.
ILLINOIS
- Maywood: Maywood Public Library District
The library will install a bike repair station and air pump to support local bike commuters, students and unhoused residents who use bikes to get around. The station will be free for residents of all ages to use.
- Princeton: Community A-to-Z
To give residents access to books, food and art, this project will create 26 Little Free Libraries, pantries and galleries throughout town. Each site will be identified with a letter with a related theme, such as using “A” to represent “aging.”
- Waukegan: Connect Lake County
This project will help low-income older adults obtain an affordable internet subscription. Additionally, participants will receive free laptop or tablet, along with in digital literacy training.
INDIANA
- Angola: Angola Main Street
This project will install wheelchair-accessible picnic tables in downtown parks. The tables will allow people of all ages and abilities to the community’s Food Truck Friday events, which are held onsite.
- Frankfort: CORE Community Center
This project will update a walking path by adding benches at several stopping points, along with attractive landscaping. The Center will also expand the path to a full loop, improving safety.
- Lafayette: City of Lafayette
The city will collect older adults’ stories and use them as inspiration for public art. The placemaking project aims to combat blight in the Lincoln neighborhood by creating vibrant outdoor spaces.
- South Milford: South Milford Community League
This project will expand a local park by clearing an area overgrown with weeds and creating ADA-compliant trails onsite. The organization will also install wheelchair-accessible benches.
IOWA
- Bondurant: City of Bondurant
This project will create a garden and trail featuring five works of art displayed along Lake Petocka's shoreline. The city will also construct a new kayak launch and install seating and lighting onsite.
- Des Moines: Ingersoll Grand Self Supported Municipal District
This project will install signage in front of local businesses warning drivers to look out for cyclists and pedestrians using the roadway. The signs will support local Complete Streets efforts along busy Ingersoll Avenue by increasing accessibility and safety.
- Dubuque: Four Mounds Foundation HEART Partnership
Local students will complete home modifications for low-income older adults, allowing them to age in place. The effort will also offer on-the-job training, mentorship and life planning assistance for participating students.
- Monticello: Monticello Public Library
The library will purchase a mobile kitchen to host health and nutrition classes. Programming for adults will focus on making healthy, budget-conscious food choices while classes for children and teens will cover cooking and kitchen basics.
- Walcott: City of Walcott
The city will revitalize one tennis court with new asphalt and paint and convert a second court into pickleball courts. Pickleball offers beneficial exercise for older adults, since the sport is gentle on the joints.
KANSAS
- Auburn: City of Auburn Parks Projects with Auburn City Council
This project will replace a recently demolished gazebo — which was the focal point of a community park — with a new, ADA-accessible one.
- Clyde: City of Clyde with Clyde In Action
The city will create a new greenspace in the heart of Clyde’s downtown. The gathering place will include seating, an accessible stage and the town’s only public restrooms. Other improvements will include new signage and lighting.
- Herington: Herington VFW Dix Day Post 1281 with Visit Herington
This project will revitalize a pocket park near the VFW post, adding an accessible picnic table and bench. The improvements will allow the space to welcome visitors, including those attending an annual holiday tree lighting.
- Kansas City: Strawberry Hill Neighborhood Association
This project will revitalize an underused community garden to provide organic, free produce and a space for educational programming. The neighborhood association will install irrigation, build sheds, spray fruit trees, rehab raised beds and compost garden waste.
- Kansas City: United Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City
The county will install benches at several locations across Kansas City, Kansas, including at bus stops, parks and social service facilities.
- St. John: Stafford County Economic Development, Inc.
This project will convert run-down tennis courts into four pickleball courts, providing a space for the local pickleball club to play.
KENTUCKY
- Jenkins: Appalshop, Inc.
This project will repair sidewalks, install benches and add community art along two downtown corridors frequented by older residents.
- Liberty: Casey County Public Library
The library will create a story walk — a series of displays along an accessible path designed to display pages from a storybook. The project responds to local grandparents’ requests for more activities they can do with their grandchildren.
- Mount Sterling: Gateway Regional Arts Center
This project will transform an unused downtown plot into an accessible garden featuring paths, benches, sculptures and flowers. The space is near an assisted living facility and a new senior center.
- West Point: West Point Revitalization Committee
This project will install ADA-compliant sidewalks and benches, making a local park more accessible to older adults and visitors with mobility challenges. The museum in the park welcomes 200 visitors each month, many of whom are older adults.
LOUISIANA
- Metairie: YMCA of Greater New Orleans
Two retired middle school teachers will train older adults to use their smartphones. Lessons will cover basic skills, such as how to turn the phone on and off, as well as intermediate topics, including making photo albums and deleting apps.
- New Orleans: Committee for a Better New Orleans
This project will engage local older adults to ensure their needs are considered in efforts to redesign several bus shelters across the city. The Committee seeks to make public transit accessible, safe, comfortable and climate-resilient for people of all ages.
- Tallulah: Education Today Group
This project will create a mobile tech classroom to host training sessions on smartphone and laptop use for older adults. The digital training helps foster older adults’ independence and reduces their feelings of isolation.
- Terrytown: New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity Inc.
This project will support construction of affordable housing units for older adults in a cottage community. The homes will incorporate universal design elements, feature green infrastructure and connect to a microgrid to keep the power on during severe weather.
- West Monroe: City of West Monroe
The city will add accessible walking paths, benches and water features to a local botanical garden, making the space welcoming to visitors of all ages.
MAINE
- Danforth: Danforth Livable Communities
This project will improve accessibility at an open-air pavilion in Danforth’s downtown by adding benches and a sound system. This will make community events held in the space more welcoming for residents of all ages and abilities.
- Fort Fairfield: Fort Fairfield Public Library
The library will transform an unused patch of grass into a memorial garden featuring flowers, an arbor and a gazebo. The space will be accessible for people who use wheelchairs or walkers, as well as for older adults.
- Hallowell: Vision Hallowell
This project will increase accessibility in a local park by adding a smooth path and replacing outdated picnic tables. The organization will also install two bike racks onsite.
- Richmond: Lifelong Richmond
This project will install benches along Main Street where residents conduct errands, such as grocery shopping and banking. Several housing complexes for older adults and people with disabilities are nearby, yet currently there are no benches in the area.
- Scarborough: Project GRACE
This project will provide older adults with supplies for simple DIY project to make their homes less drafty and more energy efficient. The organization will also train “handy” older adults to help fellow homeowners make modifications.
- Skowhegan: Town of Skowhegan
This project will install directional signage and replace a deteriorated chain-link fence flanking an access trail, keeping walkers safely away from a steep river embankment. The town will also clear overgrown brush, plant flowers and install benches to create a pocket park.
- South Portland: Age-Friendly South Portland
This project will promote emergency preparedness, focusing on the needs of older adults. Displays at community events and workshops will teach residents how to make an evacuation plan and kit.
- Surry: Surry Neighbors Helping Neighbors
This project will create a notice board to display local town and emergency information at the local post office, a regular meeting space. This will specifically benefit older residents who are unable to access information online.
- Vassalboro: Town of Vassalboro
This town will add raised garden beds with benches outside Vassalboro’s municipal office. The new community garden will serve as an outdoor classroom and gathering space and will allow residents to grow healthy food.
- Windham: Age-Friendly Windham
This project will recruit, train and provide incentives to volunteer drivers to support a new on-demand ride service. Transportation options are currently limited for residents who cannot drive or don’t have a car to get to medical appointments — or anywhere else.
MARYLAND
- Baltimore: Open Works Inc.
This project will install two benches at an affordable housing community, each equipped with solar canopies to provide free Wi-Fi and device charging stations.
- Frederick: City of Frederick
The city will upgrade a park with equipment to help older adults to build their mobility and stability and reduce their risk of falling. The outdoor area will feature different walking surfaces, allowing visitors to practice foot and ankle control and respond to sensory feedback.
- Gaithersburg: Empowering the Ages
This project will provide older adults with one-on-one technology lessons. High school students will teach participants to complete online forms, access health portals and participate in telehealth appointments.
- Germantown: Holy Cross Germantown Hospital at Holy Cross Health
This project will support a community garden’s operations with workshops on harvesting produce and winterization, as well as community events to tend the space. The garden provides an accessible space for residents to grow fresh fruits and vegetables and address local food insecurity.
- Potomac: HarvestShare Maryland
This project will provide ergonomic tools at a local food pantry’s gardening space, allowing volunteers of all ages and abilities to grow fresh produce.
MASSACHUSETTS
- Belchertown: Belchertown Senior Center
This senior center will install benches along a new paved walkway located near an assisted living facility and a school. The seating will enable older adults with physical or cognitive challenges to take walks.
- Lowell: Bike Connector, Inc.
This project will provide older adults with free refurbished bicycles, as well as maintenance, repair, riding skills and safety instruction at a one-day event. Participants will also receive a bike helmet, lock and lights.
- New Bedford: Friends of Buttonwood Park
This project will install benches along a walking path in a popular park to improve accessibility for people of all ages and abilities.
- Watertown: City of Watertown Department of Senior Services and Council on Aging
This eviction prevention project will offer financial assistance to older adult tenants, which they can put toward rent, home modifications and cleaning services. The city will also provide help with managing medications, obtaining legal referrals and accessing community resources.
- Worcester: Worcester Housing Authority
The housing authority will offer digital literacy courses to older residents and those with disabilities. The project will also add desktop computers to community rooms and provide residents with free, high-speed internet connections.
