AARP Hearing Center
The AARP Community Challenge has helped engage neighbors and make communities nationwide more attractive and interesting by funding mural projects on otherwise empty (or graffitied) walls — and, sometimes, directly on street corners. Learn more below.
Lakewood, Colorado

Among the attractions of "Project Joy Bomb," an outdoor event organized to safely bring the community together during the COVID-19 pandemic, was this street corner mural at 17th Avenue and Pierce. (See the "Activities for All Ages" album for more about the event.)
Ville Platte, Louisiana

This Main Street mural commemorates the local Tee Cotton Bowl, an annual high school football game and week-long event (featured in the PBS documentary Flat Town) that promotes racial reconciliation. The 100-foot-long mural engaged more than 100 volunteers to help with everything from cleaning the wall to hosting a celebratory event. "The mural stands as a symbol of the community coming together to work on revitalization — and as an encouragement to restore the city to earlier times, when it was the showcase of Evangeline Parish," says Gwen Fontenot, a board member with The Acosta Foundation, which organized the project. "It's also a reminder of how everyone can work together for the greater good of the whole community."
Quarryville, Pennsylvania

In 2018, Quarryville Borough made improvements (for both aesthetics and accessibility) to the playground in Huffnagle Park. The 2020 AARP Community Challenge grant supported the creation of a mural on an adjacent building. Older artists from the community mentored volunteers and young artists in planning and painting the mural.
Warrensburg, Missouri

Warrensburg Main Street used its AARP Community Challenge grant to enhance a pedestrian passageway by painting a mural and the outdoor staircase (located between 121 and 125 West Pine Street) that connects Main Street and a nearby parking lot.
Rock Springs, Wyoming

Murals and outdoor art are a priority for downtown Rock Springs, which is home to the Downtown Mural Project and the Art Underground Gallery. (The latter is housed on the walls of a pedestrian underpass.) Disarming, a 54-foot-mural by artist Rose Klein, honors the region's coal mining past and the Chinese immigrants who worked as miners. Find it at 128 Elk Street.
Anderson, South Carolina

The Anderson Arts Center used AARP grant funds to revitalize a public space by adding a community garden and vegetable-themed mural. Painted in 2019, the mural was the community's first. It has inspired additional murals since then.