AARP Hearing Center
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AARP Community Challenge grants have supported efforts to strengthen the resilience of communities and residents from disasters, extreme weather events, hazards and hardships. Learn more below.
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
PHOTOGRAPH FROM CITY OF OKLAHOMA (GRANTEE, 2021 AARP COMMUNITY CHALLENGE)
The City of Oklahoma used its AARP Community Challenge grant to create bioswales for capturing, slowing down and filtering stormwater runoff from a nearby parking lot. Educational signage explains how bioswales work to protect local waters and how native plants are both a beautiful and sustainable landscaping solution.
Portland, Oregon
PHOTOGRAPH BY LLOYD ECODISTRICT (GRANTEE, 2022 AARP COMMUNITY CHALLENGE)
Lloyd EcoDistrict, an organization committed to "equity, resilience, and climate protection at the local level" used its AARP grant to help launch the Lloyd Prepares Challenge Campaign. The program, which taught emergency preparedness skills to older adults, is based on the idea that communities with people who know and trust one another before a crisis are more resilient and will emerge even stronger. According to the nonprofit, “residential resilience” efforts create “the capacity of neighborhoods to function so that all people are able to withstand the shocks and stresses they encounter."
Lajas, Puerto Rico
PHOTOGRAPH BY SUURCANDO LA HISTORIA (GRANTEE, 2022 AARP COMMUNITY CHALLENGE)
Suurcando La Historia put its grant funds to use just in time to provide the community with life-saving resources after Hurricane Fiona in September 2022. The community center, which became a source of services after the storm, was newly equipped with tents, clean water tanks, a water pump and emergency generator, battery backups for electronic devices, radio access and internet upgrades. For two weeks, the center provided hot meals to 100 residents, helped provide safe drinking water, and connected people in need with recovery resources, including from Habitat for Humanity and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Rincon, Orocovis, Mayaguez, Rio Grande and Ponce, Puerto Rico
PHOTOGRAPH FROM ACOMERPR (GRANTEE, 2021 AARP COMMUNITY CHALLENGE)
The nonprofit ACOMERPR provides food and medical resources to at-risk older adults and people displaced by disasters. (As noted on its website, the organization “has increasingly grown to serve elderly populations, as they suffer from severe food insecurity when compared to the national average.”) An AARP Community Challenge grant funded the installation of community gardens and internet-equipped conference rooms at several senior centers. The gardens are managed by local leaders, who organize group gardening sessions. An agronomist (that’s a specialist in field-crop production and soil management) visits each center to provide technical assistance.
Tortuga, Puerto Rico
PHOTOGRAPH FROM VXX (GRANTEE, 2022 AARP COMMUNITY CHALLENGE)
Ponce Neighborhood Housing Services is transforming an abandoned community center into a community resiliency center that can provide needed services during an emergency. AARP grant funds helped acquire emergency supplies, including appliances, a generator and water tank, cots and first aid kits. When fully operational, the center will be able to serve more than 500 people at once. When not in crisis mode, the space will be used to provide services and workshops in disaster preparedness; mitigation planning and recovery; counseling; shelter management; community empowerment and more.m work.
St. Croix, Virgin Islands
PHOTOGRAPH FROM VIRGIN ISLANDS TRAIL ALLIANCE (GRANTEE, 2021 AARP COMMUNITY CHALLENGE)
The Virgin Islands Trail Alliance used its AARP Community Challenge grant to restore and groom 8 miles of hurricane damaged rainforest trails. The cleanup involved installing signs, maps, picnic tables and benches along the Windsor Farm Trails. Much of the work was through My Brothers Workshop, a nonprofit that teaches career-building carpentry skills to young men ages 18 t
