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AARP Grant Funds Rails, Restores Freedom
2026 Community Challenge grants provide safer steps for older adults
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For Tina Benevides, mobility is a daily struggle. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis two decades ago, the 56-year-old retired hospital technician had to gingerly navigate the stairs outside her Massachusetts home, clinging to rickety wooden handrails and hoping she wouldn’t fall.
The rails, paid for by another organization, were installed a few years ago, between the front door and driveway of her house in the town of Westport, Benevides says. But harsh winters took a toll on the wood.
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“We live in New England,” she says, adding, “I don’t think they realized that they wouldn’t last. You know, they don’t last really long at all.”
Afraid for her safety but unable to afford replacement rails of a sturdier material, Benevides sought help from the Westport Council on Aging, known as COA. And the COA responded, thanks to money it had received from the 2026 AARP Community Challenge grant program, which is aimed at making communities more livable, especially for older people.
Making Homes Safer
The program, marking its 10th anniversary, distributed $8.3 million nationwide this year for a range of projects. In Westport, population 16,800, about 60 miles south of Boston, Beverly Bisch, who was COA director before she retired in August, says her AARP Community Challenge grant application focused on the need for home-safety improvements in a town where U.S. Census data shows about 40 percent of the population is age 55 or older.
“We’ve had a lot of people who’ve had broken stairs, broken rails, broken door locks, broken windows, and they haven’t been able to fix them,” Bisch says. “They don’t have the money to do it.”
From the $15,000 in AARP Community Challenge money awarded to COA, Bisch is providing grants for needed home safety repairs such as rails and lighting for older adults with lower incomes. Benevides, the first recipient, got $2,000 after estimates showed it would cost $2,500 to install secure metal handrails at her house. That price would have been beyond her means, Benevides says, but she could afford $500 out of pocket.
In a sense, it has opened a door for her, enhancing her independence.
“Day to day with MS, it changes,” she says. “Like, if I have an exacerbation, I really wouldn’t go outside. You can’t do anything at all. So honestly, I would really avoid that — avoid the front.”
‘Sitting on the Shelf’
Antron Watson, a senior associate director with AARP Massachusetts, says the Community Challenge grant program is meant for short-term projects that are “sitting on the shelf.” The projects could involve transportation improvements, or computer training, or —as in Westport— home-safety upgrades.
The grants are meant to be a form of seed money, Watson says. “By infusing some small dollars for a simple project” and finishing that project successfully, a group such as the Westport COA might attract additional investment in the project from government or other entities. It “can really spark that long-term change that we’re hoping to see in communities,” he says.
Benevides, who lives with a friend, says she moved into her two-story house 12½ years ago. The National MS Society has helped her greatly, she says. The group arranged for the installation of an indoor stairlift and a new basement door that leads to her rear patio.
After the rails became a problem, she says, she called COA’s outreach coordinator, Andrea Lemos, who told her about the Community Challenge money.
“We came in, and we applied for it, and we’re very happy to receive it,” Benevides says, adding, “Especially right now. Things are so expensive.” Her new handrails were installed in October.
Other 2026 AARP Community Challenge grantees in Massachusetts include:
- City of Newton Planning Department, $19,500 to help create permit-ready designs for ADUs at residents’ homes.
- City of Newburyport, $15,000 to expand a bikeshare program.
- North Adams Partnership, $15,000 to make age-friendly and disabled-accessible improve-ments to a local park.
- South County Senior Center, Sunderland, $15,000 to strengthen disaster preparedness for older adults in Deerfield, Sunderland and Whatley. The money will support informational workshops and the distribution of 300 emergency kits for residents 50 and older.
- WalkMassachusetts, $15,000 to improve pedestrian safety and walkability in the Boston neighborhood of Mattapan.
More AARP Resources
2026 AARP Community Challenge Grantees
AARP Massachusetts Home and Community Resources
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