AARP Alaska awards community grants to four Alaska non-profits

Communities across Alaska are all working to become more livable for residents of all ages.

And, AARP is working across Alaska in partnership with local leaders, organization and dedicated residents to help make that vision a reality. As part of that effort, we are excited to announce the largest number of projects to-date through the Community Challenge program. These quick-action grants are being distributed to 244 organizations across all 50 states, Washington D.C, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The Community Challenge funds innovative projects that inspire change in areas such as transportation, public spaces, housing, diversity and inclusion, civic engagement, coronavirus response and more.

AARP Alaska is incredibly proud to have four grantees here in our state. Our goal is to support their efforts to create great places for people of all backgrounds, ages and abilities and as local leaders seek to better their communities for the future, this is even more critical.

Here in Alaska, these exciting and diverse projects were funded:

• Anchorage Park Foundation: With AARP’s support, the purchase and installation of music equipment from Freenotes Harmony Park, a company known for its inclusive design and ability to appeal to users of all ages and abilities, helped complete the vision of park users and volunteers being able to play music together. Located in Folker Park, this is Anchorage’s first-ever Intergenerational Health & Healing Park.

• NeighborWorks: NeighborWorks Alaska partnered with community members to bring culture and storytelling interpretive signs into the neighborhood’s iconic Fish Creek Trail. With the help of the grant, they were able to install eight culturally relevant interpretive signs along the Fish Creek trail.

• Catholic Social Services: With the help of the grant, Catholic Social Services (CSS) was able to update an existing courtyard geographically adjacent to the St. Francis House food pantry, which is visited by over 1,000 households every month from Anchorage and the surrounding area. The grant allowed for the construction of an ADA compliant walking path over an existing thoroughfare that accesses the courtyard; building and distributing elevated raised bed gardens for the CSS courtyard and to several individual senior CSS clients’ homes.

• Great Land Trust: The grant enabled the construction of an ADA-accessible scenic overlook platform with seating at the Settlers Bay Coastal Park (SBCP) for visitors of all abilities to enjoy at the MSB’s only coastal park. Prior to the creation of SBCP, area residents had no nearby public lands available for outdoor recreation.
  

The Community Challenge is part of AARP’s nationwide work on livable communities, which supports the efforts of neighborhoods, towns, cities and counties across the country to become great places for all residents. We believe that communities should provide safe, walkable streets; affordable and accessible housing and transportation options; access to needed services; and opportunities for residents to participate in community life.

AARP Alaska asked recipients to describe, in their own words, what the 2021 Community Challenge Grant funding means to them and the community at-large.  You can watch the videos they submitted here.

To learn more about the work being funded by the AARP Community Challenge both here in Alaska as well as across the nation, visit aarp.org/CommunityChallenge. You can also view an interactive map of all of the Community Challenge projects and AARP Alaska’s livable communities work at aarp.org/livable.