2024 Community Challenge Grant Winners

AARP announced five organizations throughout Arkansas will receive 2024 Community Challenge grants – part of AARP’s largest community investment to date, with $3.8 million awarded among 343 organizations nationwide. Grantees will implement quick-action projects that help communities become more livable by improving public places, transportation, housing, digital connections, and more, emphasizing the needs of adults 50-plus.

“AARP Arkansas is committed to working with local leaders, advocates and policymakers to make our communities better places to live for Arkansans of all ages, especially those 50 and older,” said Ashley McBride, AARP Arkansas State Director. “We are proud to collaborate with this year’s grantees as they make immediate improvements to address long-standing and emerging challenges across our communities.”

Here in Arkansas, projects funded include:

• Breakin’ Bread Community Kitchen, Heber Springs, is a community kitchen providing free meals to those in need. This grant will help the organization replace a broken heating and air conditioning unit in their community dining room. 

• The City of Keiser plans to use this grant to reimagine a local park, focusing on the needs of older adults, including low-impact exercise equipment, accessible walking tracks, ample shade and comfortable seating. 

• The City of Pine Bluff will use the funding to conduct three bike audits led by community members 50-plus to determine where to add bike lanes to create safer transportation in the city. 

• Melosong C.I.T.Y, England, is a community-based non-profit that operates the Ollie Woodard/Cassie Stewart Serenity Garden. Funds will help add amenities such as a bike rack and repair station, circuit training equipment, interactive musical instruments and a farm stand to distribute fruits and vegetables. 

• South Arkansas College, El Dorado, plans to use its grant funding to teach a series of digital and financial literacy classes tailored to older adults. The classes will be led by volunteers.  

This year, AARP awarded three different grant opportunities, including flagship grants, capacity-building microgrants for improving walkability, bikeability and accessible home modifications, and demonstration grants that focus on equitable engagement to reconnect communities, housing choice design competitions and improving digital connections to endure disasters.

With funding support from Toyota Motor North America, the program is increasing its investment in pedestrian safety projects that will improve streets and sidewalks, create vibrant pedestrian infrastructure, engage community members and much more. AARP is also bolstering its investment in community resilience, rural communities, and addressing disparities.

“Whether it’s helping people access high-speed internet or protecting public transit riders from rain and snow, small community projects can have a big impact on people of all ages,” said Nancy LeaMond, AARP Executive Vice President and Chief Advocacy & Engagement Officer. “AARP Community Challenge grantees make our commitment to creating better places to live a reality through quick, innovative solutions.”

The grant program is part of AARP’s nationwide Livable Communities initiative, which supports the efforts of cities, towns, neighborhoods and rural areas to become great places to live for people of all ages, emphasizing people ages 50 and older. Since 2017, AARP Arkansas has awarded 28 grants and $313,084 through the program to nonprofit organizations and government entities across the state.

AARP Community Challenge grant projects will be funded in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. True to the program’s quick-action nature, projects must be completed by December 15, 2024.

View the full list of grantees and their project descriptions at aarp.org/communitychallenge and learn more about AARP’s livable communities work at aarp.org/livable.