2025 Grantee Spotlight: Friends of the Commodore Trail

Coconut Grove, a historic neighborhood in Miami-Dade County, is home to one of this year’s AARP Community Challenge Grant winners: Friends of the Commodore Trail. This five-and-a-half-mile nature trail has been a popular place for walking, biking, and socializing. However, it’s also much more to the community – this trail connects 13 parks and 12 schools, is a wildlife corridor, and gives neighbors a way to meet each other.

“It’s not just a bike path,” said Mel Meinhardt, Board Chairman. “It’s a sanctuary in the middle of the city.” Meinhardt said this trail connects four aspects: health, heritage, nature, and neighborhood. Their mission is to keep the trail safe and accessible in an environment that is hard to find in a big city like Miami.

The organization plans to use their $15,000 Community Challenge grant to revitalize the trail by adding signs, cleaning up waste, and making the area safer for everyone, especially older adults.

“We are focusing on micro improvements,” Meinhardt said. “If you walk a few blocks and can’t cross the street safely, you turn around. Our goal is to connect all those little pieces.” These improvements will help connect several blocks along the trail, making it safer and accessible for everyone.

Meinhardt has lived in Coconut Grove for over 25 years and loves to share the stories of the people who shaped his town. In fact, one of the organization’s founders, Mary Monroe Seabrook, is the great granddaughter of one of the first residents in the area.

“Heritage is not just the past,” Meinhardt said. “It is what we pass on to the next generation.”

AARP Florida will be following up with Friends of the Commodore Trail’s progress to see how their efforts are progressing! Stay tuned for more, and visit AARP.org/FLLivable for more information on the Community Challenge Grant program.