AARP Grants Aim to Boost Livability

Six decades ago, construction of Interstate 20 cut Atlanta’s historic Westview neighborhood in two, displacing hundreds of families. Today, current residents—both old and young—are reconnecting the predominantly African American neighborhood with a project to document what happened to Westview and the families who were uprooted when the bulldozers came through.

The project, partially funded with a $20,000 grant from AARP, can also inform future development by highlighting the harm that can result in the name of progress, says Kiyomi Rollins, executive director of The Ke’nekt Cooperative, a Westview-based organization leading the project.

It was one of eight Georgia entities awarded grants this year through AARP’s Community Challenge program, which funds quick-action projects to help make communities more livable.

“Part of the concept of the American dream is that you can build generational wealth through your home,” says Rollins, 49, who lives in Westview. That dream was dashed for the families who were displaced, she says.

Rollins notes that the city and state also lost tax revenue when the homes were destroyed. The project will use various archives and oral histories to document the displacement, including determining how many families lost their homes to the interstate.

“For a livable community to thrive, people need to feel like they belong,” says Kay Sibetta, AARP Georgia’s associate state director of community outreach. “That can be done by telling their stories in various ways.”

Nationally, AARP awarded $3.8 million in grants for 343 projects aimed at improving public spaces, housing and transportation, among other goals. In Georgia, the total amount awarded was nearly $78,000. The state’s 2024 grantees include:

• The nonprofit Bike Walk Golden Isles in Brunswick received $2,500 to recruit older adults to conduct an audit of biking conditions along the path of a proposed multiuse trail.
  
• The city of Wrens in middle eastern Georgia won $15,000 to add a pavilion and other improvements to Johnson Lake.
  
• The nonprofit HWPL Georgia is using $5,420 to convert an office building in Clarkston, home to many immigrants and refugees, into a community center for residents of all ages.

Joining young and old

Many of this year’s projects involve and are benefiting multiple generations. The idea for the Westview project came from the neighborhood’s older residents. Students from the nearby Atlanta University Center, a consortium of four historically Black colleges, are partnering with older residents to collect oral histories, create podcasts and determine how to best showcase the work.

"Anytime that something comes ... directly from the community, it is going to be transformative,” Rollins says.

Another grantee—the city of Mount Zion, a rural community of 2,000 residents in west Georgia—also is working across generations. The city won $1,300 to build two “blessing boxes”—wooden structures with shelving stocked with donations of nonperishable goods, toiletries and pet supplies for residents struggling to make ends meet.

The boxes are by the community center and library and along the path to the middle school. Among the donations are cake mixes, pans and birthday candles for parents who may not be able to afford a birthday cake for their kids. Donations may also benefit many older residents, since the closest grocery store is 7 miles away in another city.

“A lot of our seniors do not drive anymore,” says Shelly Frost, 54, a city employee. She came up with the idea for the boxes after she realized some residents were struggling to pay their water bills. As an AARP member, she knew about the Community Challenge grant program and decided to apply.

“We also know that a lot of our citizens, especially seniors, have pets, and ... sometimes they’ve got to choose” between buying food for themselves or for their pet, Frost says. “We don’t want anybody to go hungry.”

Ann Hardie spent a decade covering aging issues for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She has written for the Bulletin for 15 years.

Also of interest:

• AARP Livable Communities Map
• Top 100 Places to Live in the U.S. for Older Adults
• Atlanta Regional Commission Becomes 11th Age-Friendly Region in Georgia