Small Grants Give Communities a Big Boost

The Iowa City Bike Library is adding a wheelchair-accessible trishaw to its fleet — allowing volunteer pedalers to give more residents at a nearby retirement home a chance to enjoy nature and to socialize.

The group’s current trishaw features a bench for two passengers in front of a seat for the pedaler. A 2025 AARP Community Challenge grant of $12,560 will allow the group to buy another electric trishaw that accommodates a wheelchair.

The Cycling Without Age at the Bike Library program offers 45-minute trishaw outings on trails and to specific destinations for community members who can’t ride independently. Traveling at 10 mph “gets the wind in your hair, but it’s slow enough that if you see someone at the dog park to say hi to, we can stop,” says Michelle Voss, who cofounded the program’s local chapter.

Nationally, AARP awarded $4.2 million in Community Challenge grants this year to 383 applicants. The grants fund local projects for improvements in housing, transportation, public spaces and other areas that help boost quality of life for residents of all ages.

In Iowa, AARP awarded seven grants in all, totaling $75,506. Volunteers in Iowa City did a “collective happy dance” when they learned about the grant, Voss says. “The bike library is such a powerful place for impact in our community,” she adds. “This grant will help us expand that programming.”

OFFERING RIDES IN MINNESOTA

Another AARP Community Challenge grant project — this one in Hutchinson, Minnesota — also aims to help older residents get around their community.

The $16,000 grant will help Parents Inspired set up a ride-on-demand program for adults with disabilities or those over age 50. Dennis Hruby, the nonprofit’s founder, says he started the group when he and his wife, Sandy, were trying to navigate services for their children with disabilities.

Eventually, “we figured we might as well open the door and help everyone,” Hruby says. Now, the group is trying to fill a gap in local services by expanding its network of drivers who can offer rides to doctors offices, grocery stores and other destinations.

It’s one of six Minnesota projects funded by AARP grants this year, totaling $66,000.

Hruby says his group’s grant will pay for a dispatcher and background checks for the dozens of new volunteer drivers he hopes to recruit. It will also allow the nonprofit to reimburse drivers for some of their mileage. His plan is to provide 25 to 50 rides a week within a 25-mile radius of Hutchinson, about an hour west of the Twin Cities.

TEACHING TECH IN KENTUCKY

Other grants this year focus on helping adults learn new skills.

In Kentucky, three grant projects are focused on digital literacy. Included are tech workshops taught by high school students in Shelbyville; educational classes for adults 50-plus in Florence; and training in artificial intelligence, Microsoft Office and internet safety in counties in the Appalachian region of the state, with funding support from Microsoft.

In Florence, the Northern Kentucky Area Development District is using its $12,500 grant to pay a stipend and expenses for a college student to spend 13 weeks this fall offering digital literacy classes for older adults in libraries, senior centers and university extension offices.

Through the classes, the district hopes to recruit volunteers who can offer still more training, says Shannen Kelch, administrative manager of the district’s aging and disability services division.

“The more people we get out teaching digital education classes, the more opportunities we have for community members to step up and say, ‘I want to become that person,’ ” Kelch says.

In all, AARP awarded eight Community Challenge grants in Kentucky, totaling $84,000.