Local Grants Make Big Impact in Kansas

Organizations in six cities across the state received 2022 AARP Community Challenge grants for local improvement projects.

In the north-central part of the state, the grant went toward a pickleball court in Blue Rapids. A nonprofit in Medicine Lodge, in south-central Kansas, planned to use its grant to build an accessible path at the powwow grounds at Memorial Peace Park.

In Newton, the Kansas Alliance for Wetlands and Streams received funds to create a wetland park with walkways, benches, signage and murals. Funding for Thrive Allen County, in the state’s southeast, went toward a musical playground as part of a public flower garden at Allen County Regional Hospital in Iola.

In Dodge City, the grant was for vinyl wall graphics in downtown to celebrate the community’s history. And in Topeka, the Gil Carter Initiative, a nonprofit continuing the work of the late Negro Leagues baseball player, planned to build a greenhouse and a serenity area.