Maryland Nonprofits Win Grants to Improve Public Spaces

When Baltimore resident Jose Resendiz takes his godson, who is severely disabled, out of their house for his day care program or to run some errands, he must navigate cracked and crumbling sidewalks that make it difficult for a wheelchair to pass.

Sidewalks are in better repair elsewhere in the city, but not in the Mount Clare neighborhood where Resendiz, 49, lives. Now, an AARP Community Challenge grant aims to make a difference.

AARP’s $25,000 grant — with funding support from Toyota Motor North America Inc. — to the Mount Clare Community Council Inc. is designed to improve sidewalks, with attention to areas with older residents. It’s one of 383 grants throughout the country totaling $4.2 million for quick-action projects.

The grant aims to enhance mobility for residents like Resendiz’s 19-year-old godson, as well as others who use wheelchairs or other assistance devices.

The council also received $2,500 to audit area streets, looking at the needs of cyclists.

“There should be a ramp at the end of my block, which there isn’t,” says Resendiz, who is president of a neighborhood council in Mount Clare and a software engineer for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

The sidewalk in front of his house is so bad that he has to walk his godson out of the house and over to the car. It’s a difficult maneuver for the young man, who has physical and developmental challenges, and even for Resendiz, a former Marine, who regularly sees people, including women pushing strollers, fall outside his door.

Melanie Scheirer, 34, a Mount Clare representative on the board of Southwest Partnership, a nonprofit Baltimore neighborhood group, says she hopes the repairs done with the grant money will spur the city to do more.

Nancy Carr, AARP Maryland associate state director for communications, says the goal of the grants is to jumpstart broader action with a quick infusion of funds. In Mount Clare, for example, a local survey of sidewalks will lead to enhancements and structural repairs. “This is seed money that will begin the process of neighborhood improvement,” she says.

ART, DISASTER PREP GET FUNDS

Other grants aim to improve public spaces and help people prepare for emergencies:

• Art with a Heart Inc., a Baltimore nonprofit, $15,000 to create a mosaic mural at the Zeta Center for Healthy and Active Aging.

Megan Gatto, executive director of Art with a Heart, says the grant will allow residents to help design the mural. “We see all the time that people don’t feel like they are artists ... especially as they get older,” she says.

“So to be able to have these people participate ... is, in and of itself, incredibly powerful.”

• Caring Carroll, in Westminster, $2,500 to conduct disaster training for volunteers and distribute preparedness kits. Mike Rodgers, executive director, says the grant will fund supplies such as blankets, flashlights and batteries, as well as disaster information for their clients, who are all over 60.

“The folks that we help don’t have a lot of services,” he says. “Anything we can do for them makes a huge difference.”

• Bayside Community Network Inc., in Elkton, $12,000 to enhance disaster preparedness for clients who have developmental disabilities or are 50 and older. It will include installing a generator in its main building to offer emergency shelter and providing emergency training classes.

Jessica Johnson, fundraising coordinator for Bayside, says the money will cover much of the cost of a generator, and she has begun fundraising for the rest. The project includes helping residents who may find it difficult to get to a shelter in emergencies, so her group provides transportation to the facility, especially during power outages.

“Part of this project is to train our families ... to empower them to be in charge of their own emergency preparedness,” she says.

Elaine S. Povich is a Maryland resident and freelance journalist who has reported for newspapers, including Newsday and the Chicago Tribune, and for various magazines.

MORE ON LIVABILITY

• Explore the AARP Livability Index
• Learn About the AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities
• Download a Free AARP Walk Audit Toolkit