Four Minnesota Organizations Receive AARP Community Challenge Grants

Communities across Minnesota are working each and every day to become more livable for residents of all ages.

In support of that work, AARP is excited to announce the largest number of grantees and funds to-date through the AARP Community Challenge grant program. These “quick action” grants are being distributed to 184 organizations across all 50 states, Washington D.C, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

AARP Community Challenge grants fund innovative projects that inspire change in areas such as transportation, public spaces, housing, smart cities, civic engagement, coronavirus response and more.

AARP Minnesota is proud to have four grantees right here in our state. Our goal is to support their efforts to create great places for people of all backgrounds, ages and abilities and the coronavirus pandemic has only underscored the importance of this work.

Here in Minnesota, these exciting and diverse projects were funded:

• District 6 Planning Council: Benches with art embedded in them will be installed for visitors to enjoy the Trout Brook Nature Sanctuary better and have a place to rest, enjoy the outdoors and have social connections.
• East Side Freedom Library: A diverse collection of people will be engaged to help improve housing in the community and learn how to address the policies, economics and systems through which the housing crisis was constructed.
• Philando Castile Peace Garden Committee: This project will provide groundbreaking, garden enhancement, soil testing and a foundational level of planting and pathway creation for a new public space and peace garden, created to memorialize Philando Castile and unify and restore the community.
• Project Food Forest: Improvements will be made to the Prairie Ally Outdoor Center by adding three commissioned sculptural trellises to the whole food forest and two circular picnic tables, allowing for people across generations to explore, sit and connect and enjoy nature.

The grant program is part of AARP’s nationwide work on livable communities, which supports the efforts of neighborhoods, towns, cities and counties across the country to become great places for all residents. We believe that communities should provide safe, walkable streets; affordable and accessible housing and transportation options; access to needed services; and opportunities for residents to participate in community life.

To learn more about the work being funded by the AARP Community Challenge both here in Minnesota as well as across the nation, visit aarp.org/CommunityChallenge. You can also view an interactive map of all of the projects and AARP Minnesota's livable communities work at aarp.org/livable.