Recipient of AARP’s Community Challenge grant continues to help North Dokota’s communities flourish

Every year, AARP collaborates with local leaders, organizations, and dedicated community members to kick-start change. The AARP Community Challenge provides funding for projects that encourage communities to become more livable. These projects aim to improve public spaces, housing, transportation and more to support people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities.

In 2024, seven projects received grant funding in North Dakota. One of these recipients was Bismarck-Burleigh Public Health, which received $15,000 to create a community mural. The mural was placed in a pedestrian tunnel along the Bismarck parks/trail system, improving the overall safety and aesthetics of the tunnel.

However, the Bismarck-Burleigh Public Health has gone above and beyond the goal written in their original project proposal. The funding also supported the travel of two Bismarck-based artists to attend mural training in Grafton. Since completing the training, these artists have led to the installation of five additional murals in the area, including the Expressway Tunnel. The most recent mural design depicts motherhood and will be placed in Wing and on a pillar in the Art Alley in downtown Bismarck.

“Community Challenge grants at minimum fund a project that enlivens and lifts the community in the short term. At their best, they create change that resonates and improves the community for years. What the team at Bismarck Burleigh Public Health has done has a life of its own and we are so proud to have helped kick off that work,” Janelle Moos, Advocacy Director, AARP North Dakota.

To learn more about the work being funded by the AARP Community Challenge both here in North Dakota as well as nationally, visit http://www.aarp.org/CommunityChallenge. Also check out the AARP Livable Communities Map – a free, interactive tool with information on AARP Community Challenge grantees and members in the Network of Age-Friend State and Communities.