AARP Wyoming Now Accepting 2025 Community Challenge Grant Applications

AARP Wyoming invites local eligible non-profit organizations and governments across the country to apply for the 2025 AARP Community Challenge grant program, now through March 5, 2025, at 5 p.m. Eastern Time.

AARP Community Challenge grants fund quick-action projects that help communities become more livable by improving public places, transportation, housing, digital connections, and more. Now in its ninth year, the program is part of AARP’s nationwide Livable Communities initiative, which supports the efforts of cities, towns, neighborhoods and rural areas to become great places to live for all residents, especially those age 50 and older.“The Community Challenge is a critical part of how AARP Wyoming works with local residents, advocates, and policymakers to make our communities better places to live for people of all ages, especially Wyomingites 50 and over,” says AARP Wyoming State Director Sam Shumway.

This year, the AARP Community Challenge is accepting applications across three different grant opportunities. All projects must be consistent with AARP’s mission to serve the needs of people 50 and older along with other eligibility criteria.

• Capacity-building microgrants are paired with additional resources, such as one-on-one coaching from national nonprofit organizations, webinars, cohort learning opportunities and more for improving walkability, bikeability; implementing safe, accessible home modifications; and disaster preparedness training.
  
• Demonstration grants fund projects that encourage replication of exemplary local efforts. This year’s focus is on improving pedestrian safety with funding support from Toyota Motor North America; expanding high-speed internet access and adoption with funding support from Microsoft; reconnecting communities divided by infrastructure; and implementing housing choice design competitions.

• Flagship grants support projects that improve public places; transportation; housing; digital connections; and community resilience.

“AARP is committed to creating communities where people of all ages and abilities can thrive,” said Nancy LeaMond, AARP Executive Vice President and Chief Advocacy & Engagement Officer. “The Community Challenge helps cities, towns and counties get things started with small improvements that can kick-start meaningful changes that improve people’s lives and strengthens the places they call home.”

Since 2017, AARP has invested $20.1 million toward 1,700 projects – including several in Wyoming - to nonprofit organizations, and government entities across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands through the Community Challenge. The program aims to provide support to all community types, including rural, suburban and urban communities with a special focus on the needs of those 50 and older.

AARP Wyoming works in collaboration with communities across the state, bringing people together, and providing resources and expertise to help make Wyoming’s counties, towns and cities great places to live for people of all ages.

The Community Challenge is open to eligible 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), and 501(c)(6) nonprofit organizations and government entities. Other types of organizations are considered on a case-by-case basis. Grants can range from several hundred dollars for small, short-term activities to tens of thousands for larger projects.

The application deadline is 5:00 p.m. Eastern, March 5, 2025. All projects must be completed by December 15, 2025. To submit an application and view past grantees, visit www.AARP.org/CommunityChallenge.

Past Community Challenge Awards in Wyoming Include:

• In 2024, Rooted in Wyoming received a $15,000 grant. The VA Victory Garden project in Sheridan provides ADA paths, shade and irrigation to promote the health and wellbeing of elderly veterans. These upgrades will support local food production for community resilience and economic empowerment.
• Catholic Charities of Wyoming received $12,000 in 2024. This project replicated a proven Care for Caregiver Workshops model which was piloted in Sheridan, in several Wyoming communities. It will provide training, ongoing support, and materials for the local programs. The program spun off series in Newcastle, Casper, and Cheyenne.
• The City of Evanston/Urban Renewal Agency/Main Street Program received $12,500 in grant funding last year. This project generated a more dynamic and active downtown with the purchase of three, concrete outdoor game tables placed in frequently visited public spaces and easily utilized by older adults and those with limited mobility.
• The American Legion Post in Buffalo received $5,350 in 2024. This project will honor Veterans by installing 500 veterans markers in town cemeteries, and conduct outreach to their loved ones.
• In 2023, The Casper American Legion received $30,000 for its Wyoming’s Fallen Memorial, a monument which will feature the name of every Wyoming citizen who has given their lives in combat defending the freedom of the United State since the start of Wyoming’s statehood. The Casper American Legion has worked with the Disabled American Veterans and Veterans of Foreign Wars to find a way citizens can observe the memorial by foot, wheelchair, or even car. The memorial is located at Patterson Park, along the North Platte River near Fort Caspar.
• The Veterans’ Rock organization out of Cheyenne received $4,000  in 2023 to help provide transportation to older veterans in hopes of helping them to stay independent. Veterans’ Rock will use this money to fund everything from rides in the organization’s vehicles, to city transit, commuter buses, and even to offer basic car repairs. Veterans' Rock, which opened nearly two years ago, is a nonprofit organization created solely to help veterans in need and their families with clothing, personal care items, foods, household goods, small apartment-size furniture, gas and food cards. The organization also offers veterans computers to help with job searches and telehealth, much needed gear, showers, and a washer and dryer for any veteran in need to do laundry.
• Powder River Basin Resource Council (PRBRC) was granted $3,712  in 2023 to provide accessible and safe seating and path lighting at an established community food forest frequented by families and older adults in Sheridan. The PRBRC and a host of dedicated food forest volunteers have been instrumental in developing and maintaining The Sheridan Food Forest over the last five years. The food forest is filled with apple and pear trees, as well as a wild berry thicket, vegetable garden, grape vines and a perennial pollinator garden and much more.
• That same year, Children’s Museum of Cheyenne received $2,645 to provide a space for relaxation and contemplation on ADA-compliant outside benches, on the Children's Museum of Cheyenne property, close to the Greater Cheyenne Greenway. The museum will place the benches at 1618 O’Neal Avenue in Cheyenne and will be built by five retired volunteers.
• In 2022, The Town of Wheatland received $28,000 from AARP in 2021, which it used to construct pickleball courts at Lewis Park on Eighth Street in Wheatland. According to Wheatland officials, there are better than 100 pickleball players in town, ranging in age from 20 to 83. That group struggled to find a place to play last year during the COVID-19 pandemic. Wheatland used its grant funding to repurpose an underutilized area of the City Park. The community removed seven horseshoe pits (leaving five) and replaced them with two outdoor pickleball courts in an area with existing lighting, adjacent to existing restrooms.
• In 2021, Evanston Main Street’s $12,550 grant went towards improving public spaces in downtown, as the Urban Renewal Agency plans to increase outdoor seating with the construction of two swing picnic tables, which will be placed in separate public gathering places.
• The Jackson Hole Land Trust was awarded a $10,250 grant from AARP in 2020 to provide benches in downtown Jackson. The Land Trust will partner with local artists and AARP’s Age Friendly Jackson, to purchase and install at least three locally-made benches. The benches will be located on The Block, a 1.3 acre of downtown greenspace that was recently preserved by the Land Trust. The Block will also include 100-year-old Cottonwood trees, ADA pathways through the greenspace. The Block is on the same street as a local assisted living center, and one block from the Jackson Town Square.
• The Cokeville Senior Citizens Center received $25,000 in 2020 Challenge Grant funds to improve walkability as well as the ability for citizens to access the town’s Senior Center. The grant is part of nearly $47,000 in community improvements, which will also include increasing access to the Cokeville City Park’s pavilion and restrooms, by adding ramps to each. The Cokeville project will include improvements to crumbling concrete, the addition of ramps, and replacement of a raised deck in the courtyard at the Senior Center, which will allow those with wheelchairs, walkers, or canes to take part in outdoor activities at the center.
• In 2019, The North Main Street Association in Sheridan was granted $11,700 to fund a new gazebo, picnic table and nine benches along the North Main Trail. Meanwhile, The Jackson Hole Community Pathways project was awarded a $14,440 grant to help make downtown Jackson a more enjoyable space for the age 50+. Jackson Hole Community Pathways used the money on a design workshop to solicit input from those age 50 and over on downtown walkability, amenities, and activities. Pathways is also coordinating with Cycling Without Age and Teton Adaptive Sports for two Trishaw bikes that will provide rides to seniors around town.
• In 2018, AARP’s Community Challenge program funded projects in Laramie and Rock Springs. In Laramie, a grant of $20,000 to fund a new fully accessible community garden to increase access to healthy food, multi-generational learning opportunities, and support a culture of health for all people living with mobility and disability challenges. In Rock Springs, a $5,000 grant has funded a mural to be prominently displayed in Downtown Rock Springs, which will depict the hard work and sacrifices of local miners and railroad workers.
• In 2017, two Wyoming communities – Casper and Jackson – were awarded Community Challenge Grants. In Casper, the grant provided a safer and more convenient bus stop behind the city’s east side Albertsons at 2625 East Second Street. In Jackson, a similar bus stop was replaced in an area which was cluttered with weeds, a broken down vehicle and other trash in an underserved area of the community. A bench was placed on the site and age-friendly signage entices low-income seniors, disabled individuals, and young families to use the bus system.