AARP Community Challenge

AARP Community Challenge is sponsored by AARP. The AARP Community Challenge funds quick-action projects that can help communities become more livable for people of all ages. This can include projects that improve public spaces, such as parks and playgrounds.

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D. , was funded by an AARP Community Challenge grant. Megan Langley/Strengthen ND Over the past decade, the AARP Community Challenge has invested $24.

3 million in grants in 2,100 communit y p r o j e c t s jump-starting improvements like pickleball courts, shaded walking paths, accessible bus stops and other projects that make towns more age-friendly. This year, due to th e program’s success, the pool of available grant money has doubled from $4 million to $8 million, says Mike Watson, director of AARP’s Livable Communities initiative, which oversees the grant program.

Watson anticipates the program will now be able to help twice as many nonprofits and local governments take on short-term, small-scale projects. These kinds of projects can have an immediate impact on a community and create long-term change. The deadline for applications is March 4.

“The Community Challenge is really designed to spark the imagination of the community,” Watson says. Accessible housing, local transportation and public spaces are the main funding focus, he says. The ideal project is something neighbors can see, feel or touch — a community garden, a safer intersection or, in the case of Souris, North Dakota, a mural that stretches across the side of a former bank.

Surrounded by corn, wheat and soybean farms, and located just nine miles south of the Canadian border, Souris once had a population of 400. Three banks, five churches and four general stores, along with hotels and restaurants, lined its streets at the dawn of the 20th century. Today, it’s a town of 37 with a post office, bar, gas station and fire department.

The local school closed in the 1990s. Applications and information on the Community Challenge grant are available here . The deadline for submissions is March 4, 2026.

A sample application is available to review, and a question and answer webinar will be held Jan. 27 at 2 p. m.

ET. Register here . When Megan Langley, executive director of the rural development nonprofit Strengthen ND , moved the organization to Souris , she applied for a Community Challenge grant to paint a mural on an old building to showcase the town’s history and raise spirits.

A $1 0, 500 grant from AARP enabled Strengthen ND to create a brightly colored mural featuring a blue jay, the town’s former school mascot. It was selected, says Langley, because the community expressed pride either for their time as students, when they worked at the school or watched the sports teams. The artist painted the mural over the course of a weekend in October.

Langley says she often spots people standing still and looking at it. “Some of the best responses are when people don’t say anything at all,” she says. “When you haven’t had anything good happen for a while, to get a little bit of a taste of what that could feel like and the pride that you can have back in your community, I think it’s so meaningful and helpful,” Langley says.

R e s p o n d i n g t o community needs The Community Challenge program grew out of local, individual initiatives that AARP state offices help communities undertake. Even after becoming a national program in 201 7, it has stayed true to those roots. Approximately 40 percent of grants are allocated to rural communities, providing many with the opportunity to show other grant-making institutions what they can deliver.

After completing a project, about half of Community Challenge grant recipients report that they go on to receive funds from other organizations. Communities can apply for three types of grants. Flagship grants can range from a few hundred dollars to $15,000.

While the grants cannot be used to buy land, buildings or vehicles, they can improve housing, access to public transportation and create parks and gardens. Growing priorities in recent years have been disaster management and accessing high-speed internet, Watson says.

The Southern Oklahoma Library System used a flagship grant to create two private, soundproof spaces for telehealth appointments, saving the residents of rural Johnston County a two-hour drive to see doctors in Oklahoma City. Demonstration grants , typically $10,000 to $2 0,000, focus on specific issue areas: pedestrian safety, digital connections and housing design competitions.

Tucson, Arizona , used this type of grant to host a competition for accessory dwelling unit (ADU) designs to create more affordable housing options. Residents now have access to a library of 60 designs approved by the city. Capacity-building microgrants offer $2,500 and are built around expert support and A A R P resources, such as the AARP Walk Audit Tool Kit and the AARP Bike Audit Tool Kit .

In Houston, Texas, the Citizens’ Transportation Coalition did a 4. 5-mile walk audit along a residential street, gathering data they shared with local leaders. Join Our Fight to Improve Aging in America ​​ Here's what you can do to help: Find out more about how we’re fighting for you every day in Congress and across the country.

AARP is your fierce defender on the issues that matter to people 50-plus. Become a member or renew your membership today. Since the mural has been up in Souris, Langley says other communities have asked how they can create a mural in their town.

“I think what makes the program so special is that it really funds tangible, real things, and that’s intentional. We want people to see and understand what it means to be a livable community,” Watson says. Unlike many grants, the process from application to completed project is intentionally short.

Groups apply by March, receive an answer by May and wrap up their project in December. The application is designed to be easy for even the first-time grant writer, Watson says. Deirdre van Dyk is an AARP associate editor.

She previously worked at USA Today and Time , where she covered business, government, sustainability and innovation. Unlock Access to AARP Members Edition Get instant access to members-only products and hundres of discounts of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP The Magazine .

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