Six Iowa Organizations Awarded 2024 Community Challenge Grants

We’re excited to announce that six organizations throughout Iowa will receive a combined $72,000 in 2024 AARP Community Challenge grants – part of the largest group of grantees to date with $3.8 million awarded among 343 organizations nationwide. Grantees in Iowa and across the country will implement quick-action projects that help communities become more livable, with an emphasis on the needs of adults age 50 and over.

The AARP Community Challenge funds innovative projects that inspire change in areas such as public places; housing; transportation; diversity, equity, and inclusion; digital connections; community resilience; and more.

Iowa's six 2024 grantees are listed below:

• Bondurant: City of Bondurant ($20,000) – This project will create a garden and trail featuring five works of art displayed along Lake Petocka’s shoreline. The city will also construct a new kayak launch and install seating and lighting onsite.

• Dubuque: Four Mounds Foundation HEART Partnership ($15,000) – Local students will complete home modifications for low-income older adults, allowing them to age in place. The effort will also offer on-the-job training, mentorship and life-planning assistance for participating students.

• Monticello: Monticello Public Library ($15,000) – The library will purchase a mobile kitchen to host health and nutrition classes. Programming for adults will focus on making healthy, budget-conscious food choices while classes for children and teens will cover cooking and kitchen basics.

• Walcott: City of Walcott ($12,000) – The city will revitalize one tennis court with new asphalt and paint and convert a second court into pickleball courts.

• Des Moines: The Avenues of Ingersoll and Grand ($7,500) – This project will install signage in front of local businesses alerting drivers to look out for cyclists and pedestrians using the roadway.

• Iowa City: Plan + Place with Morningside Glendale Neighborhood Association ($2,500) – Two sets of walk audits will bring together older adults, students and local stakeholders. The first will identify safety challenges along corridors connecting a high school and senior center. The second will identify placemaking opportunities to enhance walkability and highlight the history of multimodal transportation in the Morningside-Glendale neighborhood.

View the full list of grantees and their project descriptions at aarp.org/communitychallenge and learn more about AARP’s livable communities work at aarp.org/livable.