AARP Wisconsin Livable Communities Hub
Posted on 12/20/24
Livable Community Initiatives
Approximately 45 million Americans are age 65 or older. By 2030, that number will reach 73 million Americans. At that point, one in five Americans will be older than 65. By 2034, the United States will — for the first time ever — be a country comprised of more older adults than of children. AARP Livable Communities supports the efforts of neighborhoods, towns, cities and rural areas to be great places for people of all ages. We believe that communities should provide safe, walkable streets; age-friendly housing and transportation options; access to needed services; and opportunities for residents of all ages to participate in community life.
News You Can Use
By Amber Miller, Sr. Assoc. State Director of Outreach, AARP
Madison, Wisconsin, like many cities across the United States, is grappling with a housing crisis that affects residents across the socioeconomic spectrum. One promising solution lies in the development of “missing middle housing,” a term popularized by architect Daniel Parolek to describe a range of multi-unit or clustered housing types that are compatible in scale with single-family homes.
AARP is working across the nation to make their communities more livable for people of all ages. Among the keys to creating more livable communities is housing that is both adaptable and suitable for the changing needs and demographics of American households.
AARP has been working at the local level to improve pedestrian safety, expand affordable housing and make neighborhoods more livable.
By Mike Murphy – AARP volunteer, Onalaska
Now, more than ever, we need innovative housing solutions to meet the needs for today’s families – and tomorrow's. The high cost and lack of available new living space presents today’s families with unique housing challenges. There’s a solution we’re all familiar with and homeowners have called them carriage houses or mother-in-law suites for decades. But, today they have a new name: Accessory Dwelling Units, or ADUs.
AARP is collaborating with the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse to help Wisconsinites stay active with the Walk with an Eagle program, which pairs up older adults and students for weekly walks. AARP also hosts Walk with a Doc in Milwaukee and is planning events around the state this year to promote pedestrian safety.
A proposal to improve safety at the nearly two dozen Farmers’ Market on Broadway events in Green Bay this spring and summer by having a portable Automated External Defibrillator (AED) on site has been selected to receive this month’s AARP Wisconsin “Small Dollar, Big Impact” grant.
A proposal submitted by the Green County Development Corp. (GCDC) to beautify and create safer people-friendly spaces in downtown Albany has been selected to receive our “Small Dollar, Big Impact” grant. We are awarding 1,000 grants each month this year to projects across the state that are designed to make communities better places for everyone to live, work and play as they age.
A proposal submitted by the Wisconsin Council of the Blind & Visually Impaired to create signage for three garden spaces and four flowerpots in the Council’s sensory garden at 754 Williamson St., Madison, has been selected to receive this month’s AARP Wisconsin “Small Dollar, Big Impact” grant.
Everyone should feel safe crossing a street. But the streets can be dangerous, especially for older Americans.
A proposal submitted by Adoray Home Health and Hospice in Baldwin to provide robotic pets for patients with dementia has been selected to receive this month’s AARP Wisconsin “Small Dollar, Big Impact” grant. The $1,000 grant will help the organization to continue purchasing these robotic pets, which cost about $150 each.
A proposal by the VIA Community Development Corporation (CDC) to revamp a “story garden” community space in a southside Milwaukee neighborhood lot has been selected to receive an AARP Wisconsin “Small Dollar, Big Impact” grant.
A proposal to equip a fleet of piloted adaptive bicycles with an automated external defibrillator (AED) has been selected to receive this month’s AARP Wisconsin “Small Dollar, Big Impact” grant. The $1,000 grant will help River Valley Trails, Inc. fund the cost of purchasing an AED to make bicycling trips safer for those of all ages.
We are thrilled to announce that six projects in five cities throughout Wisconsin will receive a combined $84,300 in 2023 Community Challenge grants. Grants will be awarded to two projects in Milwaukee and one each in Altoona, La Crosse, River Falls and Stevens Point.
A proposal submitted by the Tenney-Lapham Neighborhood Association (TLNA) in Madison to add benches and more fruit plants to its popular Reynolds Community Food Garden has been selected to receive this month’s AARP Wisconsin “Small Dollar, Big Impact” grant.
A proposal to double or possibly even triple the size of a small native plant garden exhibit on the grounds of the Thomas St. Angelo Public Library, 1305 2nd Ave., has been selected to receive an AARP Wisconsin “Small Dollar, Big Impact” grant.
