The Massachusetts Healthy Aging Collaborative is pleased to promote the following funding opportunities that advance inclusive age- and dementia friendly communities:
- Commonwealth Places – MassDevelopment (Expression of Interest deadline: March 17th).
MassDevelopment’s “Commonwealth Places” is a competitive opportunity to advance locally driven placemaking in downtown and neighborhood commercial districts in communities throughout Massachusetts. Placemaking is a collaborative process through which people in communities work together to improve vacant, underutilized or repurposed publicly-accessible spaces and maximize their shared value. The process facilitates creative patterns of use, and leverages the local physical, cultural, and social assets that define a place and support its ongoing evolution.
MassDevelopment will award seed grants between $2,500 – $15,000. A 1:1 local match, either cash or in-kind is required. They will also award place-making implementation grants between $5,000 and $50,000 to projects within this funding category. A 1:1 local cash match is required.
More information on Commonwealth Places is available here.
- AARP Community Challenge Grant (deadline 3/15)
The AARP Community Challenge provides small grants to fund quick-action projects that can help communities become more livable for people of all ages. In 2023, the AARP Community Challenge is accepting applications across three different grant opportunities, two of which are new this year.
Applications are due by 5pm on March 15th.
The flagship AARP Community Challenge grants have ranged from several hundred dollars for smaller, short-term activities to tens of thousands of dollars for larger projects. Since 2017, AARP has funded projects ranging from $500 to $50,000 with an average grant amount of $11,900 (83 percent of grants have been under $20,000.) AARP reserves the right to award compelling projects of any dollar amount.