Aarp Awarding Five Community Challenge Grants Totaling $57,000 To Improve Communities On Maui

AARP is awarding five grants totaling $57,000 to improve communities on Maui, part of $139,000 given to 12 organizations throughout Hawai‘i through the AARP Livable Communities 2026 Community Challenge grant program.

Marking the program’s 10th anniversary, the grants are part of an $8.3 million commitment by AARP, doubling last year’s total, to fund 750 quick-action projects nationwide aimed at making communities more livable for people of all ages, especially older adults. The funds support improvements to public spaces, transportation, housing, digital connectivity, disaster preparedness, and other local priorities that help improve social connections and strengthen neighborhoods and towns of all sizes.

The Maui County projects are:

• $15,000 to the Ho’olehua Homesteader’s Association to complete home repairs for kūpuna to improve safety and comfort for Hawaiian homestead residents living on fixed incomes.
• $15,000 to the Krause Family Foundation ʻAlana Ke ʻAloha to establish a Kupuna Homesteader community garden in Ho’olehua, Moloka’i, creating an accessible outdoor space that enhances local food security, preserves cultural agricultural knowledge, and strengthens intergenerational community bonds.
• $15,000 to Our Kūpuna to support a ride-hailing dispatch service to coordinate trips for kūpuna impacted by wildfires who face barriers accessing rideshare services on their own.
• $9,500 to the Pacific Cancer Foundation for home safety workshops on Maui to teach simple room-by-room changes to prevent falls. Education and safety kits will help older adults remain secure during recovery and daily living.|
• $2,500 to the Maui Emergency Management Agency to support community workshops to teach emergency preparedness in neighborhoods across Maui County.

“There’s a lot of kūpuna here on fixed incomes,” Tricia Mersberg of the Ho‘olehua Homestead Association said about its grant to repair the homes of kūpuna in the community. “We also have people in our community who lend a hand with labor. We are really, really proud of our community starting to gather and become one again. And it’s all around helping kūpuna.”

“These projects will directly improve the quality of life for kupuna and other residents on Maui and Molokaʻi. They help make kūpuna safer by increasing awareness of fall prevention and disaster preparation and help with transportation,” said Keali‘i Lopez, AARP Hawai‘i state director. “Thanks to Community Challenge grants, we’re empowering residents to implement impactful improvements that make a sizeable difference.”

Since 2017, the AARP Community Challenge has awarded more than $553,000 through grants in Hawai’i to about 40 nonprofit organizations and local government entities across the state.

Other 2026 projects in Hawai‘i are:

• $15,000 to the Rice Street Business Association to enhance downtown Līhuʻe public spaces through native plant restoration, seating and shade.
• $15,000 to Leadership Kaua‘i to build an accessible community garden with raised beds, shaded seating and wide pathways.
• $12,000 to Project Vision Hawaiʻi to build a wheelchair-accessible ramp at a Līhuʻe residential medical respite site to help residents reach housing, recovery services and food programs.
• $15,000 to the Rotary District 5000 Foundation for security fencing, landscaping to finish Centennial Park and add needed green and recreation space in urban Waikīkī.
• $2,500 to the Kūpuna Paws Foundation to support their pet-inclusive home safety education for kūpuna, including in-home visits.
• $7,700 to Kailua Alert & Prepared to equip and train volunteers supporting community points of distribution sites with food, supplies and portable communications using a Starlink satellite internet connection to help maintain communication during a disaster when regular communications fail.
• $15,000 to EAH Housing to provide digital literacy classes to residents at Hale Nā Koa ‘O Hanakahi, a 92-unit affordable housing community in Hilo primarily serving senior veterans and their surviving spouses.

Some pedestrian safety initiatives will be funded with support from Toyota Motor North America and projects that expand high-speed internet access and adoption will be funded with support from Microsoft.