2026-2027 Innovative Grant Program Recipients
Raices en Movimiento
Corazon Latino
(Washington, DC)
Raíces en Movimiento (Roots in Motion) is a culturally grounded community program created by Corazón Latino that brings together people living with dementia, care partners, and intergenerational participants through music, movement, and nature-based experiences. Held in accessible parks and community green spaces, the program combines live music, guided movement, and forest therapy to foster connection, well-being, and present-moment engagement in a welcoming, non-clinical environment. In partnership with local organizations and agencies, the initiative expands access to meaningful dementia-inclusive programming for underserved communities while developing a bilingual toolkit to help other organizations replicate the model and build stronger, more connected communities.
Campus Connections
University of Mount Union
(Alliance, OH)
Campus Connections is an intergenerational program that brings people living with dementia and their care partners into the heart of university life. Participants join in monthly, themed experiences across campus that blend social connection, movement, creativity, and sensory engagement. The program strengthens intergenerational relationships, supports care partners, and fosters a more inclusive campus culture where dementia is understood through strengths, connection, and shared experience.
Each session is co-led by faculty, staff, students, and campus departments and follows a consistent, supportive structure. A rotating “passport” model invites participants to explore different campus spaces—from the nature center and athletics programs to the arts, sciences, engineering, and student life—while building familiarity and a strong sense of belonging.
Neighborhood Hunt: Mapping Memories, Walking Together
Design Research for Active Living Lab (Fiscal Sponsor: Center for Health Systems & Design,
Texas A&M University)
(College Station, TX)
Neighborhood Hunt: Mapping Memories, Walking Together is an innovative community-based program that transforms everyday walks into engaging neighborhood scavenger hunts for people living with dementia and their care partners. Through mapping meaningful places, designing personalized walking routes, and exploring familiar neighborhoods together, participants build confidence, strengthen wayfinding skills, increase physical activity, and foster social connection. The project also gathers valuable insights into the features that make communities more dementia-friendly.
Resiliency in Motion: A Dementia Wellness Program
Mystic Valley Elder Services, Inc.
(Malden, MA)
Resiliency in Motion: A Dementia Wellness Program
The Mystic Valley Aging Services (MVAS) Resiliency in Motion program is a community-based wellness initiative that brings people living with dementia and their family caregivers together through adapted fitness and shared movement. Designed to strengthen both physical health and emotional well-being, the program offers six-weekly sessions led by a certified fitness professional alongside dementia-trained support staff.
Each session begins with separate warm-up activities for caregivers and participants before coming together for a joint exercise class focused on balance, strength, mobility, and confidence. This unique approach provides caregivers with peer support while creating meaningful opportunities for shared connection and success. By combining evidence-based physical activity with person-centered dementia support, Resiliency in Motion promotes dignity, social engagement, and healthy aging for both people living with dementia and those who care for them.
Expressing Memories
Cuyahoga County Public Library
(Parma, OH)
Expressing Memories is a creative engagement program from Cuyahoga County Public Library that helps people living with dementia share their stories through writing, storytelling, and oral history projects. Building on the success of the library’s Refreshing Memories Cafés, the program offers guided creative writing workshops and one-on-one oral history recording sessions that encourage self-expression, connection, and lifelong learning. Participants create meaningful keepsakes that celebrate their experiences, while caregivers and family members are invited to share in the creative process. By combining the resources of the library’s Writers’ Center and Memory Lab, Expressing Memories provides innovative opportunities for individuals living with dementia to preserve personal stories, strengthen social connections, and engage as valued members of their community.
All Aboard! Outdoors!
Sandpoint Friendship Station
(Sandpoint, ID)
Sandpoint Friendship Station’s “All Aboard! Outdoors!” program is a dementia-friendly, community-based initiative that uses therapeutic sailing and other outdoor experiences to help people living with dementia stay engaged, active, and connected. In partnership with local organizations such as Dogsmile Adventures, the program brings participants, care partners, volunteers, and families together for hands-on activities rooted in recreation and lifelong interests. Centered on accessible, stigma-free engagement in familiar community spaces and on the water, the program blends social connection, purposeful activity, and outdoor adventure through guided sailing experiences, shore-based skill-building, and intergenerational participation.
Our Town: An Immersive Occupational Experience
Juliette Fowler Communities
(Dallas, TX)
Our Town: An Immersive Occupational Experience is a purpose-driven dementia engagement program at Juliette Fowler that uses interactive “Career Stations” linked by a model train that “transports” people living with dementia to reconnect with meaningful roles from their past. Designed around life history and vocational identity, the program allows participants to revisit familiar occupations—such as teacher, nurse, mechanic, or caregiver—through hands-on, sensory-rich environments that encourage participation, conversation, and connection. Families, staff, and community volunteers are invited to participate, making the experience both intergenerational and community-centered.
