Author: Helen Hope

The Champions Institute is back—meet the 20 local leaders joining the new cohort

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The Active People, Healthy Nation℠ Champions Institute—launched in 2020—is our initiative to equip a hand-picked group of elected officials to effectively advocate for and support safer and more complete streets in their communities. Today, we are proud to announce the second cohort of champions: 20 local elected officials who will receive comprehensive training to help them become champions in their communities to promote activity-friendly routes to everyday destinations.

Complete Streets

Wanted: Local, elected champions for Complete Streets

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Applications are open for the second round of our Active People, Healthy NationSM Champions Institute, an opportunity for local elected officials to gain the knowledge needed to effectively advocate for and support safer and more Complete Streets. Building on this year’s inaugural class, this second cohort will receive comprehensive training to help them become champions in their communities to promote activity-friendly routes to everyday destinations.

Complete Streets

Three forward-thinking moments from the “Undoing the Damage of Urban Freeways” webinar

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For decades, transportation planners planned and built urban freeways that destroyed many communities of color and continue to have devastating economic and environmental effects long after their inception. We’ve rounded up three of most intriguing ideas from the “Undoing the Damage of Urban Freeways” webinar to learn from in future planning:

Transportation

Take the Scenic Route: Mariposa Creek Parkway

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One of over 50 case studies included in the newly updated creative placemaking guide, the Scenic Route. Partnering with the Mariposa Arts Council to form a Creative Placemaking Advisory Council, the Mariposa County Planning Department created an artist-led plan to develop a new multi-use trail that celebrates the community’s cultures and ecology.

Creative Placemaking Transportation

Take the Scenic Route: TRAVELS FAR, MTA COVID Memorial

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One of over 50 case studies included in the newly updated creative placemaking guide, the Scenic Route. Portraits of MTA workers who have died from COVID are displayed on screens that normally show maps and service changes, along with a newly commissioned poem, “Travels Far” by the U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith.

Creative Placemaking Transportation

Take the Scenic Route: Everyday Poems for City Sidewalk

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One of over 50 case studies included in the newly updated creative placemaking guide, the Scenic Route. Started by artist Marcus Young 楊墨 in 2008, Everyday Poems for City Sidewalk is a program by the City of Saint Paul that uses the city’s existing sidewalk maintenance program as an opportunity to stamp—and publish—residents’ poetry into its sidewalk network.

Creative Placemaking Transportation

Dangerous By Design 2021

The number of people struck and killed by drivers nationwide while walking increased by an astonishing 45 percent over the last decade (2010-2019). The four most recent years on record (2016-2019) are the most deadly years for pedestrian deaths since 1990. During this ten-year period, 53,435 people were hit and killed by drivers. In 2019, the 6,237 people killed is … Continued

Advocacy Transportation