Best Complete Streets Initiatives: VELO Bloomfield
Based in Bloomfield, NJ (18 miles from New York City), VELO is a media and advocacy organization that informs and educates the public and policymakers on how to make the streets of Northern New Jersey safer for people, regardless of gender, age, race, disability, and/or socioeconomic status. VELO approach to equity includes raising the profile of transportation issues to policy and decision makers in working class, Latinx, and African-American communities. VELO excels in their community engagement efforts by not requiring people to alter their daily routines to participate. Since their launch, they have championed Complete Streets implementation, particularly in the immediate Bloomfield area, and amplified the voices of community members around transportation policies.
Millinocket, Maine epitomizes the plight of many rural communities across the country that struggle as legacy industries or major employers that once helped sustain a place slow down or close altogether. Millinocket has found new hope in part by pairing improved broadband internet access with a new focus on downtown revitalization, giving the community the chance to take hold of their future and “actually build something” new.
