California Walks is seeking presenters and panelists to share their ideas and works at our biennial PedsCount! summit on October 18-19 in San José. This summit will convene around 200 advocates, activists, academics, planners, community leaders, policymakers and other allies in advancing walkable, accessible, and just streets and communities in California.

The deadline to submit a proposal is Friday, June 22, 2018, 5 PM. The Programming Committee will accept or decline your proposal by Friday, June 29, 2018.

This call solicits three types of proposals: (1) individual presentations, (2) panel participation/development (3) mobile workshops and tours. Proposals will be judged according to the selection criteria below and without regard to the type of proposal submitted. The majority of breakout sessions are 60 minutes long with one breakout session period being 90 minutes. Individual presentations expected to be 15-20 minutes in length. The Programming Committee reserves the right to combine proposals and/or request changes to your proposal as a condition of inclusion in the program.

2018 Themes and Questions

This year at PedsCount!, we will foreground the complex relationships between walk-friendly environments, housing, and equity in our collective efforts to advance healthy, sustainable, and just communities. We’ll consider the past, present and future of housing and transportation in California. How did we get here? How can we build better interdisciplinary coalitions? And what role do technology and social justice have in the future of planning communities?

Theme 1 – History of California Cities: planners and advocates make many assumptions in their understanding of the clockwork rules of creating inclusive, sustainable cities from scratch—however, we never start from scratch. Every generation inherits the conflicts, vulnerabilities, and resiliencies of the last. Without understanding that history—from colonialism to redlining, to suburbanization and urban renewal, what chance do we have to create processes and solutions that include the needs and voices of everyone?

Theme 2 – Here and Now: a scarcity model of advocacy that pits housing, mobility, and equity against one another is doomed to fail. With limited and often restricted resources, how can we prioritize building holistic movements that seek collective, aligned impact to advance a more just built environment? Is “NIMBY vs YIMBY” a useful lens for advancing equity in the built environment? How can advocates for walking & rolling, social justice, and sustainable development align our goals and strategies more effectively? Are there inherent conflicts to planning for short term stability and long term sustainability, and how should that conflict inform our approach?

Theme 3 – Future Proof: new and emerging technologies—from autonomous vehicles (AVs) to on-demand ride-hail services and electric-assist bikes and scooters—are changing the way we move and plan for movement at a breakneck pace and transforming neighborhoods in the process. Instead of asking whether technology is good or bad, let’s ask: what mobility challenges are we prioritizing and how can communities, cities, and innovators work towards a tech culture that puts health, safety, and inclusion first?

Presenter Deliverables

When you submit a proposal, you agree to provide the deliverables and meet the deadlines established by the Program Committee if your presentation is accepted. These include confirming your participation and that of other people included in your proposal; providing the Programming Committee with complete and accurate contact and biographical information for all speakers included in your proposal; collaborating with the assigned session moderator to deliver a planning meeting; and delivering a final version of your presentation in PowerPoint format before the conference. You also agree to register for the PedsCount! Summit in advance: Speakers receive a discounted registration rate of $150 for both days or $125 for 1 day.Additionally, partial and full scholarships will be made available—dependent upon funding—to speakers who contribute to the diversity of the Summit and who require financial assistance for registration, travel, and/or lodging.

Summary of deliverables and deadlines:

June 29—Confirm acceptance and all speakers; provide full contact information, a professional biography (about 100 words), and a photo (head shot)
Month of July—All session speakers participate in a planning meeting with assigned session moderator
August 17—Deadline for Speaker Registration
September 14—Deadline to Submit Handouts and Final Version of Presentation

Selection Criteria

Preference will be given to proposals that:

Demonstrate partnerships between community residents, advocacy organizations, and government;
Deliver cutting-edge information or detail innovative approaches;
Emphasize replicable examples, success stories, and/or case studies;
Include community members, special populations (people with disabilities, youth, seniors, etc.), and underrepresented communities (people of color, low-income residents, non-English speakers) as panelists;
Contribute to the racial/ethnic, linguistic, and geographic diversity of the Summit; or
Provide interactive or hands-on exercises (practice implementation, design review, role-play, etc.).

Session/Presentation Proposal Form

Deadline for submission is 5:00 PM Pacific Time on June 22, 2018.

Click HERE to submit your proposal

below is a summary of the fields in the google form. You may wish to copy it into a Word document to compile your responses before clicking through to the form.

What are you proposing?

Individual Presentation (15-20 min.)
Full Session (60 Min)
Mobile Workshop or Tour

Name:

Organization:

Title:

Mailing Address:

Email:

Phone Number:

Title for your Presentation/Session:

Which of our themes is most relevant to your proposal

Proposed Session Presenter(s):
(include name, title, organization, e-mail address & phone number)
Presenter 1

Presenter 2

Presenter 3

Do any presenters require financial assistance to attend
the Summit and present? If so, which presenter(s)? Please describe the financial need of the presenter(s).

Diversity of Proposed Session Presenter(s) (250 words) The Committee seeks to feature a diverse set of voices from across the state that reflects California’s population and seeks diversity in the following areas: racial/ethnic; gender; geographic; age (youth and seniors); ability; linguistic (non-English speakers); and non-traditional partners (non-transportation focused groups).

How do(es) the proposed session presenter(s) contribute to the diversity of the Summit? Please explain how each presenter contributes, as well as how the panel as a
whole contributes to the Summit’s diversity.

Community Partnerships (250 words):
Describe how your work/presentation demonstrates partnerships between community residents, advocates and/or government agencies. Has your work engaged non-traditional partners in transportation issues?

How does your work/presentation highlight and address
community-identified transportation needs and priorities?

Learning Objectives:
Please provide 1-2 for individual presentation/mobile workshop; 3-4 for full session.

Learning objectives should outline the concrete, practical takeaways attendees will be able to use to inform or
apply to their own work in their community.
Objective 1

Objective 2

Objective 3

Objective 4

PedsCount! 2018 Call for Presenters