Reflecting on a Year of Growth
This year has been full of exciting changes and growth for Cal Walks! As we stride into a new decade, we reflect on our accomplishments and look forward to living out our new vision with your support.
Our Ask:
Every tweet, share, e-mail, kind word, and donation encourages us to keep working to create safe, just, and inclusive streets and public spaces. Please consider supporting our work through an end-of-the-year gift or becoming a monthly partner.
Our Commitment:
We spent much of 2019 reflecting on how to continue pushing for innovative legislation, developing community-centered programs, and collaborating with like-minded partners. We’ve renewed our commitment to safe, just, and inclusive streets through our new vision, core values, and guiding principles. We are working so all Californians can move and exist in public spaces with confidence, dignity, and security.
Muscoy Elementary School parents participate in a Spanish-facilitated CPBST and share their experiences walking and biking in the community.
Our Team:
We welcomed new team members, Nikita Sinha and Theresa Do to the San Jose team and Alma Leyva Orozco to the Southern California team.
Our Look:
We launched our new website, making it easier to stay connected and get updates on all our work across the state. Sign up for our newsletter!
Our Work:
Through our Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Training (CPBST) program work, we’ve continued to engage communities and over 100 local experts; co-empowering them to develop and implement their own community visions. Our work with monolingual Spanish speakers and our collaboration with Cooperativa Brújulas has strengthened our commitment to language justice. This year, they translated reports from English to Spanish and coached us through their work making the Spanish language gender neutral. Check out their translations of the Muscoy CPBST report!
In San Joaquin County, we supported San Joaquin Public Health Services in identifying 10 priority schools to implement Safe Routes to School strategies. We provided school arrival and dismissal observations, walking audits, and interviews with school administration. We led four parent workshops to inform suggested walking routes for students at four of the ten priority schools. Learn more by checking out the San Joaquin County Public Health Services Safe Routes to School 2019 report.
Walk San Jose partnered with Orchard Elementary for Walk to School Day and had over 170 students walk, roll, and bike to school. The San Jose team also worked with Bay Area Families for Safe Streets and AileenQ.org to hold San Jose’s third annual World Day of Remembrance.
Parents and students on their way to school on the walking school bus.
Our Policy Work:
Our greatest success was supporting integral change to the California Transportation Commission (CTC) and seeing Tamika Butler be formally announced as a new commissioner!
Our team worked diligently to get SB 127 (Wiener): Complete Streets for Active Living through the legislative process and to the Governor’s desk. Even though the Governor vetoed the bill against overwhelming support in the Legislature, we will continue to fight for safe streets. Sign our Complete Streets petition now!
Our team continues to support the Greenfield Walking Group (GWG) who are focused on hosting Safe Routes to Parks activation events including, a color run, and pop-up demonstrations of improved access to the park. They are also working on developing a formal plan for three parks.
In San Jose, we worked with local partners to keep the City accountable for traffic safety by calling for quarterly reporting on progress to City Council and requesting that San Jose Department of Transportation (SJDOT) develop an unconstrained list of projects needed to eliminate traffic fatalities.
Our team worked with SJDOT to scope and submit an application for a citywide Pedestrian Master Plan centered around equity and community engagement. We also secured funding through the Voices for Healthy Kids initiative to campaign for a dedicated complete streets infrastructure fund in the City’s 2020-21 budget.
In November, we hosted our first Emerging Transportation Technology Roundtable series in Los Angeles. Local advocates from Southern California talked about the changing transportation landscape along with community-centered opportunities for policy and programming. We will continue the series in 2020 with convenings in the Bay Area, Central Valley, and a youth-focused gathering in Los Angeles.
Want to stay connected? Sign up for our e-mail newsletter and get regular updates in the new year.
We wish you a safe and joyous holiday season,
Cal Walks Team
Some of Cal Walks’ staff and board members after a strategic planning meeting in November 2019.