Shake off the Mondays on May 8th by joining in an evening stroll along the beautiful North Fork of Peachtree Creek. You’ll learn about native and invasive species inhabiting the area and how the PCG will help to preserve and facilitate the enjoyment of nature for generations to come. Sponsored by America Walks and AARP
America Walks
Webinar Authentic Community Engagement – Best Practices for Equitable Work
Join America Walks for presentations and a robust Q & A dialogue with active transportation professionals, nonprofit leaders, and equitable engagement experts around what it means to practice and build authentic community engagement with diverse coalitions as the foundation for driving those vital relationships. Panelists will share their best practices for equitable work in striving for inclusive, accessible, connected, and walkable communities – through the lens of their invaluable learned, professionally practiced and lived experiences. Among the details covered, presenters will lean into the importance of acknowledging past harms and learning how to demonstrate an awareness and distinction of active transportation and walkability work as a true tool for empowerment vs. a weapon of racialized oppression.
Webinar: Best Practices for Hosting a Virtual Walking Event
In a year that carried the undertone of general collective heartache and cancelled in-person events we learned a whole lot – and one thing we learned was the vast power and potential for virtual convenings and events to successfully connect people from all walks of life around walking, moving and advocating for healthy, people-first communities.
Hear from panelists from three different walking/moving organizations who have recent, hands-on experience and knowledge around developing virtual walking/moving events in our sphere. Registration and more information.
Webinar: Storytelling for Active Transportation Advocates
How can we reach more people and convince them of the benefits of inclusive and accessible walkable communities? We have incredible data on how they improve health, the climate, the economy and our quality of life – but data alone often doesn’t carry the day. We’ve put together a panel of creative and experienced communicators to share their ideas about how to cut through the clutter and move people to action. Registration and more information.
Webinar: The Biden Administration and Transportation Policy
The inauguration of President Joe Biden and the appointment of Pete Buttigieg as USDOT leader creates the potential for a dramatic shift in U.S. transportation policy. We’ve already heard discussions of complete streets, sidewalk construction, increased transit funding and removal of highways that divided Black communities. How big a shift will it be? What is currently in the works? We’ve put together a panel that is engaged in watching, and pushing, the Biden Administration on transportation policy. Join us for a panel discussion and Q and A to learn their insights. More information.
Webinar: What Can a Body Do? How We Meet the Built World – a conversation with author Sara Hendren
Join America Walks for a conversation with Sara Hendren about her book What Can a Body Do? How We Meet the Built World. Walking or wheeling, accompanied or alone, getting around in public space means getting into the public sphere–and for people with disabilities, the very fabric of streets and sidewalks and architecture has had to be remade, edited and altered, to make moving around possible for all of us. Sharing the city and sharing civic life isn’t easy or obvious, but the design of those spaces can help us build the collective futures we want. Sara Hendren, design researcher at Olin College, will share stories and examples of the generative, surprising, and universally human ways we can think anew about the design of our homes, workplaces, city streets and more. Registration and more information.
Main Street: How a City’s Heart Connects Us All – a conversation with author Mindy Thompson Fullilove
Join America Walks for a conversation with Mindy Thompson Fullilove about her recently released book Main Street: How a City’s Heart Connects Us All. Main Streets, already weakened by malls and online shopping, have taken a terrible beating because of the need to shelter-in-place during the Covid-19 pandemic. Yet Main Streets are centers for conviviality which is crucial to creativity and imagination — so important for surviving all the challenges we face. This webinar will investigate how Main Streets work and what they need from us now. More information.
Join America Walks Sept. 8, 1-2 p.m. Eastern for a review and discussion of Angie Schmitt’s new book, Right of Way: Race, Class, and the Silent Epidemic of Pedestrian Deaths in America. Angie was the long-time national editor at Streetsblog and her writing has appeared in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Bicycling, GOOD, and Landscape Architecture Magazine.
Right of Way documents the traffic violence that occurs daily on America’s streets and reveals the racist policies and practices that create this tragedy. The webinar will be hosted by Charles Brown, America Walks Board Member and senior researcher with the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers University, who wrote the foreword to the book.
Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities – A conversation with author Andre Perry
Join America Walks for a conversation with Andre M. Perry about his book Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities. Dr. Perry gives an overview of five Black Majority cities and provides detailed analysis of how the assets and strengths of these places have been devalued. The book is both research and memoir. As we look for ways to address structural racism in community design, knowing and valuing the strengths and assets of black communities is essential. Dr. Perry provides a frame for doing just that. In this conversation, Dr. Perry will outline the multiple assets present in black communities and give direction on how to value them. Following his presentation, he will answer questions from the moderators and the attendees. Register
Research in Action: Trends in How Municipalities Are Addressing Increased Demand for Safe Public Space Webinar
This webinar will describe various strategies communities are implementing in response to increased demands for safe public space for walking and cycling during the COVID-19 crisis. Researchers at UNC’s Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center will present on an effort to collect and analyze data on these strategies in order to identify community-based factors related to their adoption, impacts, long-term viability, and potential unintended consequence. This webinar is intended for those just starting out on the walking path as well as those interested in learning more about the topic. More information and registration.