Every March, schools participate in the Golden Sneaker Contest. Students record how they get to school each day, and the classroom with the most active and shared transportation gets the Golden Sneaker Trophy (made with donated shoes from the Golden State Warriors). The Alameda County Transportation Commission (ACTC) also presents a Platinum Sneaker Award to the participating school with the most students using sustainable transportation throughout all of Alameda County.
Drum roll, please: the winner of the Platinum Sneaker award is…Lockwood STEAM Academy in the Oakland Unified School District. Congratulations to the Lockwood students, teachers, and staff for an outstanding effort. Special thanks to Safe Routes Champion Rose Chardak for helping make it happen, along with Ms. Brynna Price, whose 3rd- to 5th-grade special education class had an incredible 94% participation rate.
Way to go, Lockwood STEAM!
The legend of the Golden Sneaker
The Golden Sneaker is one of the most popular events that Transform’s team coordinates for the Alameda County Safe Routes to Schools Program. The trophies aren’t fancy: they’re sneakers spray-painted gold and mounted on a homemade wooden stand. But students know they’re competing for more than a used shoe — it represents the pride to be able to say they supported each other to use the most sustainable transportation.
Oakland High School students even made a rap video to promote the Golden Sneaker at their school.
Congratulations to every classroom that worked together to compete for the Golden Sneaker and every student who tried a new way of getting to school this year. You are all winners!
https://transformca.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/20250307_GSContest_ValleyView_ES_Pleasanton_PERMISSION-scaled.jpeg14401920Emilio Eleneshttps://transformca.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Company-Logo.pngEmilio Elenes2025-05-07 16:39:462025-05-07 18:09:02Announcing the 2025 Golden and Platinum Sneaker Awards
Featured image: Marley from Alameda Community Learning Center reads to kindergarteners at Love Elementary.
The Youth Task Force (YTF), high school students who promote active and shared transportation through the Alameda County Safe Routes to Schools Program, are movers and shakers. They’ve become climate ambassadors and have gone on to pursue higher education in transportation planning. But they haven’t forgotten what it was like to be an elementary school student, and one of the most popular activities for students on the YTF this year has been reading to elementary school classes.
Youth role models
Few things are more exciting to a young person than getting attention from an older kid. Younger students look up to older students and want to emulate their actions. To capitalize on this interest, Safe Routes has created opportunities for high school YTF members to visit local elementary schools to read stories about walking, rolling, and taking the bus.
The students bring with them some of their favorite, fun picture books about transportation, such as Joseph’s Big Ride by Terry Farish, Bear on a Bike by Stella Blackstone,and Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems. Through Transportation Storytime, high schoolers inspire the next generation of transportation advocates.
So far this year, we’ve had high school-led Transportation Storytimes in Castro Valley, Fremont, Livermore, Oakland, and Alameda. A total of 44 high school students have read to 904 elementary school students, and we’re only three quarters of the way through the school year!
One of the most notable Transportation Storytimes this year was an inspired environmental science class that took a field trip from Oakland Technical High School to Piedmont Elementary to read. These are students who aren’t on the Youth Task Force but were given an opportunity to take part in our program and apply their in-class learnings through storytelling.
What’s next?
The Youth Task Force members continue to dream up creative ways to spread the word about different mobility options. For now, we’re still rolling with our reading initiative, and YTF is excited to continue to inspire the next generation to get outside and use their own two feet to get around.
https://transformca.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/20250306_GSStorytime_Love_ACLC_ES_HS_Alameda_17_PERMISSION-scaled-e1743016609328.jpg9381920Michele Walkerhttps://transformca.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Company-Logo.pngMichele Walker2025-03-26 12:17:122025-03-26 12:17:13Youth Task Force Reads to Elementary Students
The policies of the new administration in D.C. have created ripples in the communities Transform works with as part of the Alameda County Safe Routes to Schools Program. We serve many mixed-status families. At times like these, fear can run high, leading parents to keep students home from school, impeding their education.
The Transform Site Coordinator Team, through the Safe Routes Program, has tools like the walking school buses, which can do more than help children walk safely to school. By providing safety in numbers and sharing the work of shepherding students to school safely, walking school buses can also help protect parents and youth who might be targeted by ICE.
Here are some things you can do to help keep your school community safe for all students to learn.
Start a walking school bus
A walking school bus is a simple concept: a group of students walks to school together with adult supervision. The “bus” follows a route that takes it through the neighborhood, stopping at designated meeting points and picking up more young people on the way.
The adults who chaperone the bus can be an informal rotation of parents or trained volunteers. Our team can help connect you to resources like toolkits in English and Spanish, as well as other resources developed by the Alameda County Safe Routes to Schools Program to get started.
What to do if ICE approaches your walking school bus
The adults leading your walking school bus should educate themselves about what to do if approached by ICE agents and make a plan. Your plan should include:
If you see immigration agents, move the group to a safe indoor space nearby. This could be the home of a family with students taking the bus, a recreation center, or, if you’re close enough, a school building.
If you can’t move indoors, stay calm and try to keep the students calm. Try to keep everyone together.
Adults and youth have the right to refuse to answer questions. You have the right to refuse to be searched.
Immigrants who are legal residents should carry their papers. They may wish to show them to ICE.
An adult who is a U.S. citizen may wish to film the interaction. However, no one should interfere with or try to impede ICE.
Prepare ahead of time by creating a contact list, including emergency contacts, for everyone in your walking school bus, and make sure route leaders carry copies with them.
If you see a walking school bus or other people approached by ICE agents, you can be an ally. Here are some possible actions to take to support the safety of our immigrant neighbors.
Do not impede or obstruct ICE agents.
Print red cards that detail immigrants’ rights and carry them with you. Hand them out. Use the instructions on the card if you see someone stopped by ICE.
Stand in solidarity: join the group being questioned by ICE and refuse to answer questions until a lawyer is present.
Use your camera to take photos or videos.
Report raids you witness. Call the 24-hour hotline in Alameda County at 510-241-4011.
One of the things that makes us strong is our community ties. Walking to school together is a fantastic way to build community strength by getting to know each other better. Safe Routes encouragement programs help build resilient networks that can be leveraged for mutual aid, while we’re teaching youth about sustainable transportation.
https://transformca.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/09.05.2017.Oliveira.IWRTSD.studentswithbus.PERMISSION.01611766090542-scaled.jpg14401920Emilio Eleneshttps://transformca.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Company-Logo.pngEmilio Elenes2025-03-14 16:42:482025-03-14 16:42:49Walking School Buses Provide More Than a Safe Route to School
The Youth Task Force (YTF) is one of the exciting Safe Routes to Schools programs Transform brings to life. Students from high schools across Alameda County join the YTF to take on the role of leading the Safe Routes program at their individual high schools. Members take part in quarterly meetings where they build community across the county, share ideas, and learn about active transportation and climate advocacy. And, sometimes, our fabulous YTF members go on to do great things and come back to inspire the current cohort. Recently, we were thrilled to have a visit from Liana Tran, a YTF member in the 2021/2022 school year who is now a junior at UC Berkeley.
High school leadership
Liana joined the YTF while she was a student at Livermore High School. As an avid bike rider, she quickly began to discover the need for safer streets. She saw the group as a way to further her interest in bicycle and pedestrian advocacy and environmental issues. She was particularly inspired by the Tactical East Avenue process.
While on the Youth Task Force, Liana hosted encouragement events through the Nature Club, where she advocated for her peers to use active and shared transportation and think about local transportation issues. She originally was interested in environmental science, but during her senior year, she realized she wanted to study civil engineering as a way to advocate for better transportation systems. Through this major, she could create systems that would also benefit our environment. She is now a junior majoring in civil engineering with a minor in city planning and data science at Cal.
Paving the way for the next wave of young leaders
Liana has distinguished herself in college. She’s the president of the Cal Institute of Transportation Engineers, an organization dedicated to students interested in becoming transportation professionals. And she’s still a big transportation advocate.
Earlier this year, Liana reached out to us to see how she could get the Cal ITE organization involved with the Safe Routes to Schools program. One of the ways she has been involved so far is by joining the February meeting of the Youth Task Force, along with her classmate, Jason Tan. At the meeting, the college students spoke about their experiences transitioning from high school to college, the Cal Transportation Competition Team they are part of, and potential careers in the field of transportation.
Liana and Jason described potential college majors in the field:
Civil Engineering
Main study for students interested in transportation engineering
Urban Studies/City Planning
Main study for students interested in transportation planning
Data Science
Transportation is extremely data-heavy! Data analysis, population studies
Industrial Engineering
Traffic and signal optimization, including transit signal priority
Linguistics/English
Grant writing, proposal writing!
They also outlined potential career paths like traffic and transportation engineering, transportation planning, and rail engineering and planning.
The presentation showed YTF members how they could continue to be involved in the transportation field beyond high school and even make it a career choice. The students were excited and energized by Liana and Jason’s stories and the information they presented. And it was a proud moment for the staff who support the YTF program to see one of our graduates so engaged in the work and becoming a leader in the transportation field. We are looking forward to seeing even more leaders develop through the years.
https://transformca.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Liana-Tran-scaled.jpg19201059Michele Walkerhttps://transformca.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Company-Logo.pngMichele Walker2025-03-11 14:47:242025-03-11 14:47:26Youth Task Force Graduate Provides Inspiration for a New Generation
Gung Hay Fat Choy. This is a greeting heard across Chinese communities during the Lunar New Year. In the celebration that just ended, I was able to embrace these words as a way to wish others well for prosperity, health, and happiness.
But that wasn’t always the case. These are also words that remind me of my struggling middle school years, where I was considered different. My story is not uncommon: first-generation kid trying to fit into the typical American mold. All I wanted was a Lunchable!
As I start this Year of the Snake, a time of great change and uncertainty for my communities, I find strength in the snake as a symbol of rebirth and renewal.
Celebrating diversity
I’m grateful to have found a path that allows me to be comfortable in my skin and confident with my voice. This journey has been possible because I have been given ample opportunity to speak and think freely about my identity and how it fits with or challenges social norms. I also recognize the significance of systems that allow me the safety to be able to explore and find solace and wisdom in my identity. Access to classes and professional development, as well as meaningful conversations with coworkers, have helped me understand and respect what it means to grow up Chinese. Most importantly, I understand that being different isn’t a bad thing: it’s a strength I offer to the communities in which I work.
It’s refreshing to see differences being celebrated now. When I walk into my kids’ school and see two big dragons at the front of their multipurpose room to signal the coming of the Lunar New Year to everyone on campus, I’m proud of how far we’ve come. Unfortunately, these past few weeks leading up to the Lunar New Year feel like a step backward. We are being told that diversity, equity, and inclusion are no longer a priority, and with that, I’m suddenly back in middle school.
I don’t want to go back to concealing who I really am to feel safe.
Safe Routes is about more than traffic safety
As a member of the Transform Programs Team, working in school communities implementing Safe Routes to Schools in Alameda County, I approach the work with a lens of diversity and inclusion to ensure services are equitably distributed. Safe Routes finds ways to tailor programming because we know that not every school community has the same definition of and access to safety.
As I strive for safer streets for all, I acknowledge that I have room to grow and learn. I recognize that my life experience can only take me so far, and I need the support and expertise of others to find a solution that addresses the complexity of diverse communities and perspectives.
Inspired by community heroes
Over the past 10 years working on Safe Routes, I have seen communities bring their heritage and life experiences to elevate our work. I think of the Latinx parents from Hillside Elementary in San Lorenzo who started a walking school bus at their school and worked together to find ways to translate our walking school bus flyer so it was more relevant to their school community. On the day of the walking school bus launch, they brought out the school to make the inaugural event a success.
I am also reminded of the hardworking teachers and staff who are integral to the buy-in of Safe Routes across a school community. At Winton Middle School in Hayward, we worked closely with the school’s family engagement specialist, who had the principal, a school board member, teachers, and the school cheerleading squad come out and celebrate everyone who participated in Bike to School Day. It’s a reminder that we don’t make communities healthier and safer alone. It is through partnership and trust building that we move the dial forward.
I am honored to work with everyone throughout Alameda County, where diversity is the norm. I’m glad we have had a chance to work together, knowing we all belong together. I hope we have collectively built up our resilience to prepare ourselves for what’s next.
Never going back
Transform’s Program Team will continue to lift up community members of all races and ethnicities and give folks opportunities to develop leadership and service. I’m proud to be part of an organization that serves families of recent immigrants and families that have been here for a generation, or two, or 10.
After such a long journey of self-discovery, I have no plans to let my sense of belonging and value be suddenly overturned. I won’t stand for it — I reassert my place as part of the tapestry of life in a place where our diversity is the engine that drives our creativity. I proudly celebrated Lunar New Year this year and plan to do so every year. Gung Hay Fat Choy.
https://transformca.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Lunar-New-Year-scaled.jpg19201280Stephanie Jimhttps://transformca.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Company-Logo.pngStephanie Jim2025-02-24 18:57:052025-02-25 16:15:18Finding Renewal and Transformation in the Year of the Snake
Schools across Alameda County are getting ready for the Alameda County Safe Routes to Schools (ACSR2S) Golden Sneaker Contest. When we talk with champions and youth about their favorite Safe Routes event, the Golden Sneaker Contest often tops the list. From March 3 to 14, classrooms and schools will track how many students walk, roll, bike, carpool, or take transit to school each day.
The classroom from each participating school with the highest rate of active and shared transportation usage will win the contest and the coveted Golden Sneaker award. This year, over 80 schools will be competing for the Golden Sneaker. When students get excited about active and shared mobility, everyone wins. Here’s what parents, teachers, administrators, and students can do to get ready for the Golden Sneaker competition.
Make a walking or rolling plan
What’s the best route to walk or roll to school? Consider creating a walking school bus or a bike train to ride or walk together to school during the competition. Or go for a practice run on the weekend to discover the safest path from home to school. It could be habit-forming!
Take a test ride on the bus
Taking the bus doesn’t have to be intimidating. There are apps — including Transit — that can help you figure out the best route to school and when the next bus will arrive. Take a test ride to get comfortable with the bus. Consider reading or playing a game, like I Spy, to make the ride go faster.
Have daily or weekly prizes and incentives
Teachers and champions can run their own mini competitions during Golden Sneaker to get students excited about the competition. Small prizes for the most miles traveled, the biggest CO2 reduction, encouraging others to join in, starting a walking school bus, or other positive steps will help students celebrate the changes they’re making in their commutes.
Beyond the Gold: The Platinum Sneaker Award
Each year, the AC SR2S program tallies the totals sent to them and identifies one school in the county as the Platinum Sneaker winner for being the school with the highest rate of active and shared transportation usage during the Golden Sneaker Contest. Representative(s) from the winning school receive a commemorative sneaker-shaped plaque and are celebrated during the April commission meeting, held April 24 this year. During this meeting, we celebrate the school’s efforts to promote healthy modes of transportation, curb pollution, and foster community on their campus.
Ready, Set, Roll!
Although only one class can win the Golden Sneaker and one school can win the Platinum Sneaker, everyone who participates wins. You might even get a visit from Goldie, the Golden Sneaker’s mascot.
https://transformca.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/20240327_GS_Brookvale-ES_Fremont_Classroom-celebration_PERMISSION-scaled.jpg14401920Sheila Islamhttps://transformca.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Company-Logo.pngSheila Islam2025-02-24 16:03:092025-02-24 16:03:10It’s Time to Get Ready for the Golden Sneaker Contest!
This January, Transform’s Program Managers, Michele Walker and Sheila Islam, and Alameda Transportation Engineer Rochelle Wheeler were invited to speak with the newly formed Alameda Youth Climate Ambassadors, a group of students representing environmental clubs on Alameda high school and middle school campuses, about transportation and Safe Routes to Schools (SR2S). Youth Task Force members Samuel Phu and Ryan Chen, from Encinal Jr. Sr. High School, and Logan Mevoli and Keenan Chan, from Alameda High School, joined the presentation to talk specifically about Safe Routes efforts on their own campuses.
Youth share climate concerns
The Youth Task Force is part of Transform’s SR2S program. High school students help run Safe Routes events and programs and learn leadership skills, bringing the joy and freedom of getting around by walking, rolling, and shared transportation to other students.
The students at Alameda High shared that they created the Safe Routes to Schools Club this year to encourage more students on campus to utilize active and shared transportation to get to school. So far, they have hosted International Walk and Roll to School Day and are looking forward to Reboot Your Commute in February and, hopefully, a BikeMobile this spring.
During the meeting, they met another Alameda High student in the environmental committee in the Leadership Class. With that connection, they can reach more students and connect their work to the other climate initiatives at Alameda High.
Peer education sends a strong message
Encinal students, who run Safe Routes activities through the leadership class, shared their experiences with Safe Routes events and their campaign to educate peers about upcoming construction projects that will impact students along their commutes to school. One of their main goals for Safe Routes is to educate students about the environmental impact of transportation and how to safely use active and shared transportation to get to school.
During the meeting, the Encinal students connected with a student who takes part in the YouthPower club on their campus. This club seeks to fight climate change, and the Youth Task Force members can team up with their new connection to reach more students since the mission of Safe Routes and the mission of YouthPower are closely aligned.
Making the impact of transportation choices real
In addition to presenting about Safe Routes to Schools and transportation updates throughout Alameda, the group participated in a “Travel Race” activity, which encourages participants to look at the different impacts of walking, biking, taking public transit, and driving to school. They compared how much time it takes, the exercise you get, the cost, and the carbon emissions for each mode of transportation.
Students were surprised to learn just how much their transportation choices can impact other facets of their lives. These dedicated Alameda youth are ready to tackle a variety of transportation issues and are excited to share the joy of walking, biking, and taking transit with their peers.
https://transformca.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/20241009_IWR2SD_EncinalJrSrHS_Alameda_6_PERMISSION-e1738810914110.jpg5001170Michele Walkerhttps://transformca.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Company-Logo.pngMichele Walker2025-02-05 19:06:412025-06-13 18:41:36Youth Task Force Engage with Alameda Youth Climate Ambassadors
Starting next week, Reboot Your Commute (RYC), a project of the Alameda County Safe Routes to Schools (SR2S) Program, will raise awareness and spur high school students across the county to try green transportation options. The event will wrap up at the end of March.
RYC aims to start a conversation about student transportation options and why they choose them to help students rethink how they get to school. Students can earn prizes for using shared or active transportation to get to school and for answering a question about their commute. Each site will have a board where students share why they bike, walk, take transit, or carpool to school. At the end of each school’s event, there’s a $50 Clipper Card or a scooter for one lucky student.
Why reboot your commute?
The habits we set in our youth affect us for the rest of our lives, so introducing young people to the joy and freedom of walking, biking, or taking transit to school can be the start of healthy habits. The CDC recommends an hour of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily for people under 18, but only about a quarter of high school students get that much exercise. Adding a bike ride or even walking to catch a bus has critical health benefits for young people.
Plus, young people will bear the brunt of climate change, growing up to live in a world struggling with greater weather extremes. Youth can be vital leaders in the movement away from transportation modes that fill our atmosphere with greenhouse gases.
Reboot Your Commute invites students to celebrate and share the reasons why we use active and shared transportation and inspire their peers to try out new forms of transportation. We hope RYC will help students build new habits that last long beyond the event.
Participating schools
Reboot Your Commute is a popular event, giving youth the chance to lead as well as participate. Students will staff tables, run the event, and encourage their peers to add messages to the Reboot boards.
This year, 12 Alameda County high schools are participating:
Castro Valley High School, Castro Valley: 2/6
Berkeley High School, Berkeley: 2/7
Alameda Community Learning Center, Alameda: 2/12
Alameda High School, Alameda: 2/12
Encinal Jr Sr High School, Alameda: 2/14
Amador Valley High School, Pleasanton: 2/19
Granada High School, Livermore: 2/26
Irvington High School, Fremont: 3/6
American High School, Fremont: 3/7
Washington High School, Fremont: 3/7
Tennyson High School, Hayward: 3/20
Albany High School, Albany: 3/26
This is one of our favorite times of the year. The Transform SR2S team looks forward to connecting with students and hearing their stories, ideas, and excitement. Every year, we learn as much as we teach from inspiring young people who are starting to change the world, one commute at a time.
https://transformca.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/20240221_RYC_LivermoreHS_Livermore_1_PERMISSION-scaled.jpg14401920Michele Walkerhttps://transformca.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Company-Logo.pngMichele Walker2025-01-28 15:54:082025-01-28 18:55:23Alameda County Students Reboot Their Commutes
The high school students who volunteer for the Safe Routes to Schools (SR2S) Youth Task Force care a lot about safety and the environment. We recently asked them about why they joined the Youth Task Force and how their attitudes about active transportation have changed since they were in elementary school. The two most common reasons they cited for getting involved were safety concerns or wanting to do something positive about climate change. They shared their inspiration through artwork and text.
This is part two of a two-part series. Read part one here.
Safety first
For some students, safety, including concerns about crime and about traffic violence, was a reason to get involved with the Youth Task Force (YTF).
Ryan, from Encinal Jr. Sr. High School in Alameda, told us: “I’m motivated to do SR2S work because of the crime and danger that is prevalent in Alameda and the cities around Alameda, like Oakland. When I go to places like Oakland Chinatown with my family or even when I’m taking a walk by myself, it’s really sad to see so many harmful things around me — especially when children walk on those same sidewalks. Being able to create change for the people and students around me is something that’s motivating to me. When I was still in elementary school, the only thing that likely would have motivated me was money and YouTube screen time — which is a stark difference compared to now.”
Sammy, who also goes to Encinal Jr. Sr. High School, said: “I’m motivated to do SR2S because I constantly see how dangerous biking can be and that some bikers don’t know road rules. I’d like to educate students on road rules to keep them more safe on the streets. This differs from my elementary mindset because I was all about ‘save the world!’ and ‘don’t use a car to limit pollution.’ While I’m still very much for the delay of further global warming, I realize that I should focus on things that I can do to impact my community.”
Safety concerns span Alameda County. Claudia, a student at Tennyson High School in Hayward, joined YTF to “Make the environment for students safer. I hear students are concerned about walking to school, and I want to help students feel safe and secure in the environment they live in! I became more aware of this stuff in the beginning of high school.”
The Safe Routes to Schools programs run by Transform in Alameda County make students safer by teaching them how to safely walk, roll, and take transit to school. And the larger Safe Routes movement augments that safety with grants to cities to build biking and walking infrastructure that helps students get to school safely.
Saving the planet
Not surprisingly, environmental concerns motivate many students to join the YTF. For example, Soundharya, a Fremont student who goes to Irvington High School, participates because “a big part of student government is service, and I’ve been wanting a way to focus on environmental service, and this is a good way to do that!”
Youth are clear-eyed about the role that biking and walking play in combating climate change. Logan from Alameda High School in Alameda said, “What motivates me to do SR2S work is just trying to make biking better, and making public transportation better, and create a bigger community. I’d like them to be more acknowledged and utilized so we can help the planet!” And Marley-Marie, who goes to the Alameda Community Learning Center, told us, “The environment needs to be more healthy! I feel like for future generations, it’s not going to be great if we keep on going down the same road we are.”
Today’s high school students have been environmentalists from an early age. Jasmine, a student at Washington High School in Fremont, said, “I’ve always had an interest in the environment. In elementary school, I was in the organization that organized the bins (trash/compost/recycling). In high school, that morphed into more adaptive versions of how I can help the environment (like Safe Routes).” Another Washington High student, Ruhi, told us, “When I was in elementary school, I had a teacher who loved talking about the environment and about cars and the impact on the environment. I’ve always told my parents I want an electric car! In the morning, there is so much traffic that cars can’t even complete turns, which is why I joined Safe Routes.”
OakTech Youth Task Force members
Amalia from Oakland Technical High School in Oakland recalled, “In elementary school, I used to bike to school every day. I think climate change and the environment were motivating factors back then. Now I have more experience with different types of transportation, and seeing the lack of quality in public transportation and biking, I want to make it better and easier for students in high school.” And another Oakland Tech student, Harper, noted, “In elementary school, I would have been more motivated by clean, non-carbon emissions transportation. I scootered to school as a kid. Now I have more experience with lots of different transportation options.”
The Youth Task Force members of today are the climate and transportation leaders of tomorrow. They inspire us every day with their creativity, dedication, and thoughtfulness.
https://transformca.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Gauri-cropped.png6961080Michele Walkerhttps://transformca.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Company-Logo.pngMichele Walker2024-11-13 14:54:492024-11-13 16:11:01Youth Task Force Members on Street Safety and Climate Dangers
Two Transform staff members, Program Director Stephanie Jim and Program Manager Sheila Islam, were among the over 400 Safe Routes to School practitioners, transportation professionals, safety advocates, and community development leaders who attended the 2024 Safe Routes National Conference in Fort Collins, Colorado, from October 22 to 24.
This year was the first in-person Safe Routes Conference since 2019, and there was a lot to celebrate. The conference organizers made sure to infuse joy throughout the time attendees spent together. There was a palpable sense of positivity, from the conference theme of Safe, Healthy, and JOYful: The Possibilities of our Movement, to the reception held at the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery, to the invitation to partake in whimsical activities, such as the challenge to find tiny plastic ducks hidden all over the conference building.
Celebrating Transform’s work
Jim and Islam represented Transform on three different panels. They shared Transform’s expertise on Mobility Hubs and different ways we engage with school champions to help inform Safe Routes programming.
On Day 1, Jim presented alongside Juan Castillo and Leann Leon from Ecology Action and Deirdre Conroy from Minnesota Safe Routes to Schools on equity-driven program design and implementation. She talked about ways in which we support Champion efforts in Oakland and Hayward.
On Day 2, Jim sat on a panel alongside other partners on the Alameda County Safe Routes to Schools Program and focused the conversation on how this program was able to scale up from two to 300 schools. She brought up the critical role that site coordination plays in relationship building and ensuring buy-in from school communities.
Islam, along with Daisy Ramos-Garcia and Victoria Partida from Santa Clara Public Health Department, ended the three-day conference on a high note by sharing community engagement strategies to deliver transportation options that are responsive to community needs. She highlighted best practices and lessons learned from the Mobility Hubs program, including how Transform was able to develop what has now become a recognized best practice in conducting community assessments.
Time for reflection and inspiration
The conference allowed for a pause in the daily work of bringing green transportation options to communities in the Bay Area. Being immersed in nationwide Safe Routes efforts and stepping aside from the day-to-day work was a way to reground and gain new perspectives.
Being immersed among like-minded professionals who share Transform’s goals of building healthier communities through active and shared transportation provided valuable insights. It also offered inspiration, with exciting speakers bringing innovative ideas to attendees.
On the second day, Dr. Gail C. Christopher shared her approach to racial healing. By using the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation framework, she described ways to confront the systemic racism that persists in communities and find healing through relationship building and fortifying the collective power that exists within each community.
On the third and final day, Anna Zivarts, author of When Driving Is Not an Option, spoke about what we can do to make our communities more welcoming and comfortable for the many people who must choose alternatives to driving, either because of age, immigration status, or disability.
In addition to the great speakers who shared their expertise on various issues that affect how we get around, conference attendees also got inspiration from Fort Collins’s overall dedication to promoting active and shared transportation.
Fort Collins has free public transit, including a Rapid Transit bus line that, in portions of its route, runs on a separate, closed-off lane like a train. There are robust shared trails where bicyclists can get around town and rarely have to interact with cars.
While on the bus to old town Fort Collins, our intrepid Transformers came across city council members joining conference attendees to paint street murals the city council had approved ahead of the conference. The murals beautify their community and improve safety by highlighting intersections commonly used by students going to and from school. The city collaborated in planning for the conference and greenlit the street mural projects
These experiences and the many wonderful speakers reminded us of what we do well every day and gave us new ideas to enhance our work going forward. The conference showed the power of community and collaboration to drive change, and we forged new relationships that will enrich our efforts.
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https://transformca.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/102324_stephanie-getting-to-300-panel-e1731368646868.jpg10531200Sheila Islamhttps://transformca.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Company-Logo.pngSheila Islam2024-11-11 15:44:322024-11-11 16:59:17Transform Staff present at Safe Routes National Conference
