My year of service with AmeriCorps as a Safe Routes to School Events Coordinator and Program Director:
Safe Routes to School with Feet First:
Before I transferred to the University of Washington I completed two years of service with two different AmeriCorps groups. The second year I had the opportunity to work with the pedestrian advocacy organization, Feet First.
I was drawn to this work because the organization and the program that I would be working addressed inequities in city planning that had to do with the street design and infrastructure. I served as both the Safe Routes to School Events Coordinator and Director. My work pertained to making it safer and easier for students in Seattle public schools to walk and bike to school. Much of my work was spent in the communities where I was hoping to make positive change. I worked directly with four different school communities throughout the year. One of my primary tasks was to produce Walking/Biking Audit Reports. I worked with school staff and families of the school to identify areas surround the school that making it difficult and or dangerous for students to walk and bike to school. I worked with the school communities to produce a report that identified the barriers, and also made suggestions for ways to improve the safety of the area that was then given to the Seattle Department of Transportation, Safe Routes to School Team.
Through this work I learned that some areas within the city are given priority attention because the people who live or work in the neighborhoods know how to participate in the systems that allow them advocate for change. On the other hand, the systems we have in place are not accessible to everyone and that produces physical disparities for some of the most vulnerable community members, children. Lessons like these were helpful for me to think about as I went through my CEP courses and thought about how I might participate in city planning, or community organizing, in the future and work to break down the barriers that marginalize or privilege some community members over others.
Before I transferred to the University of Washington I completed two years of service with two different AmeriCorps groups. The second year I had the opportunity to work with the pedestrian advocacy organization, Feet First.
I was drawn to this work because the organization and the program that I would be working addressed inequities in city planning that had to do with the street design and infrastructure. I served as both the Safe Routes to School Events Coordinator and Director. My work pertained to making it safer and easier for students in Seattle public schools to walk and bike to school. Much of my work was spent in the communities where I was hoping to make positive change. I worked directly with four different school communities throughout the year. One of my primary tasks was to produce Walking/Biking Audit Reports. I worked with school staff and families of the school to identify areas surround the school that making it difficult and or dangerous for students to walk and bike to school. I worked with the school communities to produce a report that identified the barriers, and also made suggestions for ways to improve the safety of the area that was then given to the Seattle Department of Transportation, Safe Routes to School Team.
Through this work I learned that some areas within the city are given priority attention because the people who live or work in the neighborhoods know how to participate in the systems that allow them advocate for change. On the other hand, the systems we have in place are not accessible to everyone and that produces physical disparities for some of the most vulnerable community members, children. Lessons like these were helpful for me to think about as I went through my CEP courses and thought about how I might participate in city planning, or community organizing, in the future and work to break down the barriers that marginalize or privilege some community members over others.