Welcome to the pilot year of We’re Walking Here NYC designed and created by Livable Streets Education.  We’re Walking Here NYC has been developed in conjunction with the New York City Department of Transportation, National Center for Safe Routes to School, and the Walk 21 Conference.

Why are we doing the project here in New York?

New York City is a city of walkers.  A surprisingly large percentage of students walk to school every day -  90 percent of students in the Bronx!  We want to take this opportunity, on the occasion of International Walk to School Day, to celebrate this achievement – and to help students and their families consider walking more often. By getting more exercise and outdoor time, we improve our health and well-being.

Some Background

Safe Routes to School (SRTS) is a national program that was borne out of the need to protect school-aged children as they walk or bike to school.  Now all states participate in this program.  Established in May 2006, the National Center for Safe Routes to School assists communities in enabling and encouraging children to safely walk and bike to school. On the local front, the New York City DOT’s Safety Education Program works directly with schools to education children to be skilled pedestrians and bikers. Additionally the local SRTS project is in the midst of making safer streets around 135 initial top priority schools, with street-level changes to slow the traffic around these schools.

Our Big Celebration Day

To kick off the contest, we will be hosting a city-wide event in Manhattan.  This is a special day for kids to come together and celebrate their walking achievements. Anyone from any K-12 New York City school can participate.  You can consider walking from anywhere within a 30-block radius to the our event, Washington Square Park on October 7th from 1-2pm -  as well as send delegates via transit if you are participating in our We’re Walking Here NYC project.  If your school is interested in joining in this celebration but will not be entering the contest, we would still love to have you there!

Download the event flyer for more details.

The Three Steps

Before you start, you must choose which class or classes will take part in the contest. This a is key decision.  We will only accept one submission per class – although we will accept more than one submission per school.  The class(es) will be in charge of overseeing all three steps – they are actually quite easy to do and not very time consuming, so it shouldn’t be too daunting a task!

Step 1: Who’s Walking Here?

This step is designed to engage the whole community in “walk to school” ideas.  When you publicly record the number of kids who commute by walking (and take a look at all other commutes) it really shows kids that we are a city of walkers – and it will motivate some of your students to walk more when possible!

Step 2: Understanding the Numbers – and Celebrating Them

Schools upload the numbers for THREE days of data collecting.  The participating class(es) entering the Contest will add up these numbers and then look at them in context.  You will be amazed at just how many kids walk each day!  We have design a few lessons to help your kids understand these numbers and even look at the conditions around your school to see if they match the high demand for pedestrian space – and to assess whether they are safe or not.

Celebrate Walk to School Day on October 7th by holding a small-scale event or information campaign that day.

Step 3: Sharing Your Message

Now your students’ creativity can shine.  Your students will create a Public Service Announcement, in any form of media (e.g. poster, song, rap, poem, film, play, article) to educate and inform the public. They can be about anything you learned from collecting and analyzing the data for this project, for example: the many benefits of walking, why we should improve our streets for walkers, how New York is a great walking city. Entries will be judged for clarity, creativity, and effort. We will announce the winners in November!

There will be one cash prize given out for each grade level – and a GRAND PRIZE for best entry overall.

Check out the CONTEST!

Important Dates

• Wednesday, October 7th: International Walk to School Day!!
• Wednesday, October 21st (Deadline Extended): All data must be submitted before midnight in order to participate in the contest.
• Friday, November 6th (Deadline Extended): All PSAs must be submitted in order to be considered for the contest.
• Week of November 16th: The winners will be announced on this website and via email.

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This information is available as a PDF for download here.