Bike Walk Ambassadors
Project Limits:
The Bike Walk Ambassadors work throughout Minneapolis.
You Tube Video about Bike Walk Ambassadors
Project Type:
The Bike Walk Ambassador program is an educational and outreach program which encourages people in Minneapolis to bike and walk more, and drive less.
Request an Ambassador for a meeting, event, or demonstration
Sign up to be a volunteer Bike Walk Ambassador
Ask an Ambassador a question about biking or walking
Register for classes about biking or walking
For further background on the Ambassadors, read the Comprehensive Work Plan (pdf).
Ambassador Related Website Links:
Program Start Date:
March 2008
Length of Program:
Program work is to be completed over a period of 3 years, ending early in 2011.
Contact:
David Peterson, Rebecca Gomez
612-333-3410
david.peterson2@minneapolismn.gov, rebecca.gomez@minneapolismn.gov
Project Updates:
October 6, 2009
Since last fall, the Bike Walk Ambassadors and Transit for Livable Communities have been building a League of American Bicyclists "Certified Instructor" volunteer program.In July two additional certification courses were held. A total of 23 participants enrolled. The goal is to create a population of people who can teach and encourage safe riding. To date this effort has certified over 50 people. The Ambassadors are launching a similar program for walking advocates who want to lead "walking day vacations," share tips on walking for transportation, and support walking messages at events. The first training will be held Oct. 20 th at the downtown library. This summer the Youth Ambassadors focused on pedestrian outreach by leading a Walking Assessment mobile workshop prior to the City of Minneapolis's Pedestrian Master Plan Open House. The Ambassadors are also working with Minneapolis Public Schools to organize International Walk and Bike to School Day on Oct. 7 th. The Ambassador Workplace program is partnering with the Minneapolis Health Department on their "Bike Walk Workplace Intervention" program funded through the State Health Improvement Program (SHIP). As a part of SHIP the Ambassadors will be working with a minimum of 6 employers to support and encourage change that creates more bike- and walk-friendly environments for employees.
April 30, 2009
Year one is now complete. Some statistics from the first year indicate that Ambassadors have had 9,915 interactions with participants, 523 hours spent with the public, 143 meetings, events, and presentations, and 25 events attended by Youth Ambassadors. In target communities, 7% of time was spent with recreational cyclists and walkers, 9% was with communities of color and immigrant communities, 11% was with general youth, 28% was with those who live, work and frequent bikeable and walkable communities, and 45% was with youth in ethnic minority groups. In December and January the Ambassadors created copy for all of the program materials that will be used for their programming. This copy is now in the hands of Bike Walk Twin Cities communication consultants. Jacqueline Scott-Hopkins was hired in March as the Event and Volunteer coordinator. The Ambassadors have a busy season ahead of presentations, courses, youth programs, and events.
January 9, 2009
In November, the Ambassadors hosted an event for the planning and engineering community on the new geo-wiki Cyclopath tool. This event was a huge success resulting in standing room only attendance, largely consisting of municipal government staff. As a result the Cyclopath tool is being persued as a regional bike planning and routing resource. The tool can be viewed at www.cyclopath.org. In December, the Ambassadors met with new League certified bike instructor volunteers to complete training and set a schedule for upcoming volunteer-led activities. The Events and Volunteer Ambassador position is still affected by the hiring freeze, but there should be an update on the position in the near future. More than 100 applications were received. The Ambassador program staff is currently drafting a 2008 year-end-report and is working to identify new initiatives for 2009. The event calendar at www.bikewalktwincities.org should be up early in 2009. It will feature biking and walking education and outreach activities.
October 29, 2008
Certification of 23 local League certified bike instructors was recently completed. Each new instructor has committed to doing 2 bike education events in the coming year. The Youth Ambassadors participated in International Walk to School Day at 2 North Minneapolis schools, earlier in October. Four media stories used information from a safety press release issued by the Ambassadors, following this years series of bike fatalities. Earlier in the month the Events and Volunteer Ambassador position was vacated. A plan for replacing and/or amending this position is currently under development. Upcoming events will include a November 14 th meeting for municipalities to learn about the Cyclopath tool and how bicycle/pedestrian infrastructure information can be shared. The launch of an event calendar is also being planned.
Last updated Mar. 29, 2012