It is easy to start Walk/Ride Days your community. It just takes a little perseverance, a willingness to start conversations, and our handy checklist (below).
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Green Streets Checklist
1. Target your community Stakeholders.
- Coordinators are a key component to any Walk/Ride Day celebration. It is through coordinators that we get the word about our Walk/Ride Days out into our community.
- Hold a meeting (or meetings) of interested parties to find coordinators, and other supporters in your community, who want to promote your Walk/Ride Day Celebration.
- Coordinators can be affiliated with any business or organization! Seek out schools, public, and private businesses, city officials, non-profit organizations, colleges, and universities for coordinators.
- Coordinators are key in spreading the word. They play a large part in the organization by spreading Green Streets and Walk/Ride Days throughout your community.
For more information about what a coordinator does, and for everything you need to help coordinators get sta
rted, visit our For Business Coordinators page and our For School Coordinators page.
2. During your initial Meeting(s) Choose a celebration
Walk/Ride Day's should reflect your community. Celebrations can include anything! Overall, Walk/Ride Days should be an inclusive celebration that encourages widespread participation and reaches diverse populations.
- We request that...
- Celebrations be held on the last Friday of the month.
- Call your celebrations "Walk/Ride Days."
- Use the phrase "Go Green, Wear Green, Get Rewarded!"
- Celebrations be held on the last Friday of the month.
- That way, all celebrations will happen on the same day, across the world! What a beautiful thought. However, if this just won't work for you, we are happy to encourage alternative transportation any day of the week or month of the year!
Tip: Be Inclusive, and then keep being inclusive, open, warm, and welcoming. You will be amazed at the way more and more people will want to join your effort!
3. Let people know what you are doing and why.
Quick Fact: Did you know that 25% of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States come from personal transportation! Imagine what a difference it would make to get cars off the road even once a month!
Green Street's Coordinators can spread the word by:
- Writing or posting blurbs in Newsletters.
- Posting Signs.
- Handing out Cards.
- Sending Email.
- Doing a Publicity "Stunt."
- Performing Street Theater.
- Informing Schools.
- Posting celebrations in Online calendars.
- Posting flyers on City bulletin boards.
- Telling Other Businesses.
- Writing to Newspapers.
- Starting friendly competitions in house or between competing businesses, schools, or towns...
- Making Banners or Artistic Posters.
- Getting the word out anywhere and everywhere you can!
Many templates for these items are available from our web site. You can also order buttons and t-shirts from us to use in your community! Each Coordinator should choose the means of communication that works best to inform their own smaller communities.
In many ways the Green Street's Initiative is a never ending network and our work is to connect everyone in a "green," celebratory, and positive way.
4. Participate!
For the first few Walk/Ride Days it is good to have some kind of event to kick off the festivities. The possibilities are endless! Here are some past events that have been successful:
- Police escorted bike trains to school.
- Group rides for work commuters.
- Ribbon cutting ceremony to commemorate newly constructed bike lanes and paths.
- Parades around parks and schools.
- Free breakfast sponsored by local bakeries and restaurants.
- School or office party/carnival.
- A group walk escorted by the the mayor.
- Teaming up with other "green" celebrations taking place that day.
- Whatever works for your town!
Quick Fact: Did you know that... For every gallon of gas a car burns it releases about 19 pounds of carbon dioxide? Source: Slate.com
5. Design a way to collect feedback and to keep in touch with patrons.
Our website has been key in helping us organize, post relevant information, and get feedback from our participants. Feel free to direct people to our web site for the online check. You can also distribute our Offline check-in or Passport to track participation.
Other methods include
- Placing a Green Streets Bulletin Board in a central location.
- Starting an old fashioned phone tree to remind people about Walk/Ride Days.
- Setting up an email address people can send feedback to.
- A central location where people can meet up on Walk/Ride Day to check in, rally support, and increase participation.
Repeat each month.
6. Host another Meeting a few weeks into your celebrations to:
- Check in with everyone (coordinators, supporters, etc).
- Share successes, challenges, triumphs.
- Plan your next steps.
Quick Fact: "Research has shown that the equivalent to walking for an hour throughout the days is health promoting. Even in 10 minute bouts, the time that it takes to walk to the bus, you could be incorporating physical activity into your day." Source
7. Include Retail Sponsors
Perhaps you would like to include retail sponsors as a part of your celebrations?
In Cambridge, Medford, Boston, & Somerville our retail sponsors provide incentives to people who wear green and go green on Walk/Ride Day. We ask sponsors to provide some kind of small incentive to the customers who stop in on Walk/Ride Day. It can be anything from a small give away (like a scoop of ice cream) to a small discount, or entry into a raffle to win a prize.
In Cambridge and Somerville, we recruit retail sponsors to be listed on cards that we distribute. Many stores then display the cards and we also hand them out at all our events. Download our design to use in your community! Download GreenStreets Cards
Check out our For Retail Sponsors page for more information.
Quick Fact: "Moderate physical activities, such as walking and cycling, reduce the risk of premature death, heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure, and many other diseases and disorders." Source
Support:
As the saying goes "don't re-invent the wheel," but please do use your individuality, creativity, and new ideas to expand the Green Streets model to fit your community.
Available on the website we have marketing materials, flyers, email blurbs, much of what you need to begin. Please download, alter, and use as you wish.
Key Components:
One of the keys to a successful Green Streets movement is having a group of active leaders, who are willing to speak to any and everyone about Green Streets.
Also don't forget that you are the model! Make sure that you are out there participating on Walk/Ride Days and letting people know how they can join in!
One of the great things about Green Streets is that you can organize it in whatever way fits your city's "vibe."
How Other Cities Are Doing it:
Green Streets and Walk/Ride Days are a multi-faceted concept that address both environmental and health concerns. As Green Streets has expanded, each town tailors their approach to fit their mission.
- In the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Green Streets began, our efforts have been truly "grassroots." Most of the initial support for the Initiative came from "every day" citizens who wanted to make a change towards healthier streets, friendlier communities, and cleaner air. In the few years since the first Walk/Ride Day, Green Streets has grown and is now supported by various institutions as well as city officials!
- The Green Streets Somerville efforts have been coordinated by a city employee and thus have come from the city. As the effort grows there it is gaining grassroots support. Somerville Green Streets focuses more on the health benefits associated with reducing use of cars and is largely a compenent of Shape Up Somerville.
- In Medford, the Chamber of Commerce has headed up Green Streets' efforts. They have recruited many local sponsors that even offer incentives to patrons that go green and wear green on days other than Walk/Ride Days!
- Winchester Massachusetts is just getting it going. It is organized as part of Safe Routes to School and therefore have a lot of participation from teachers and students in the community.
- The first International group of Green Streets has started in West Bridgford, Nottingham England! Stakeholders from all over the community, such as police, schools, and local officials have been involved in organizing Walk/Ride Days.
- And in Portland, Maine a group of citizens took the lead, with one woman who took the first step. Sarah Cushman started Green Streets in Portland when she found us on the Internet. Sarah contacted our director, Janie Katz-Christy, who sent her some flyers, a few t-shirts, and gave some words of wisdom and advice, and they were off. Check out the Portland Maine Green Streets here.
Final Thoughts:
With time, perseverance, and the belief that individual citizens can make a big difference, you can have huge results. Always assume welcome when you are approaching people about your efforts. We think you will find that people will welcome Green Streets into their lives, here in Massachusetts they certainly h
ave.
Good luck, and have fun.
P.S. Please don't forget to tell us what you are up to, ask questions, and seek help!
Janie Katz-Christy, Director: walk-ride-days@comcast.net
