Category: Announcement

FULL-TIME WALKBOSTON POSITION AVAILABLE: PROGRAM COORDINATOR

FULL-TIME WALKBOSTON POSITION AVAILABLE: PROGRAM COORDINATOR

WalkBoston seeks a self-motivated, detail-oriented, full-time Program Coordinator with experience in office management, development (fundraising) activities, communication strategies, and event planning. The Program Coordinator would support all staff members and play a key role in ensuring that the office functions efficiently and effectively.

Job Responsibilities:

  • Reporting to the Executive Director, the Program Coordinator will assist in office management, development, communication and event planning activities that support our work. Primary responsibilities include:
  • Office administration and human resource activities
  • Development (fundraising) support, primarily assisting with Salesforce database and donor acknowledgement
  • Communication/Event support

Desired Qualifications:

Minimum 3 to 4 years of office experience

  • Strong communication skills both written and verbal
  • Superior organizational and critical thinking skills
  • Strong knowledge of Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and Google Suite (Drive, Docs)
  • Experience with running virtual meetings and workplaces (Zoom, Google Meets, Slack)
  • Proficiency with Salesforce
  • Experience with website management (WordPress), event management systems (EventBrite, RunSignUp/GiveSignUp), and email systems (MailChimp)
  • Experience with Adobe Suite is a plus

Specific Tasks:

Program and Office Support (40%)

  • Provide administrative support to Executive Director with meeting scheduling, records management, and personnel time tracking
  • Support Executive Director and Program Staff with community engagement activities (virtual and in-person) including: workshops, walk audits, and other events
  • Prepare presentations and take notes for internal and external meetings
  • Support Bookkeeper in maintaining office administrative files including contracts, filings, human resources, and other organization records
  • Manage onboarding process for new employees
  • Coordinate use of shared office space, including reserving conference rooms, tracking attendance, etc.
  • Provide basic IT assistance and work with outside IT vendor to maintain system security, purchase new equipment, and maintain current IT systems
  • Respond to general requests, phone calls, and emails

Development Support (30%)

  • Perform Salesforce data entry including creating and updating contacts, recording donations, and running basic reports
  • Maintain MailChimp to Salesforce leads pipeline and updated MailChimp mailing lists
  • Generate digital and printed donation acknowledgement letters
  • Handle credit card payments (Square)
  • Support Development Director with campaigns and other donor stewardship activities

Communications and Event Support (30%)

  • Assist staff with production of e-news, blog posts, social media posts and other regular communication outputs
  • Assist staff with website maintenance (WordPress), email systems (MailChimp), donation tracking systems (Salesforce), and event platforms (RunSignUp/GiveSignUp)
  • Assist with event planning, including WalkMassachusetts Network meetings, the Annual Meeting, Beat the Bay State, Talk the Walk sessions, and advocacy walks

Compensation and location:

  • Full-time position (37.5 hours/week)
  • Annual salary range: $40,000 to $45,000 based upon prior work experience
  • Standard benefits include: holiday compensation, paid time off, health insurance, and flexible scheduling
  • In-state travel is required. Availability for occasional early morning, evening, or weekend hours required. 

Currently, WalkBoston staff is working on a hybrid model, with a flexible number of days spent in-person. We have a shared office space at the CIC in Downtown Boston which we share with several other transportation advocacy organizations. 

Interested applicants possessing the above experience and skills are encouraged to apply by sending a resume and cover letter with salary expectation to jobs@walkboston.org.

About WalkBoston

WalkBoston, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) advocacy organization, makes walking safer and easier in Massachusetts to encourage better health, a cleaner environment and more vibrant communities. We know that walking improves personal, economic, environmental and civic health. Working on walking takes us across Massachusetts to empower people with knowledge and proven strategies to make their own communities more walkable. Our small, committed staff work as a team to make change: whether it’s getting a crosswalk painted in a neighborhood, or influencing Massachusetts state policy to make streets safer for all. 

WalkBoston is committed to better understanding, identifying, and undoing the racist processes and policies that lead to inequities in the walking environment for communities of color across the Commonwealth. We are deepening our engagement in meaningful program and organizational strategies that lead with racial justice. WalkBoston is actively seeking to build a diverse staff. We encourage multiple perspectives and experiences, support a multicultural environment, and strive to hire and retain a diverse workforce that reflects the populations we work with and the communities where we work. 

WalkBoston is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. All qualified applaicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, or genetic information.

FULL-TIME WALKBOSTON POSITION AVAILABLE: PROGRAM MANAGER

FULL-TIME WALKBOSTON POSITION AVAILABLE: PROGRAM MANAGER

Are you interested in working on strategies that support equitable, people-centered streets that prioritize community vitality and safety? Do you have project management experience in the fields of planning, public health, transportation, community organizing or a related field? Are you interested in applying your skills to empower people to make change in the walking environment in neighborhoods across Massachusetts? 

WalkBoston is seeking a Program Manager to lead our statewide technical assistance programs that work to improve the safety and quality of the walking environment. Our programs are community-partnered and centered on making street-level changes and policy improvements that make walking safe and enjoyable for people of all ages, abilities, races, and incomes. Our programs describe the health, economic and community benefits of walking, and include walk audits that identify infrastructure deficiencies, recommend solutions, and build community support for walking.

Job Responsibilities:

  • Manage program implementation with state agencies, municipal staff, community-based organizations, and local advocates. Representative programs include: Age-Friendly Walking, Community Walks (Boston Public Housing), Caminatas Seguras (East Boston Access to Parks), Hilltowns Healthy Aging, and WalkMassachusetts Network.
  • Conduct walk audits, which use built environment analysis skills and technical knowledge of strategies to support safer streets (previous experience desired but not required).
  • Develop, deliver and facilitate workshops in-person and virtually.
  • Support the development of new advocacy training materials and guidance reports.
  • Support capacity building efforts and build/maintain relationships with community partners.
  • Act as WalkBoston representative on various task forces or working groups, such as the Massachusetts Healthy Aging Collaborative and Transportation for Massachusetts.
  • Support proposal/grant writing efforts.
  • Lead and support data analysis and report writing.
  • Suggest improvements in project and organizational processes and systems through participation in internal committees.

Desired Qualifications:

  • 3 to 5 years of professional experience in urban planning/design, transportation planning/engineering, public health, community organizing, or related fields. 
  • Project management skills, including budget development and project scope preparation.
  • Strong organizational and time management skills, and ability to juggle many projects and tasks at once.
  • Superior communication skills. Ability to write and speak clearly and persuasively in diverse settings to articulate the impacts of WalkBoston’s work and the benefits of walkable communities. 
  • Ability to engage clients, and multisector and community-level stakeholders from diverse backgrounds.
  • Ability to work independently, collaboratively and productively in a team environment both virtually and in person. Self-starter, entrepreneurial, flexible and well-organized.
  • Commitment to and understanding of racial equity and strong analysis of the root causes of inequities, and how racism intersects with walkable communities.
  • Proficiency with Microsoft Office (e.g., Word, Excel, and PowerPoint).
  • Proficiency in virtual work software (e.g., Zoom, Google Suite).
  • Proficiency in graphic design and spatial analysis software (e.g. Adobe Suite, Canva, QGIS, ArcGIS) is preferred.
  • Drivers license required.

Compensation and location:

  • Full-time position (37.5 hours/week)
  • Annual salary range: $63,000-$67,000 based upon prior work experience
  • Standard benefits include: holiday compensation, paid time off, health insurance, and flexible scheduling
  • In-state travel is required. Availability for occasional early morning, evening, or weekend hours required. 

Currently, WalkBoston staff is working on a hybrid model, with a flexible number of days spent in-person. We have a shared office space at the CIC in Downtown Boston which we share with several other transportation advocacy organizations. 

Interested applicants possessing the above experience and skills are encouraged to apply by sending a resume and cover letter with salary expectations to jobs@walkboston.org.

Updated 8/11/22

About WalkBoston

WalkBoston, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) advocacy organization, makes walking safer and easier in Massachusetts to encourage better health, a cleaner environment and more vibrant communities. We know that walking improves personal, economic, environmental and civic health. Working on walking takes us across Massachusetts to empower people with knowledge and proven strategies to make their own communities more walkable. Our small, committed staff work as a team to make change: whether it’s getting a crosswalk painted in a neighborhood, or influencing Massachusetts state policy to make streets safer for all. 

WalkBoston is committed to better understanding, identifying, and undoing the racist processes and policies that lead to inequities in the walking environment for communities of color across the Commonwealth. We are deepening our engagement in meaningful program and organizational strategies that lead with racial justice. WalkBoston is actively seeking to build a diverse staff. We encourage multiple perspectives and experiences, support a multicultural environment, and strive to hire and retain a diverse workforce that reflects the populations we work with and the communities where we work. 

WalkBoston is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, or genetic information.

Statewide Fatal Crashes In MA, April 2022

Statewide Fatal Crashes In MA, April 2022

Each month, we post about the fatal crashes in Massachusetts from the previous month, and share any trends that we see. For the full list of monthly posts, head here. Earlier this year, we released a year in review for 2021 to highlight common issues.

Last month, we took a look at the seven fatal crashes listed in the MassDOT Crash Portal in March. In this post, we’ll look at crashes in MA in April 2022. The information in the chart below is compiled from news reports, and was checked against the MassDOT Crash Portal Dashboard “Fatal Crash Information.” The Google Street View images included below use the address listed in the crash portal.

  • Of the 21 fatal crashes in Massachusetts in April in the MassDOT Crash portal, three were identified as people walking.
  • The average age of pedestrians hit & killed in April was 60.
  • One additional fatal crash was in the news: 5-year-old Candice Asare-Yeboah was struck on April 18th on Stafford Street in Worcester and passed away in the ICU on May 24th; a vigil at the crash site was held on Sunday, May 30th. Since Candice died more than 30 days from the date of the crash, this crash may not be included in the federal FARS dataset.

Update, 6/1: After this monthly post was added, a reader sent us a link to an additional fatal crash that was not listed in the portal. On April 27th, a 78-year-old woman was hit and killed at Elm Street and Whittier Street in Andover. We reached out to MassDOT who followed up with Andover PD about this crash; the fatal crash report has now been submitted to MassDOT and added to the crash database.


Date 4/4/2022, 12:50 AM
Location Kneeland St. + Hudson St.
Town Boston
Type PEDESTRIAN
Age 33
Sex M

Richard Mullins, age 33, was struck and killed by 36-year-old Abana Cabrera on Kneeland Street in Boston. UniversalHub reported:

Abana Cabrera, 36, of Randolph, was arraigned yesterday in Boston Municipal Court, before Mullins’s death, on charges of operating under the influence of alcohol causing serious bodily injury, OUI alcohol as a second offense, and failure to stop or yield, the DA’s office says, adding she had been earlier convicted of DUI in Nevada in 2016…The defendant allegedly made statements to Boston Police detectives that she had been drinking since 4 p.m. the prior afternoon.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, Kneeland Street & Hudson Streets are under local jurisdiction. There are two lanes and a bike lane in each direction on Kneeland. There is no crosswalk across Kneeland Street at Hudson. The intersection of Kneeland and Hudson is one block from the intersection of Kneeland and Albany Street, which has access to I-93 and I-90. The speed limit is 30mph.


Date 4/11/2022, 8:27 PM
Location I-291 EAST, EXIT 3
Town Springfield
Type PEDESTRIAN
Age 75
Sex F

Roselaine Jacquet, age 75, was struck and killed on I-291 East just before Exit 3. Western Mass News reported that a 34-year-old Springfield man was driving eastbound when he struck her in the center travel lane.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, this road is under MassDOT jurisdiction. It is a limited access highway, with a median and 3 travel lanes in each direction. The speed limit is 55mph.

This section of I-291 is also signed as Rt 20.


Date 4/12/2022, 8:10 PM
Location 27 North St.
Town Salem
Type PEDESTRIAN
Age 72
Sex M

The Salem News reported that a 72-year old Salem male was treated on scene then rushed to Salem Hospital with serious head injuries after he was struck by the driver of a vehicle on North Street (Rt 114) in Salem.

WalkBoston has conducted a number of walk audits in Salem over the last few years. This intersection is located outside the planned route of the September 2019 North Salem Walk Audit, but other intersections along North Street were examined at that time.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, this road is under local jurisdiction. At this intersection with Lynde Street, there are two lanes in each direction to accommodate turning lanes, with a bike lane on one side and a bike lane that transitions to sharrows on the other side. The speed limit is 30mph.


Updates

If you have an update about a community member who was killed in one of these crashes, please contact Brendan so we can update our 2022 list. WalkBoston has maintained a list each year since 2016, pulling the information from news reports, social media, and from people like you that share the information with us.

Yearly trackers:  |  ||||| 2022

Report: Fatal Pedestrian Crashes in MA (2021)


Reminder about the data from the MassDOT portal

MassDOT makes no representation as to the accuracy, adequacy, reliability, availability or completeness of the crash records or the data collected from them and is not responsible for any errors or omissions in such records or data. Under no circumstance will MassDOT have any liability for any loss or damage incurred by any party as a result of the use of the crash records or the data collected from them. Furthermore, the data contained in the web-based crash report tool are not an official record of what transpired in a particular crash or for a particular crash type. If a user is interested in an official copy of a crash report, contact the Registry (http://www.mass.gov/rmv/). The City of Boston Police Department may be contacted directly for official copies of crash reports and for crash data pertaining to the City of Boston. In addition, any crash records or data provided for the years after 2018 are subject to change at any time and are not to be considered up-to-date or complete. As such, open years’ of crash data are for informational purposes only and should not be used for analysis. The data posted on this website, including crash records and other reports, are collected for the purpose of identifying, evaluating or planning the safety enhancement of potential crash sites, hazardous roadway conditions or railway-highway crossings. Under federal law, this information is not subject to discovery and cannot be admitted into evidence in any federal or state court proceeding or considered for other purposes in any action for damages that involves the sites mentioned in these records (see 23 USC, Section 409).

WalkBoston’s Advocacy Work Continues to Soar

WalkBoston’s Advocacy Work Continues to Soar

Two of the most iconic by-products of Boston’s Big Dig — the Rose Kennedy Greenway and the Zakim Bridge — also stand today as symbols of WalkBoston’s earliest and most prominent pedestrian advocacy.

Founded in 1990, WalkBoston played a leading role throughout the 1990s in making sure pedestrians weren’t overlooked in the massive project to bury Boston’s Central Artery highway. Most notably, it persuaded transportation officials to reduce the number of proposed vehicle travel lanes on the Greenway from 10 to 6, with extra space devoted to pedestrians and bicyclists. It also persisted in seeing to completion the crucial pedestrian/bicycle bridge linking the Charles River Basin and Boston Harbor, a Big Dig commitment that languished until WalkBoston held a highly publicized walk in 2005 decrying its absence. The bridge was completed in 2012.

Those efforts and others are being recalled this month as WalkBoston marks the 20th anniversary of one of its most high-profile events: a Mother’s Day walk on the soon-to-be-opened Zakim Bridge on May 12, 2002. Co-sponsored with the Mass. Turnpike Authority, the walk drew 200,000 people — five times what officials anticipated — despite it being a cool rainy day.

The bridge walk idea came from then WalkBoston board member Catherine Donaher. 

“We had all gone through a very long and challenging fight to stop Scheme Z (a proposed I-90/Route 1 interchange over the Charles River) and I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to have a walk across the bridge before it opened?’ ” Donaher recalled.

WalkBoston co-founder and then-president Ann Hershfang pitched it to Turnpike Authority chairman Matt Amorello. “I stood up at a meeting and said, ‘Would you be willing to have pedestrians be the first mode of transportation across the Zakim Bridge?’ and he immediately said ‘Yes!’ ” Hershfang said.  

“What happened was so wonderful,” Donaher said. “We need to do more things to bring people out to touch and feel projects like this and feel like ‘This is my bridge — I paid for this.’”

The Mother’s Day walk’s popularity prompted officials to hold a walk through the Big Dig tunnels in August 2002, and a dedication walk on the Zakim Bridge that October. Those two events drew 600,000 and 800,000, respectively.

“Our work on the Central Artery kind of elevated us in the public mind,” said Hershfang, “and the bridge walk also raised our profile. I can still see one of our bright orange WalkBoston banners stretched across the bridge!” The Fall 2002 WalkBoston newsletter noted that nearly 90 new memberships were received after the first two events.

WalkBoston has only continued to grow over the ensuing two decades. An organization that in 2002 had no full-time staff and an annual budget of just over $100,000 now has six full-time staff members, interns, and a budget in excess of $600,000. WalkBoston continues to broaden and diversify its walkability programs and advocacy efforts, which now includes the WalkMassachusetts Network, a statewide coalition of groups working on walking.

Help us continue to add to our legacy by becoming a member or making a donation at walkboston.org/donate.

News clippings of the event from 2002:

 

April 2022 Network Meeting Recap

April 2022 Network Meeting Recap

The WalkMassachusetts Network held its third network meeting on Wednesday, April 20th. Members ranged from WalkBoston staff and board members, resident advocates from community groups, Mass in Motion coordinators, and representatives on various municipal boards and commissions from across Massachusetts.

Deputy Director Brendan Kearney gave a presentation on the WalkBoston report looking at fatal crashes in Massachusetts in 2021 as part of a continued outreach effort about the data.

Findings:

  • Of the 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts, 47 had a fatal pedestrian crash in 2021. Over half (40 of 75) of the deaths happened in 12 municipalities.
  • Older adults were hit and killed at a higher rate than those in other age groups: 36% of fatal crash victims were over the age of 65. In Massachusetts, only 17% of the population is over 65.  1  
  • Over half of Massachusetts’ fatal pedestrian crashes (50.67%) occurred on streets with speed limits of 30 to 35 MPH. These are neighborhood streets and main streets where more people are walking.
  • Roughly 65% of the people killed while walking were on roads owned by a city or town, while approximately 35% were walking on roads owned by a state agency (MassDOT or MassDCR).

Read the press release | Read the full report

If you haven’t already joined the WalkMassachusetts Network to hear about these monthly meetings, visit walkmanetwork.org to learn more and sign up to receive emails about upcoming events and programming. We also hope you’ll join us for our next network meeting on Wednesday, May 18th at 1 pm via Zoom. Chris Falcos from MassDOT will be joining to present on their new safe speeds programs and efforts. Have questions about the program? Please join us if you can by registering here!