Caminatas Verdes Archives - WalkMassachusetts

East Boston Ped101 Presentation with GreenRoots and Caminatas Verdes y Caminatas Seguras

Image: WalkBoston staff leading a Ped101 presentation to members of the Caminatas Verdes y Caminatas Seguras group.

On Thursday, August 4th, WalkBoston led an in-person Ped101 presentation for East Boston residents. The training was done in collaboration with GreenRoots, an environmental justice organization based out of Chelsea and East Boston, and the Caminatas Verdes y Caminatas Seguras walking group.

The program aims to improve safe walking access to East Boston’s parks and open spaces. The goal of the Ped101 training was to educate community members on the fundamentals of walkability and effective walking infrastructure, and give community members the vocabulary to advocate for infrastructure improvements. The presentation was conducted in both English and Spanish. WalkBoston offered an interpreter who translated the presentation in real-time using GreenRoots equipment.

East Boston community members are passionate about improving their neighborhood’s walking infrastructure, especially around parks and schools. Over 20 community members attended the Ped101 presentation. At the end of the training, community members discussed how walkability solutions from the presentation could be used in their own community. They largely focused on fading sidewalks, lack of daylighting and curb extensions, poor snow removal, insufficient walking signals, and the failure of new developments to replace walking infrastructure damaged during construction.

After the discussion, residents participated in a mapping activity in which they marked areas of East Boston that they felt were particularly dangerous for pedestrians. WalkBoston and GreenRoots will also communicate resident concerns directly to the City of Boston, both through a current conditions report and a meeting with city representatives.

Connecting Kids and Families to Parks and Open Spaces!

WalkBoston is excited to announce we have received $150,000 over three years from Boston Children’s Collaboration for Community Health for our Connecting Kids and Families to Parks and Open Spaces project!

This grant is part of Boston Children’s Hospital’s total commitment of $53.4 million to support community organizations and agencies in their efforts to improve the health and well-being of children and families in Boston and across Massachusetts. Boston Children’s is distributing these funds as part of an agreement with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Determination of Need Program. This is in addition to the hospital’s ongoing support for programs and partnerships.

Access to parks for exercise, relaxation, and community connection is a proven public health solution to social isolation and community resiliency in urban communities. Too often, low income communities of color that have experienced historical disinvestment, high levels of traffic violence, and public safety challenges have the least safe access to neighborhood parks. This is the case in East Boston, which has a great variety of parks, but where proximity has not equated to access for many residents.

We are thrilled to be working with our partner GreenRoots and the Caminatas Verdes walking group to address these inequities by improving walking connections and access to East Boston’s parks through community-based street advocacy.

Thank you, Boston Children’s Hospital, for helping us make Massachusetts safer to encourage better health, a cleaner environment and more vibrant communities. We look forward to this partnership and can’t wait for the work to begin!

“We have long recognized that one of the best ways for Boston Children’s to make a difference is to partner with others in the community. The Collaboration provides organizations with funding so they can establish the infrastructure needed to grow and lead or strengthen their connections with partners to create more efficient systems of care and support.”
–Shari Nethersole, MD, Executive Director for Community Health