Announcing the Equity in Active Transportation Committee
We are proud to announce a new collaborative working group formed this past year as an extension of the Understanding Barriers to Bicycling Project. Initially our goal was to better integrate Bike Club, Bike Camp and Create a Commuter programs to better serve families within a five-mile radius of our neighborhood bike shop in northeast Portland. Yet as we began drawing greater connections between our youth and adult programs, it became clear that this level of coordination should also be happening between us and other local transportation organizations.
In May 2010 we convened a number of organizations dedicated to bicycle and pedestrian programs within low-income and communities of color. This group has now become the Equity in Active Transportation (EAT) Committee. EAT’s mission is to collaboratively provide culturally competent and relevant transportation programs in low-income and communities of color across the Portland Metro area.
EAT is comprised of staff from various agencies involved in transportation programming, including the Portland Bureau of Transportations’ Safe Routes to School, Smart Trips, Willamette Pedestrian Coalition, Bicycle Transportation Alliance, OPAL Environmental Justice Oregon, El Programa Hispano, Metro and the Multnomah County Healthy Department.
So far, the EAT Committee has been working on a variety of projects, including:
- Coordinating events and activities to promote bicycling and walking within low-income and communities of color
- Improving communication about which organizations are delivering which programs and when
- Effectively sharing transportation resources that serve the needs of low-income and communities of color
- Sharing best practices for outreach and program delivery
- Creating and maintaining stronger relationships between agencies, organizations and community members
- Increasing the cultural competence of all the organizations with representatives on the committee
This month we are launching a blog to keep our community informed of what the committee is working on. The EAT blog will be a place where we can begin to showcase the outcomes of our collaborative efforts. Check back often for stories about the work our committee is doing.
We are very excited to see continued interest in coordinating bicycle and pedestrian programming throughout the Portland area. For more information about the committee, contact our Adult Program Coordinator, Zan Gibbs.