America Walks is proud to announce that 18 fellows from the 2022 Nationwide Strolling Faculty class are anticipated to efficiently full all necessities to graduate from this system. 

What’s the Nationwide Strolling Faculty Program?

The Strolling Faculty is a six-month, aggressive fellowship designed to develop the capability of native advocates to be efficient neighborhood change brokers.  Matters embrace the historical past of our car-centric transportation networks and the position systemic racism has performed in shaping these networks; design and coverage to foster energetic transportation; and learn how to manage. Fellows work with different members of their class and an skilled mentor to develop the information and expertise wanted to create neighborhood change. On the conclusion of the Strolling Faculty, fellows develop a Strolling Motion Plan to function a blueprint for his or her work going ahead. 

“We’re thrilled so as to add one other 18 fellows to our esteemed group of Strolling Faculty alumni now 180-strong who’re placing their expertise to make use of throughout the nation in making significant change of their communities,” stated Emilie Bahr, Strolling Faculty supervisor with America Walks.  “These fellows had been chosen from a aggressive group of candidates and have been beneficial members of this yr’s fellowship class. We’re excited to see the yields of their arduous work and their organizing and advocacy efforts translate to actual change on the bottom at a time when the significance of protected, accessible alternatives for transferring round our communities exterior of automobiles has by no means been extra pronounced. We’re sure that they are going to show to be a few of America Walks’ most respected grassroots companions.

Under, we share brief biographies of a choice of our current graduates, together with the issue they’ve chosen to sort out as a part of their end-of-term motion plans: 

Kellie Kirksey – Boardman, OH

Kellie Kirksey, PhD, is a licensed scientific counselor, rehabilitation counselor, and yoga teacher, specializing in mindfulness, holistic ache administration, and built-in counseling and wellness primarily based in Youngstown, Ohio. She is the founding father of Artistic Wellness Options, via which she provides well being, wellness and stress-management teaching and non-traditional therapeutic modalities. 

Kellie’s motion plan facilities on creating meditative strolling labyrinths in city communities, beginning in her neighborhood, which she envisions serving as sanctuaries and locations for communal gathering and therapeutic. She takes her inspiration from her expertise rising up in what she describes as a violence-prone part of Cleveland. “I see Youngstown being a vacation spot the place folks from all around the world go to to stroll the city-wide constellation of labyrinths for peace and hope. The labyrinths is not going to solely be a spot for a meditative stroll, but additionally a gathering area,” doubtlessly used as farmer’s markets, yoga, ebook golf equipment, and extra. 

Kellie plans to start out with a cellular, demonstration labyrinth as quickly as this winter, providing indoor, momentary installations at local people facilities and church buildings. Within the spring, she plans to start out fundraising towards her first everlasting set up exterior a church that she says has already recognized area for the mission.

Priya Patel – San Diego, CA 

Priya was born and raised in Vadodara, India. After working towards as an architect in India for a number of years, she immigrated to the USA in 2016 to obtain her twin grasp’s levels in metropolis planning and concrete design from the College of Texas at Austin. She now works as an city planner/designer for Black+Vernooy and serves on the boards of a number of neighborhood advocacy teams. She strives towards fairness and justice within the worlds of transportation, planning, and design.

Priya’s motion plan is rooted in her current transfer from Austin, Texas, the place she was well-connected to a bunch of like-minded people working to advance constructive change, to San Diego, CA, the place she doesn’t but have a strong community. Her motion plan outlines methods during which she intends – and has already begun – to construct partnerships, friends, and mentors and to determine alternatives for significant involvement in addressing the urgent mobility challenges confronting her new residence.

Doris Bullock – Youngstown, OH 

Doris is the supervisor of the Mercy Well being Stepping Out program and is keen about selling well being and wellness in her neighborhood.  She credit her curiosity in walkability to the alarming rise in pedestrian fatalities in her residence state of Ohio and strolling for saving her from the ravages of diabetes. 

Her motion plan goals to advertise strolling and transferring within the high-poverty Eastside neighborhood in Youngstown, OH. It requires civic funding in new crosswalks, signage and lighting, and enhanced bicycle infrastructure, and the opening of an indoor facility for folks to stroll within the winter months.

Kristi King, PhD – Louisville, KY 

Kristi is an affiliate professor within the Train Physiology and Group Well being packages at College of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky. 

Her motion plan requires the event, implementation and institutionalization of interdisciplinary bodily exercise and public well being programs into the curriculum on the College of Louisville and modern partnerships with college colleagues, authorities officers, and neighborhood leaders to assist the college turn into a pacesetter in bodily exercise and public well being instructing, analysis and repair.  

Anita Hollmann Matijcio – Houston, TX

Anita serves as Houston-Galveston Space Council’s (H-GAC) major contact for the Livable Facilities Program, a program that works with communities to assist them determine insurance policies and infrastructure that may make it simpler for folks to reside, work, and play with much less reliance on their automobiles. Her 10-year analysis of this system is nationally-recognized and serves as the idea for most up-to-date programmatic modifications.  Particularly, Anita’s curiosity lies in maturing planning-level suggestions for implementation via acceptable insurance policies, packages, and community-appropriate tasks.  As a seasoned transportation planner, her work contains sub-regional mobility research, roadway design critiques, bikeway design issues, and most lately, land use.  

Anita’s motion plan requires the incorporation of a stroll audit framework as a part of the Livable Facilities Program. So far, she says, this system has accomplished 38 research and a walking-based program however has not included stroll audits as a part of its course of.

Tammy VuPham – Redmond, WA

Tammy is a parks and trails commissioner for her metropolis. She turned concerned with pedestrian entry after caretaking for her multigenerational household. Together with her background in human-centered design and social psychology, Tammy is interested by enhancing neighborhood mobility and wellbeing via options within the constructed surroundings. Her purpose is to include nature areas inside the dynamic progress of her metropolis. She additionally works as a backcountry information within the Cascade mountains and is an outside recreation advocate.

Tammy’s motion plan goals to leverage town’s purpose of reaching carbon neutrality by 2030 to shift commuting patterns in favor of non-car transport.

Andy Fry – Topeka, KS 

Andy lives along with his spouse and two daughters in Central Topeka, one of many extra walkable areas in the neighborhood, and works for the Topeka Metropolitan Transit Authority. His work and private curiosity in making Topeka accessible to folks using bicycles introduced him to appreciate the necessity for strong pedestrian amenities as a root of a wholesome neighborhood. All of those modes rely upon the power to stroll and transfer about one’s neighborhood on foot. 

Andy’s motion plan requires the event of Stroll-Bike Topeka, an advocacy group to deliver collectively present people and teams working to advertise energetic transportation within the metropolis to develop a cohesive voice and technique for making wanted enhancements.

Tyler Mitchell – Abilene, Texas

Tyler is a public well being educator in Abilene, Texas. He pins his curiosity in pedestrian advocacy to his tenure as a volunteer with Meals on Wheels, when he took notice of a scarcity of sidewalks in additional economically-distressed components of city. He set out throughout his fellowship to turn into a greater advocate for accessible sidewalks in his neighborhood, 
Tyler’s motion plan targeted on getting extra college students at an area elementary faculty to stroll and bike to highschool.

Julia Mettler-Grove – Cleveland, Ohio

Julia lives in Cleveland, Ohio and was first launched to pedestrian advocacy in school. She is interested by common design as a method of stopping pedestrian deaths and growing the protection for all on the street. As a part of her Strolling Faculty expertise, she was wanting to find out about learn how to shift coverage and create institutional change to help pedestrians, bicyclists, and public transit customers whereas enhancing her organizing and strategizing expertise. 

Julia’s motion plan requires the creation of a wayfinding initiative in Cleveland to attach neighborhoods with surrounding greenways.

Steve Garon – Staunton, Virginia

Steve lives in Staunton, VA, within the Shenandoah Valley. He’s been an avid hiker, walker and bicyclist for about 40 years and have become interested by pedestrian advocacy pretty lately via his membership on the Staunton Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee and his job because the Secure Routes to College (SRTS) Coordinator for Waynesboro, VA.

His motion plan focuses on creating a coalition of companions to advocate for enhancements to energetic transportation infrastructure within the Wenonah College District with an eye fixed towards catalyzing change within the broader neighborhood.

Simon Bernnard – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Simon is a county planner with Pennsylvania’s Montgomery County Planning Fee. He lives in Philadelphia’s Manayunk neighborhood along with his spouse and two canines having moved from Upstate New York for graduate faculty and to start out their careers. Simon first turned interested by pedestrian advocacy whereas dwelling in Plattsburgh, NY. He lived just a few miles from the closest grocery retailer and the one technique to get high quality meals was to drive or stroll alongside a highly-trafficked street with intermittent sidewalks. By the Strolling Faculty, he hoped to study some technical expertise associated to designing streets for folks and to hone his skill to advocate for conduct change. 

Simon’s motion plan envisions higher-quality energetic transportation infrastructure connecting residents of the Perkiomen Valley to colleges and different on a regular basis wants.