Dear parents, caregivers, and community,
Atmospheric rivers and distracting news about pop stars touring the country are not stopping friends in our Safe Routes to School community from getting outside and ready for more walking, biking, and rolling. We're thrilled to report back from a few stellar moments we witnessed in recent weeks:
- Nearly 240 people attended the Bike Fair at Ventura Park Elementary School after school on April 14. Organizers repaired 47 bikes, taught 56 people how to ride their bikes, and handed out 144 free helmets in preparation of the East Portland Sunday Parkways event on May 7. Stay in the loop by texting "East" to 888-520-0526 to receive Portland Sunday Parkways event updates and exciting information about day of entertainment and activities.
- Creston Elementary School hosted its first ever Walking and Bike Fair on April 10. Participants had the chance to win one of five scooters, six bikes, and 25 bike tune-up vouchers. The event coincided with news that Oregon Department of Transportation plans to implement a 20 mph school speed zone on SE Powell Boulevard between 42nd and 49th avenues. Check out this video that local videographer Amit Zinman put together of the community event!
- The Shaver Elementary School community hosted the first of several pilot Play Streets this season on April 7. This program turned a street in the Argay Terrace neighborhood into a pop-up community hub for intergenerational socializing, play, and physical activity with music, snacks, games, and a bouncy house! Catch the next Play Streets near Shaver Elementary School (NE 134th Avenue between Shaver Street and Prescott Drive) May 12 and June 9 and Sacramento Elementary School (NE 112th Avenue between Weidler and Schuyler streets) May 5, 19 and June 2 from 2:15 to 4:15 p.m.
- Every student at Rose City Park Elementary School are learning the fundamentals of traffic safety and how to ride bikes, scooters, pedal bikes, and/or balance bikes. Ms. Mac is helping to get all 500 students rolling once a week for three weeks in their P.E. class. And we loved watching the highlight about it all on the local news!
If you want more people to know about the awesome walking, biking, and rolling events in your neighborhood, please reach out to us via email, Facebook, or Instagram.
With gratitude,
Safe Routes to School Team | Abra, Brittany, Dana, Gui, Janis, Lale, and Meaghan
In this email:
- Welcome Gui!
- SmartTrips to Kindergarten
- Fixing Our Streets and Safe Routes to School
- What we're reading
- Job and volunteer postings
Welcome Gui!
The Safe Routes to School team is overjoyed to welcome the fabulous Gui Fonseca who will be leading engagement in high schools and supporting school communities and infrastructure projects across Portland.
As an avid biker, runner, climber, and doer of any other outdoor activity, Gui is honored and more than excited to join the Safe Routes to School super squad! After trying his hand at becoming a professional archaeologist, Gui decided to pivot and focus on his other passions of helping people through community outreach and engagement.
And Gui isn't a stranger to the Safe Routes to School team; he's a familiar face that spent the past year and a half working at Portland Bureau of Transportation coordinating and conducting BIKETOWN for All and Adaptive BIKETOWN outreach events. He was also a project manager at Prescribe A Bike PDX, a program striving to help improve physical and mental health of patients of Multnomah County clinics through the use of active transportation.
If you're interested in welcoming or connecting with Gui, you may reach out to him at Guilherme.Fonseca@portlandoregon.gov.
SmartTrips to Kindergarten
Starting school is an exciting time, but it can also be stressful. To support your family and start the year off right, we’re bringing you SmartTrips to Kindergarten!
Safe Routes to School is here to help you plan for your child’s best trip to school. The program offers resources, family activities, and tips to help families starting kindergarten this fall get to school safely and on time.
Be on the lookout for back-to-school information in August and be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram, too!
Questions? Reach out to SafeRoutes@portlandoregon.gov or call 3-1-1 and ask for Safe Routes to School.
Fixing Our Streets and Safe Routes to School
Fixing Our Streets is the voter-approved program that is funding $13 million worth of engineering projects to improve how Portland families access schools.
NE 148th Avenue: 146th Drive to Halsey Street Safety Project
The Portland Bureau of Transportation is planning to update the street design of NE 148th Avenue from 146th Drive to Halsey Street.
The goals of the project include:
- Increase safety through street design and discourage illegal speeding by reducing the number of vehicle travel lanes
- Construct a new pedestrian crossing with improved lighting at NE Sacramento Street
- Construct new sidewalk with trees and lighting at Margaret Scott Elementary School.
This project is in the final stage of design and construction is planned for this summer.
Visit the project website to learn more and sign up for email updates.
Learn more and Fixing Our Streets, understand how projects were selected, and view a map of funded location at SafeRoutesProjects.com.
What we're reading
Creston Elementary School launches new student "bike bus" (The Bee News)
- Portland Public Schools unveils first all-electric school buses (The Skanner)
- TriMet wants to fix its most unreliable bus line, while making routes safer for students (Portland Mercury)
- Barriers to bike and e-scooter use in Black communities (PeopleForBikes)
- Higher point of impact makes SUV crashes more dangerous for cyclists (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety)
- Vision Zero under the microscope: why aren’t road fatalities at zero yet? (Streetsblog)
- Effects of lowering speed limits on crash severity in Seattle (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety)
Job and volunteer postings
- Portland Parks Board: The board advocates for parks on a city and regional basis to ensure that parks, natural areas, open spaces, and recreation facilities are advanced in planning and design. The board provides a forum for public discussion and advises the bureau, bringing a citywide and long-term perspective. Closing 4/30/2023. Volunteer posting here.
- Transportation Wallet and BIKETOWN Program Associate: This position will split time between the Transportation Wallet: Access for All program and BIKETOWN. This position will be working to connect historically underserved communities and people/households living on low incomes to essential transportation services. Closing 5/1/2023. Job posting here.
- Cully Community Leadership Committee: The committee advises the implementation of the Cully TIF District Plan by providing essential guidance, public recommendations, and oversight. Committee members must either live, work, worship, have children enrolled in school, or have been displaced from within the district boundary. Closing 5/8/2023. Volunteer posting here.
- Senior Engineering Associate – Traffic: This position plans, develops, designs, implements, reviews, and evaluates traffic engineering elements in delivery of small and medium capital projects. The work’s primary focus is on Vision Zero, Safe Routes to School, pedestrian and bicycle network completion, and transit priority projects. Closing 5/15/2023. Job posting here.
The City of Portland updates it's job opportunities list weekly. Make sure to check out those new positions every Monday!