Outreach
The Mississippi Low-Income Empowerment Initiative for Livable Communities:
Bike Walk Mississippi (BWM) desires to engage low-income communities throughout Mississippi by providing one-on-one consultation and assistance that will empower citizens to build greater capacity and knowledge allowing them to more easily transform themselves into more livable communities. By targeting economically disadvantaged communities who may currently lack knowledge, capacity or access, BWM’s Low-Income Empowerment Initiative will bridge the gap by connecting these communities with the necessary tools and resources they need to become places where all citizens can more easily and safely travel as bicyclists or pedestrians.
By working with economically disadvantaged communities located in the vicinity of schools, BWM will assist residents through developing creative solutions to their biking and walking barriers based on their own unique set of needs and assets. This Initiative will increase safety and access for children to walk and bike to school and help make their neighborhoods a healthier place for children. BWM will target local community partners focusing on the needs of children as well as those working to improve health and community development on a local level. In order to engage the community as a whole, BWM also will work to establish relationships with neighborhood associations and churches located within these communities. By focusing our initial efforts on the communities of the Mississippi Delta (rural) and low-income areas of Jackson (urban) as our primary targeted areas, we believe can develop a successful and replicable model to be used to engage communities statewide.
Through the Mississippi Low-Income Empowerment Initiative for Livable Communities, Bike Walk Mississippi will compile a Summary Report including: compiled research from each community, a list of identified partners, community questionnaire responses, Walkability and Bikeability checklists, Needs assessments, Asset mapping activities, and a list of creative solutions identified by each community. A short-term and long term implementation and evaluation plan will be created from each community and compiled in the summary report. In addition to this Summary Report, Bike Walk Mississippi will compile and develop a “Grass-roots Community Empowerment Toolkit” that can be used by communities around the state to develop non-infrastructure programs that seek to improve conditions for biking and walking.
Why is Bike Walk Mississippi engaging low income communities as part of it’s mission? Bike Walk Mississippi believes public streets should be accessible to all people who walk or bike regardless of if by choice or by need. The Robert Woods Johnson Foundation reports that children from low-income families are twice as likely to walk to school as children from higher-income families and have an even higher risk of being injured or killed as pedestrians. It is the mission of BWM to increase the quality of life for the people of Mississippi through promoting the importance of health, safety, recreation and transportation alternatives. The Low-Income Empowerment Initiative will complement the desires of the Mississippi Safe Routes to Schools program by gathering information, working at the local level to identify needs and pairing these neighborhoods with available resources and tools to move toward becoming more Bikeable, Walkable and more “Livable” communities.
What we hope this initiative can accomplish? Bike Walk Mississippi believes that through this initiative we can increase the amount of children biking and walking to school, (therefore improving childhood health), increase community safety (by growing community support and involvement) and encourage more healthy and active lifestyles among low-income Mississippians.
By engaging community members to identify their unique needs and assets and working with local and state governments to pass policies that support their efforts, we believe we can create more livable communities among the most economically disadvantaged in the state. By partnering with local nonprofit, businesses, police departments, parents, organizations and other volunteers, we believe we can further empower citizens to realize their potential as advocates in their own communities. BWM will collaborate with these organizations to plan outreach events in their community and will empower citizens to become advocates for biking and walking as a positive message to fight obesity, decrease crime and improve the economic development of their communities. By focusing on the needs of the most economically disadvantaged, BWM believes that this initiative will create greater capacity for more livable communities across the state of Mississippi.
Project Details:
Many communities in Mississippi may be unaware of the free or affordable resources available to them to create more bikeable and walkable communities. BWM’s Low-Income Empowerment Initiative will connect citizens to biking and walking educational and support materials as well as accessible programs already offered throughout Mississippi. This initiative will work with neighborhoods to facilitate discussion and brainstorming activities that will allow citizens to identify barriers to safe biking and walking that may exist in their communities. Barriers may include: accessibility, traffic related risks, barriers to physical activity, distance to school or lack of access to places where children and adults can walk, bicycle, exercise, or play safely. By offering one-one-one consultation specific to the needs of their community, BWM can empower, engage and encourage children, parents and community members with necessary tools to create communities where they bike and walk safely and easily. Based on the unique passions, desires and needs of specific communities, we can assist citizens to move toward creative and adaptable opportunities and solutions.
How does the Mississippi Low-Income Empowerment Initiative work?
1. Developing Partnerships
BWM believes that in order to be successful in communities with limited resources we must partner with organizations who have already established trust and support from their local communities. These partners will consist of well-established organizations and stakeholders in each community, specifically: nonprofits, community centers, churches, neighborhood associations, neighborhood watch programs, and other local agencies. Building relationships with these groups will enable BWM to more effectively and efficiently identify collaborative opportunities based on the community’s unique set of needs, assets, and barriers. This process will foster an environment of extended community support.
2. Holding Community Meetings toward Creative Solutions
Community meetings will serve as a way to engage citizens through face-to-face brainstorming sessions in which they can safely voice their concerns, interests, and passions for community improvements. Bikeability and Walkability forms as well as other SRTS information gathering materials will be distributed during these meetings to assist in identifying a community baseline. Residents will first be asked to identify barriers that currently exist within their neighborhoods. BWM will then facilitate discussion surrounding existing community assets. These personal meetings (paired with background community research) will allow BWM to gauge the current level of interest and better understand current conditions and existing barriers to biking and walking. Following community meetings, BWM will continue to work with its partners to conduct on-going evaluations to identify needs and assets, and to solicit community feedback. By building on each community’s assets and partnering with other local agencies, BWM will be able to better unite the community toward becoming a more conducive environment for biking and walking.
3. Create Action Teams, Develop Action Plans and Gain Local Support
Creating a team of insiders who desire to move the community forward allows citizens to take change into their own hands and feel a sense of ownership. Action Teams will be formed around specific identified interests and abilities. By working with communities to establish teams around a list of small and achievable goals, BWM will more easily be able to provide on-going encouragement to these communities. In order to offer a multi-faceted support system for these teams, BWM will work with citizens to engage their public officials, local health agencies, law enforcement officers and their local business community. BWM will enable communities to demonstrate demand for systemic change and ways to educate and advocate for more bicycle and pedestrian friendly support from these public and private entities.
4. Community Follow-up & Implementation:
Bike Walk Mississippi will continue to work with and encourage the members of these communities throughout the year and will also join in celebrating and promoting their successes. It is our hope that even small success in these areas will lead to increased ownership, value and enthusiasm for future projects, events, and sustainable change within these neighborhoods. BWM will collect information from individuals and groups within these communities and encourage the implementation of identified projects and events that promote an environment in which both children and adults can bike and walk more safely. It is our desire that after the completion of this project, these communities will feel empowered to continue developing their own unique strategies to make their neighborhoods more bike and pedestrian friendly. Through the development of the “Grass-roots Community Empowerment Toolkit,” we will develop a model in which communities around the state can begin to move toward more livable communities.
- Are you a representative of a nonprofit that would like to be included in this project?
- Would you like to join the Low Income Initiative’s team?
- Do you have other ideas for how we can engage low income communities?
Send an email to: bikewalkmississippi.org or comment here!