If you believe in an equitable and vibrant Denver that guarantees our public spaces are designed for people, ensuring everyone can walk, bike, roll and ride transit to where they want to go – we need you!
The Denver Streets Partnership is launching a 10-week certificate program to give you the tools, expertise, experience, and connections to be a transit, walking, rolling, and biking leader into the future. The academy is a combination of online classes and in-the-field work, advocating around timely walking, biking, and transit decisions this fall such as the Community Networks program, our 20isPlenty campaign, and the Reimagine RTD process.
Take the Community Networks program: Denver’s new network of bikeways is an ambitious plan to build out 125 miles of interconnected bikeways that link our densest living areas and downtown in just 3 years. When bikeways are strategically designed to work together as a network that enhances the safety of riders and drivers alike, people finally have real choices about how to get around. That means more safety and less stress for everyone! Decisions are being made about Community Networks this fall and it’s time to raise our voices.
At our academy you will learn from the best – leaders from top advocacy groups like Bicycle Colorado, CoPIRG, the Cross Disability Coalition, American Heart Association, Mile High Connects and more.
Our curriculum is all about giving you the tools you need to make a difference in your neighborhood and in Colorado. And have fun. We have a lot of fun.
You’ll learn about the most effective strategies for improving the safety of our streets, how to cut through red tape to get better sidewalks and bike lanes in your neighborhood, the keys to affordable and accessible transit, and more.
At the end of the 10 weeks, you’ll receive an Advocacy Certificate from the Denver Streets Partnership, demonstrating completion of our program. Weekly stipends are also available. Each week will start with an online class offered at multiple times to fit into diverse schedules. Participants will meet every other week with a designated Denver Streets Partnership mentor. Each week will include a tactical assignment designed to make a difference on a decision happening right now. The program will begin on September 14 and end on November 20. Participants will be asked to dedicate 3-5 hours to the program each week.
CURRICULUM WEEK BY WEEK:
- Introduction to People Friendly Streets – What are they, how to make change in Denver, and how you can be your own best advocate
- Skill – Identifying and articulating a local transportation need through storytelling
- Product – A video, blog or letter that you create that tells your personal transportation story
- History of Inequity – How we avoid past mistakes and bring equity forward
- Skill – Understanding built in inequities
- Product – Action plan for ways you can bring equity into your work
- Shining a Spotlight Through the Media – Traditional media and ways to generate stories that shine a spotlight on your community’s needs
- Skill – Generating media attention through events and opinion pieces
- Product – Plan and implement a media event
- Grassroots Pedal Power – How to demonstrate broad support for your community needs
- Skill – Generating broad grassroots support via petitions and letters
Product – Letters from neighbors, friends, and family
- Skill – Generating broad grassroots support via petitions and letters
- Get on the Social Media Bus – Why engaging in social media is important and how to do it effectively
- Skill – Using social media channels to promote people friendly streets
- Product – Series of social media posts and building a social media presence
- Not Everyone Agrees: Love Thy Neighbor – How to understand where people are coming from and bring them to your side
- Skill – Listening and understanding motivations
- Product – Write and submit a letter-to-the-editor in your newspaper
- Coalition Building – From neighborhood associations to local businesses, building a group of groups that can work together
- Skill – Building a coalition of groups and businesses
- Product – Sign on letter
- Who Ya Gonna Call? Your Neighbor! – How to run a phone bank
- Skill – Phone banking
- Product – Generate phone calls to local official
- Knock, Knock – How to lobby your elected official and work with the city officials that are at the heart of transportation decision making
- Skill – Lobbying
- Product – Setting up a meeting with your City Council member
- Transforming Transportation – A history of why we’re here and how to get out of it
- Skill – Seeing beyond your neighborhood to bigger changes needed across the system
- Product – Photo petition or collage or video