Go Human 2024 Year in Review

News

Throughout 2024, Go Human directed resources to community-led safety and engagement strategies, particularly in communities disproportionately affected by traffic violence and historically excluded from transportation investments. Go Human collaborated with community leaders, nonprofit organizations, cities, and local agencies throughout the region to help build safer and healthier places by:

  • Awarding over $430,000 in grant funding to 15 community-led traffic safety efforts through the 2024 Community Streets Grant Program.
  • Funding and supporting four traffic safety education events, amplifying community voices across the region.
  • Supporting and amplifying two community expert training sessions and one collaborative educational social media video.
  • Creating and distributing over 1,600 co-branded safety materials, achieving an estimated 18 million impressions.
  • Adding new safety pledge signatories to traffic safety comm.
  • Deploying and showcasing SCAG’s Kit of Parts to support 11 temporary safety demonstration projects across the region, with two previous demonstration partners moving toward implementation. 

More details and highlights from 2024 follow:

2024 Go Human Community Streets Grant Program Projects

The Go Human 2024 Community Streets Grant Program provided funding for community-based organizations to implement local traffic safety strategies. SCAG awarded over $430,000 to 15 community-based organizations across six counties within the SCAG region to lead walk audits, bicycle rodeos, bike repair workshops, safety material distribution, healing and repair spaces, and more. Awardees distributed thousands of safety materials, spread awareness through social media campaigns, and held meaningful in-person projects, directly informing planning efforts and community change. 

2024 Go Human Community Streets Awardees

To read more about their creative strategies and successes, check out the”2024 Community Streets Final Report” at the following link.

The Kit of Parts Lending Library & Traffic Safety Demonstrations

The Go Human Kit of Parts, offered as a “lending library,” creates opportunities for partners to borrow materials to showcase temporary traffic safety improvements as a community engagement and feedback strategy. In 2024, partners across the region utilized the Kit of Parts in 11 temporary safety demonstrations.

In addition to providing the Kit of Parts resource, SCAG also offered in-depth technical assistance to support five partners in completing temporary demonstrations. Technical assistance included event ideation, site planning, permitting, logistics, staffing, promotion, data collection, documentation, and more.

The temporary demonstrations reached over 7,000 people and secured 189 surveys, demonstrating overwhelming support for infrastructure improvements, with 100 percent of those surveyed indicating that the demonstrations helped them better understand safety infrastructure and 96 percent indicating they support the permanent installation of these improvements.

2024 Kit of Parts Demonstration

2024 Kit of Parts demonstration partners included the following:

Safety Demonstration Project Spotlights: From Pop-Up to Permanence

In 2024, two Kit of Parts demonstration partners leveled up their traffic safety efforts by securing resources to permanently implement improvements in their neighborhoods.

“Kids Space” Installation at Shatto Place at Koreatown’s Young Oak Kim Academy

Kids Space Installation at Shatto Place at Koreatown’s Young Oak Kim Academy At Koreatown’s Young Oak Kim Academy, students, parents, and community members now enjoy their very own permanent “Kids Space,” a safer drop-off and pick-up lane in front of their school, along with delineators in the middle of the street to prevent U-turns and improve traffic safety. The “Kid Space” also includes the installation of a street mural, painted by students. This effort was informed by a Go Human Kit of Parts traffic safety demonstration at Young Oak Kim Academy’s Walk to School Day Event in October 2023, hosted by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT). The permanent installation incorporates community concerns and feedback, collected during the demonstration, related to improving congestion and reducing high speeds on Shatto Place. This project was funded and implemented by the LADOT.

Willard Neighborhood in the City of Santa Ana

Willard Neighborhood in the City of Santa Ana In February 2024, the Willard neighborhood in the city of Santa Ana installed and showcased the city’s first artistic crosswalk at the intersection of 15th Street and Ross Street. The first safety measure of its kind in Santa Ana, community feedback informed both the location and the type of safety treatment, recognizing that drivers slow down for high visibility artistic crosswalks. People of all ages can now enjoy a safer and colorfully vibrant crosswalk that reflects community character.

This successful community planning and implementation process was supported by efforts in August 2023 at the Willard Safe Streets Summer Nights, an event funded by a SCAG Go Human Mini-Grant in 2022, where over 150 families attended. With support from California Walks, Santa Ana Active Streets collected community feedback on a temporary artistic crosswalk using SCAG Go Human’s Kit of Parts safety materials.

Traffic Safety Pledge

SCAG’s Go Human Pledge invites jurisdictions to commit to designing and building safer streets. In 2024, the total number of signatories increased to nine after procuring of eight new traffic safety pledges. Each signatory represents a commitment by jurisdictions and agencies to become safety leaders within the SCAG region, and each signatory is provided with resources to support their effort. New signatories from 2024 include:

  • City of Glendora
  • Los Angeles County Public Works
  • Stop4Aidan (Los Angeles)
  • Reach Out (Jurupa Valley)
  • Riverside University Health System (Riverside)
  • Arts Council for Long Beach (Long Beach)
  • Black on the Block (San Bernardino)

Co-Branded Safety Messaging Materials

Co-Branded Safety Messaging MaterialsCo-Branded Safety Materials SignSCAG’s Go Human makes traffic safety messaging materials available to partners across the region. SCAG designs, prints, and ships messaging items at no cost to partners, including materials such as lawn signs, banners, postcards, and more. In 2024, Go Human provided over 1,600 materials to 14 partners, including schools, cities, community-based organizations, and regional agencies, reaching an estimated 18 million people!

Traffic Safety Event Support

This year, Go Human provided support to community-based organizations to host traffic safety educational components at community events.

On June 19, SCAG partnered with Tomorrow’s World to demonstrate traffic safety improvements at the Rialto Juneteenth Jam. Tomorrow’s World hosted a traffic safety display booth and distributed helmets alongside bicycle safety education materials. The event also presented an awareness campaign in partnership with local schools and community organizations.

On June 23, Go Human sponsored an interactive and educational space at CicLAvia South Los Angeles on Western Ave, the 53rd open streets event in Los Angeles. Over 8,000 attendees enjoyed car-free streets and interacted with the SCAG Go Human booth while biking, playing, skating, walking, and exploring five miles along Western Avenue in South Los Angeles. Read more about the event at the Cicvlavia website and see photos on Flickr.Child on Bike at Traffic Safety EventTraffic Safety Event Support

On July 3, Los Amigos de la Comunidad, Inc., in partnership with the city of Brawley, hosted a community film night to showcase traffic safety education for residents and distributed helmets to community members.

On Sept. 27, Go Human partnered with Antelope Valley Partners for Health to distribute bike safety materials alongside traffic safety education at their Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration and Traffic Safety event in Lancaster. Over 60 attendees enjoyed a night full of live music and dancing, bike rodeo, treats, and free bike helmets and bike lights. Bike rodeo attendees learned how to properly fit helmets and bike lights and how to safely ride a bike using mock street signs and cones. Over 30 community members received bike and helmet safety education.

Community Expert Services & Trainings

SCAG Go Human supports the creation of traffic safety educational materials by working with community traffic safety experts to share knowledge and expertise on topics related to traffic safety efforts in communities across the SCAG region.

On May 22, SCAG’s Toolbox Tuesday webinar highlighted mobility justice leader and Go Human partner Yolanda Davis-Overstreet’s research and findings from the 2023 advocacy guide, “Re-Imagine Biking While Black: A Road Map to Advocacy & Joy Guide.” In 2021, Davis-Overstreet was awarded funding through the Go Human Mini-Grant program to film and release Biking While Black: How Safe are Black Lives Bicycling? This internationally recognized, award-winning documentary film centers the daily experiences that Black Americans encounter while bicycling. Building on the groundwork that the film laid out, Davis-Overstreet published Re-Imagine Biking While Black: A Road Map to Advocacy & Joy Guide in 2023. Davis-Overstreet screened Biking While Black: How Safe are Black Lives Bicycling? during the Toolbox Tuesday session and facilitated a discussion highlighting the advocacy guide as a tool to address transportation inequities. Check out the recording of the May Toolbox Tuesday webinar on YouTube.

Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Display

On Sept. 3, three speakers from community-based organizations and jurisdictions from across the SCAG region, including Santa Ana Active Streets, Arts Council for Long Beach, and the city of Laguna Niguel, presented at SCAG’s September Toolbox Tuesday session. The speakers focused on active transportation projects that use asphalt art to improve safety for people walking and biking. The session, attended by 63 participants, discussed arts engagement and creative placemaking and place-keeping strategies to bolster community engagement and increase active transportation safety. Watch the recording and view the presentations on YouTube. For more information on SCAG’s Toolbox Tuesday sessions, please visit the SCAG website.

This summer, local content creator Michelle Moro partnered with SCAG and the Go Human program to bring awareness to bicycle and pedestrian safety and infrastructure efforts in Southern California by sharing personal bicycling experiences and important safety tips. Watch the video on SCAG’s YouTube page to learn more about Go Human’s efforts to make Southern California communities safer and more livable.

Celebrating Go Human Awardees

In 2024, five SCAG Go Human partner projects received recognition from the American Planning Association (APA) from both local sections and the state chapter. Congratulations to the award winners!

Bicycle Tree and Santa Ana Active Streets TWIGY Bikey Summer Program

Looking Ahead to 2025

SCAG will continue to support local traffic safety and community engagement through a suite of Go Human strategies and resources in 2025! Planned activities include:

  • Safety demonstration projects, offering the Kit of Parts lending library to partners at no cost and expanding its reach through technical assistance.
  • Co-branded safety advertisements, continuing production and distribution of print and digital graphics provided at no cost to local agencies and jurisdictions.

An exciting year of traffic safety activities just came to a close, but Go Human resources are available year-round! Request co-branded digital materials or reserve the Kit of Parts at no cost by contacting gohuman@scag.ca.gov. Stay updated on the latest details or upcoming events concerning SCAG’s Go Human campaign by following us on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn.

Funding for Go Human is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.