Go Human Mini-Grants Awarded

The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) has conditionally awarded more than $350,000 to community and nonprofit organizations to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in targeted communities across the six-county SCAG region.

The 26 awarded projects will receive funding through the Mini-Grants Program, which is part of Go Human, SCAG’s regional active transportation safety and encouragement campaign. Projects are awarded up to $15,000 to implement safety and engagement strategies between June and August 2022.

The Mini-Grants Program aims to build street-level community resiliency and increase the safety of people most at risk of traffic injuries or fatalities, including Black, Indigenous, and People of Color; people with disabilities; and frontline workers, particularly those walking and biking.

Southern California has some of the highest levels of injuries and fatalities in the United States among pedestrians and bicyclists. In the six-county SCAG region, comprised of Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, Imperial, San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, people who walk and bike make up about 3% of all trips but account for 32% of all roadway fatalities. An average of more than four people die every day in traffic collisions in the region, and 70% of all collisions are on local roads.

“Safety for people walking and biking is critical to the future of healthy, sustainable communities across Southern California,” said Jan Harnik, President of SCAG and Mayor of Palm Desert. “We’re proud that Go Human and the Mini-Grants Program can play a role in supporting active transportation education and programming on a local community level. Investing in demonstration projects identified and implemented by each community provides the opportunity to gather feedback and ideas based on experience, ultimately resulting in the best project for the community.” 

The Mini-Grants program aims to provide resources to historically disinvested communities to seed projects and strategies that can result in continued and meaningful community engagement and planning efforts that improve safety locally across the region. The selected awardees and projects include:

• Arts Council for Long Beach, “Washington Neighborhood Community Corners”
• Bike Culver City, “Project Visibility”
• BikeVentura, “BIPOC Bicycle Safety and Popular Education at the Oxnard Bike Hub”
• Central City Neighborhood Partners, “Pedestrian Traffic Safety Campaign”
• Chesterfield Square Community Block Club, “Chesterfield Square Mural Dedication”
• Comite Civico del Valle, “Active Community Education”
• Community Intelligence, “Go Crenshaw Wayfinding Project”
• Connie Rice Institute for Urban Peace, “Harvard Park Walking Club for Safer Streets”
• Costa Mesa Alliance for Better Streets, “Bright Lights of Costa Mesa”
• Day One, Inc., “El Monte Asphalt to Arts” and “Pomona Asphalt to Arts”
• East Side Riders Bike Club, “Bicycling Education and Safety Training”
• Highlanders Boxing Club and Youth Engagement, “Safety While Walking” and “(Stop) Street Takeover Awareness”
• Latino Health Access, “Ride, Walk & Roll Orange County!”
• Los Angeles Walks, “Equipment & Skills Essential for Promotores Securing LA City/County Safe Street Contracts”
• National Health Foundation, “Decorative Crosswalk Plan”
• Nyeland Promise, “Safe Travels/Viajes Seguros”
• Yolanda Davis-Overstreet Consulting, “Continuing to Ride: Biking While Black Through Decriminalization, Disenfranchisement, and Gentrification”
• People’s Collective for Environmental Justice, “Bloomington Path for All”
• People for Mobility Justice, “South LA Mobility Justice Lab”
• Public Matters, “How East Los Moves: Creative, Custom People-Powered Transit!”
• Rose Park Neighborhood Association, “State of the Neighborhood”
• Santa Ana Active Streets, “Willard Safe Streets” and “SAAS Speaker Series”
• The Artlands, “Revitalizing Public Transit through Bus Bench Art”
• Youth Leadership Institute, “YLI Youth-Led Safety and Walkability Assessment”