America Walks

America Walks is a national NGO advancing safe, equitable, accessible, and enjoyable places to walk.

It supports an alliance of more than 700 advocate groups providing them with a “Pedestrian Advocacy Toolkit” to support walking locally to be valued, planned for, designed, enforced and promoted.

The organisation has published an extensive library of resources including fact sheets on the benefits of walking, technical resources and how to advocate for effective change.

The vision statement for America Walks is for a Walkable America By 2030, where streets and neighbourhoods in all American communities are safe and attractive public places that encourage people of all ages, abilities, ethnicities, and incomes to walk for transportation, wellness and fun. Community policies and practices promote walkable places that support health, economic vitality, environmental sustainability, and social equity.

Originally a small coalition of local groups America Walks today boast 700 allied organisations who across the nation are working to increase walking and make America a better place to walk. America Walks continues to make great strides as it works to promote safe and accessible walking conditions for every community. With the support of local advocates, strong partnerships and walkers from all across America, America Walks is committed to serving as the national resource for safe, convenient and accessible walkable communities for all.

Check out their helpful ‘fact sheets’ on the Benefits of Walking from Safety,
Health, Social Equity, Environment, Transportation and Economy perspectives.

They also provide helpful resources for new advocates and to help established organisations recognising the important roles of Walking Groups & Clubs, Elected Officials, Health Professionals, Education Professionals, Planners and Architects, Transportation Professionals, Law Enforcement officers and the Business and Commerce communities.

Advocacy resources include information on tactics, building partnerships, assessing the environment, planning, promotion, policy, changing cultures and funding in particular.