MGR Youth Empowerment campers focus on improving biking & walking in PGH’s West End Neighborhoods

MGR Youth Empowerment is a nonprofit organization that engages, motivates, and empowers under-resourced youth to create positive community change through programming in the arts, the environment and health. MGR programs are intended to build the knowledge and skills of young people to take action on issues they care about.

So for the youth involved in MGR Youth Empowerment’s Positive Spin program at the Pittsburgh Public School’s Summer Dreamers Academy, this year’s summer break wasn’t filled with just relaxing days by the pool and ice cream sandwiches (though they were sure to sneak a few of those). With guidance from MGR Staff and BikePGH, these youth took to the street and organized a successful campaign that is sure to set the wheels in motion for improving safe bicycle and pedestrian connectivity for neighborhoods in Pittsburgh’s West End. Here’s how it happened…

Step 1: Define the Issue

MRG’s youth met daily at Langley School, a K-8 in Pittsburgh’s Sheridan neighborhood. From school, the youth used biking as an easy way to explore their city while improving the environment and improving personal health.

However, an enormous issue for them was connectivity; there isn’t a single bike lane or shared road marking in Sheridan, and many of the crosswalks and sidewalks are dilapidated and in need of improvement. Worst of all, the safest way to walk or bike to downtown and many of Pittsburgh’s large commercial areas is a crumbling 5 ft-wide sidewalk beside the 4-lane, 35-mph, West Carson Street.

This was the problem that they decided to solve. If they were able to publicize the fact that people were calling for bicycle and pedestrian improvements, then they could lay groundwork for creating streets where residents could safely use active transportation to combat health, environmental, and economic problems.

Step 2: Develop a Strategy

The students knew they were working in a limited time frame: summer camp would be done by mid-August! (…sigh). They had to show that the existing conditions were neglected and dangerous, and that it was effecting people negatively. Most of all they had to show that it could be fixed.

Students decided that they would create a 3 part campaign to heighten the discussion about the neighborhood’s need for better facilities for safe biking and walking: Part 1 would raise public awareness by publicizing photos of the dangerous conditions. Part 2 would be a letter writing campaign to show community support of the issue. Part 3 would be a “hearing” to talk with an elected official about their experiences and the process by which the city would improve the conditions.

Step 3: Choose the Tactics

The youth decided to publicize the issue by creating pictures and signs. The photos raise awareness about these issues and document their experiences with the existing conditions. These photos were posted to MGR’s Flickr Page:

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Step 4: Secondary Tactics

Once they were able to display a need for improvement, the group needed to make contact with Theresa Kail Smith. All students focused on writing a letter  to the Councilwoman to convey their personal experiences.  Here are a few:

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 Step 5: Establish Connections

Time was running out! Summer was almost up! The students’ letters alone weren’t convincing Councilwoman Kail Smith to come meet with them… (it didn’t help that they didn’t mail them). Fortunately, one of the MGR staff members knew the Councilwoman from a neighborhood church, so the parent was able to make a personal invitation to the councilwoman, which she accepted.

The date for a meeting was set.

Step 6: The Final Hour

On the last day of summer camp the students sat quietly in the room that they’d spent so much time all summer: strategizing, organizing, publicizing, evaluating. The hour was almost near. Would the Councilwoman show? There was no telling if all their work would pay off.

At 2pm sharp the door opened.  In walked Councilwoman Theresa Kail Smith.

The students kept their calm: They’d studied their issues. They knew their strategy. They’d reviewed their speeches.

One by one they went around the room and told their personal experiences and why they thought these improvements were necessary.

Councilwoman Kail Smith listened intently. She was proud that youth were taking such civic action in her district. She promised to investigate what steps could be taken toward improving biking in the neighborhood.

The next day, the youth snapped this picture:

The grass was being cut! Theresa Kail Smith heard their complaints and followed through! The youth had won their campaign on all fronts: they’d created signs and pictures documenting the issue, they used the pictures to built publicity, they’d penned several letters to the councilperson, and they’d held a successful meeting with an elected official!

Their hard work paid off and improvements were made, and it is now a little easier to walk & bike from Langley School and the neighborhoods of Pittsburghs West End. Granted, there is still much work to do, but no matter how small, MGR youth had created positive change for their city. Best of all, students learned an important lesson about how powerful an organized group of young people really can be.

Step 7: Say Thanks

The next day 12 year old Mikeiya Bennet, possibly one of the group’s most vocal advocates reached out to thank the councilwoman, “Thank you Councilwoman Smith for answering our questions and hearing our concerns. Just because we’re kids, doesn’t mean we can’t help you get things done. We’re ready to work!”

 

The all important Step 8: Celebrate!

Though most groups overlook this crucial step, the MGR youth know how to celebrate it in style.  To wind down after a summer of advocacy work, they went out for a beautiful bike camping trip on the Great Allegheny Passage. They were sure to eat plenty of ice cream sandwiches. For more information on MGR Youth Empowerment, visit www.mgryouth.org.

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Make your streets and neighborhoods safer for biking and walking.

1. Become a BikePGH Member – there’s power in numbers

2. Join a Neighborhood Bike/Ped Committee

3. Write a letter to your elected officials and say bike/ped improvement is important to you!