Organizing a Statewide Walk Summit: Step by Step Lessons from Indiana Presented By: Joan Cook Special Projects Manager Health by Design

Organizing A Statewide Walk Summit: Step by Step Lessons from Indiana Health by Design is an non-profit organization working at the intersection of public health and the built environment.

Organizing A Statewide Walk Summit: Step by Step Lessons from Indiana Health by Design and our coalition partners work to ensure that communities throughout Indiana have neighborhoods, public spaces and transportation infrastructure that promote physical activity and healthy living. The priority goals of Health by Design are to: Increase walking, biking and public transit options Encourage responsible land use Improve neighborhood, city and regional connectivity Reduce automobile dependency

Organizing A Statewide Walk Summit: Step by Step Lessons from Indiana Formed unbranded pedestrian workgroup (now Indiana Walks) Began locally Focus on policy, system and environmental change Capitalized on planning underway Greenways and Parks Plan Zoning Ordinances Thoroughfare Plan Transit Plan

Organizing A Statewide Walk Summit: Step by Step Lessons from Indiana Indiana Walks evolved into a branded initiative from the policy and advocacy work Health by Design was doing in Indiana around people who walk.

Organizing A Statewide Walk Summit: Step by Step Lessons from Indiana Indiana was in need of bringing advocates of walking and walkable communities together Great stories from communities of all types and sizes. Distinct issues facing pedestrians, different from biking Communities were embracing active living and aging in place Public officials began understanding economic benefits

Organizing A Statewide Walk Summit: Step by Step Lessons from Indiana Goals of statewide summit Share national trends Prioritize pedestrian safety Reach a diverse audience Share communities’ stories: Engaging the right people Working with elected officials Determining best projects Funding projects Reaching out for public input

Organizing A Statewide Walk Summit: Step by Step Lessons from Indiana A lot of thought went into how to structure the Summit

Organizing A Statewide Walk Summit: Step by Step Lessons from Indiana Pre-conference workshops Walkability assessments Completing the Walk Friendly Community application ADA Transition Plans Mobile workshop of nearby community

Organizing A Statewide Walk Summit: Step by Step Lessons from Indiana The Summit Highlighted National Work and Trends Scott Bricker, America Walks (10,000ft. View) Suzanne Carlson, Chicago Department of Transportation (Safety) Phil Tuso, Everybody Walk Collaborative (Health)

Organizing A Statewide Walk Summit: Step by Step Lessons from Indiana Developed concurrent tracts to achieve multiple goals: Reach a diverse audience (planners, engineers, health professionals, advocates, architects, etc.) Be relevant to cities and towns of all sizes Provide real life examples of Indiana efforts Celebrate success stories

Organizing A Statewide Walk Summit: Step by Step Lessons from Indiana

Others things included in the Summit: Fun walking songs between sessions Healthier food options Physical Activity Breaks Conference site accessible by transit Purposely picked a location that was not very walkable and away from downtown to spur discussion during the walk audit and Summit

Organizing A Statewide Walk Summit: Step by Step Lessons from Indiana How we funded the Summit and kept costs down: Offered three sponsorship levels The Golden Shoe The Silver Sneaker The Bronze Boot Nominal registration fee and scholarships Engaged communities around the state to tell their stories Took conference out of downtown Indianapolis

Organizing A Statewide Walk Summit: Step by Step Lessons from Indiana We communicated about and promoted our event via: Our coalition partner networks Through statewide, regional and local professional organizations such as architects, planners, city officials, health coalitions, transportation agencies Through our own website and social media, list, and via all of our workgroups Press Release

Organizing A Statewide Walk Summit: Step by Step Lessons from Indiana Challenges/Lessons Learned: Managing multiple speakers in a session with three simultaneous tracts You can never have enough volunteers Putting the final program together was challenging as things were changing almost by the hour in the last few days The location of the event was not always well-received

Organizing A Statewide Walk Summit: Step by Step Lessons from Indiana Indiana Walks and the first Indiana Walk Summit helped create momentum in increasing walkability and walkable communities around the State.

Organizing A Statewide Walk Summit: Step by Step Lessons from Indiana Great things have happened in Indiana since the Summit! Walkability Institute Plan4Health Grant Grant from the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute to analyze crash data in Indianapolis First Mile/Last Mile Connections to Transit workshops

Organizing A Statewide Walk Summit: Step by Step Lessons from Indiana Contact Information Joan Cook Health by Design Healthbydesignonline.org