America Walks - Grantee

Oaks and Spokes is excited to announce that our organization has been awarded a Community Change Grant from the America Walks Foundation to help us work to find solutions for connectivity in the Belvedere Park neighborhood in Raleigh, North Carolina. As a part of the Community Change 2021 cohort of awardees, Oaks and Spokes will join dozens of community organizations nationally to work toward creating better outcomes for Raleigh.

Working with America Walks, Oaks and Spokes will conduct community engagement and walking + biking audits to assess where connectivity could be further enhanced to improve safety and create all ages and abilities infrastructure for residents and students. Specifically, this project will look at the walk zone for Conn Elementary School and address if modifications can be made to the built environment to enhance safety for all road users. Working directly with the neighborhood and community, Oaks and Spokes will conduct stakeholder events to identify solutions for connectivity. Additionally, Oaks and Spokes will convene the community to celebrate a recently completed bridge, which signifies important investments made to date by our partners at the City of Raleigh to move our community in the right direction. 

Through this grant, Oaks and Spokes will create a toolkit that can be utilized by neighborhoods throughout Raleigh to assess barriers, identify solutions and create opportunities for engagement and connectivity. We believe that all students should have safe, accessible  and sustainable transportation options for their school trips and hope that this project will enable our community to seek solutions for improved access.