Category: Event

WalkBoston Presents 32nd Annual Celebration and Golden Shoe Awards, 3/30 at 5pm

This Wednesday, March 30th at 5PM, WalkBoston will present this year’s Golden Shoes to people or organizations who have accomplished terrific wins for walking: We will be honoring Josh Ostroff, Meg Robertson, and “Just Walk Boston.”

Josh Ostroff is being honored for his unwavering commitment to walking advocacy in Natick and the greater Metrowest region. For more on Josh, head to his website.

Meg Robertson is a multi-decade champion throughout the Commonwealth for people with intellectual disabilities and vision impairment, blindness or deafblindness.

“Just Walk Boston” was founded by Brandy Cruthird as a way of fighting pandemic-induced loneliness and segregated public space through the simple act of walking. Read about the group in the Boston Globe.

Our 2022 Annual Celebration Keynote Speaker this year is Kyle Robidoux,

Kyle has spent his entire professional career working with community based organizations and local government. Most recently, Kyle worked as the Chief of Staff for Mayor Kim Janey’s Council President Office and currently works with the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Office of Housing Stability as the Assistant Director. Kyle is a sponsored athlete with and ultra-distance runner and the current Board President with FriendshipWorks. He lives in the Lower Roxbury neighborhood with his wife and daughter. Read more about Kyle on our website.

Congrats to all the winners! Want to celebrate this year’s winners and hear what Kyle has to say about accessibility and walkability? RSVP to join us this Wednesday March 30 at 5:00pm on Zoom!

See a list of all of previous Golden Shoe Award winners.
Tweeting during the event? Tag us @WalkBoston and use #WalkBoston32
Questions? Email Brendan (bkearney@dev.walkboston.org)

Meet Kyle Robidoux: WalkBoston’s 2022 Annual Celebration Keynote Speaker

We are pleased to announce that our 2022 Annual Celebration Keynote Speaker this year is Kyle Robidoux!

Kyle is a tireless advocate who has focused his professional and personal career on building community. He has spent 20 years working in the nonprofit sector, including as a housing advocate helping individuals staying in shelters find permanent homes and as a community organizer. Most recently he has directed three programs for a local blindness organization.

Accessibility is a matter of great importance to him, not just as an advocate, but as an individual who was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a degenerative eye disease that first affects your night vision and often leads to complete blindness, at age 11 and was declared legally blind at 19.

Kyle can also personally attest to the power of walking and why access to safe walking environments is crucial. In 2010 Kyle was close to 250 pounds, heading down the path to type II diabetes, and having a hard time playing with his young daughter. He began to walk. Then he began to run. Today he has completed over 25 marathons and ultramarathons, including five Boston Marathons and three 100-mile races.

Kyle now works for the City of Boston as the Assistant Director of Housing Stability for the Mayor’s Office, after a short stint as Chief of Staff for Boston Mayor Kim Janey’s District Council/President’s Office. Prior to working for the city, over the last 15 years Kyle has worked for three mission-driven nonprofits: the Director of Volunteer Services and Community Planning for MAB (Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired), the Director of Community Planning and Leadership Development for Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation, and the Director of Civic Engagement for United South End Settlements. In addition Kyle is an active volunteer, serving as Board Chair for FriendshipWorks and a member of the Commission for People with Disabilities.

Want to hear what Kyle has to say about accessibility and walkability? Join us on Wednesday, March 30 at 5:00pm on Zoom.

Stay tuned for the announcement of our 2022 Golden Shoe Awards winners!

Save the Date: Annual Celebration 3/30, 5pm

Join us on March 30th (on Zoom) to celebrate & honor this year’s Golden Shoe winners!

Each March, we hold our Annual Celebration to celebrate achievements in walkability and to highlight the contributions of our wonderful volunteers, board members, and the many individuals and corporations who support us every year.

The presentation of our Golden Shoe Awards is an integral part of the Annual Celebration. The Golden Shoes recognize individuals, agencies, municipalities and companies exemplifying the ideals of WalkBoston’s mission.

More info on this year’s honorees and speakers coming soon, but registration is now open!

Celebrating Bob Sloane

Earlier this year WalkBoston lost a member of our family, Bob Sloane.

Bob was a dear friend, a mentor, a creative genius, and a true pioneer in walking advocacy. On September 9, we gathered together virtually to celebrate his extraordinary life and reminisce about our times together with him.

Stories were told about the early days, about his trailblazing work on the Boston Transportation Planning Review, where he pushed forward the message that walking is a fundamental part of the transportation conversation at a time when it was not a popular view. We heard about how Bob and company founded WalkBoston over beers at Jacob Wirth’s. We heard about how Bob stuck to his principles and ideals, regardless of the professional consequences. We heard about his kindness and empathy, his contagious enthusiasm and dedication.

Bob’s presence was palpable throughout the night as the same themes came through in every story. His kindness, his stalwart nature, his sense of humor, his creativity, and even his insistence on sharing snacks (especially Clover fries and yorkshire tea).

“A fierce advocate,” “heart of gold,” “he never gave up,” “one of nature’s true gentlemen,” “truly a life well lived,” “the soul of WalkBoston.” This is how we described Bob. We will all miss the twinkle in his eye as he came up with his latest scheme. We will miss the sight of him hunched over his maps and tracing paper. We will miss him walking into the room and saying “do you have a minute?”

Thank you, Bob, for everything, and thank you to his family for sharing him with us. His legacy and impact will be felt for generations to come. He leaves behind a more walkable, livable, vibrant, and welcoming community for all of us. We hold him in our hearts and will never forget him.

Lunch & Learn: Creating Safer Communities for Walking and Biking

Please join the Stepping Strong Injury Prevention community for a special event:
Creating Safer Communities for Walking and Biking

September 9 | 12:00pm
Virtual Link: https://partners.zoom.us/j/83401956344

Featuring presenters from Boston City Council, University of California San Francisco, WalkBoston, and Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition. The mission of the Stepping Strong Injury Prevention Program is to reduce the burden of injury by advancing evidence-based prevention activities through community outreach, research of best practices, and training of healthcare professionals at the Brigham and beyond.