Tag: Golden Shoes

Presenting the 2023 Golden Shoe Awards!

Our Golden Shoes Awards recognize individuals, agencies, municipalities and companies exemplifying the ideals of WalkBoston’s mission. The winners accept their award during our Annual Celebration, which will be in-person (and livestreamed) from the Venture Cafe @ 1 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02142. Register here to join us in celebrating & honoring their work!

This year’s Golden Shoe Awards go to… Fred Salvucci, Merrimack Valley Fare-Free Program & Bus Transformation, and MassTrails. Congrats to all the winners!

Fred Salvucci is being honored for his lifelong work as a civil engineer, educator, transportation advocate, and coalition builder. From expanding Boston’s transit system to being a key developer of the Big Dig project, Fred’s tireless dedication to the wellbeing, connectivity, and prosperity of his beloved city continues to inspire us today. Read Fred’s bio here.

The Merrimack Valley Fare-Free Program & Bus Transformation – WalkBoston celebrates a collaboration that resulted in a fare-free bus pilot that became permanent in the Merrimack Valley! Along with increasing accessibility for low-income riders and the frequency of bus operation, the recent rebrand of the MVRTA into MeVA deliberately speaks to the community’s Spanish-speaking riders. From its tagline “Let’s go/íVamos!” to the buses’ cheerful new color scheme, MeVa’s visionary approach to public transit has tremendously increased ridership across the Valley.

“MassTrails,” inter-agency initiative of the Commonwealth led by the Governor’s Office in collaboration with the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, the Department of Transportation, and the Department of Conservation and Recreation, has developed a unified vision for a trails network across the Commonwealth. The Team has recently completed its fourth round of grant awards funding $11.8 million in MassTrails Grants to 81 projects throughout the Commonwealth. Read more about MassTrails here.

Our 2023 Annual Celebration Keynote Speaker this year is Dr. Karilyn Crockett!

Dr. Crockett’s research focuses on large-scale land use changes in twentieth century American cities and examines the social and geographic implications of structural poverty and racial formations. Karilyn’s book “People before Highways: Boston Activists, Urban Planners, and a New Movement for City Making” (UMASS Press 2018) investigates a 1960s era grassroots movement to halt urban extension of the U.S. interstate highway system and the geographic and political changes in Boston that resulted. Read more about Karilyn’s work on our website.

We hope you’ll join us on Tuesday, April 4th at 5:30pm to celebrate our wonderful honorees!

To read about previous Golden Shoe winners, click here.

Announcing our Keynote Speaker for April 4th: Dr. Karilyn Crockett

WalkBoston is excited to welcome our supporters to our 33rd Annual Celebration on April 4th at 5:30 pm at the Venture Cafe! This year, we’ll be joined by Dr. Karilyn Crockett as our keynote speaker. Register today to join us.

Dr. Karilyn Crockett’s research focuses on large-scale land use changes in twentieth century American cities and examines the social and geographic implications of structural poverty and racial formations. Karilyn’s book “People before Highways: Boston Activists, Urban Planners, and a New Movement for City Making” (UMASS Press 2018) investigates a 1960s era grassroots movement to halt urban extension of the U.S. interstate highway system and the geographic and political changes in Boston that resulted. In 2019 this book was named one of the “ten best books of the decade” by the Boston Public Library Association of Librarians. Previously Karilyn co-founded Multicultural Youth Tour of What’s Now (MYTOWN), an award winning, Boston-based, educational non-profit organization. MYTOWN hired public high school students to research their local and family histories to produce youth-led walking tours for sale to public audiences. During its nearly 15 years of operation, MYTOWN created jobs for more than 300 low and moderate-income teenagers, who in turn led public walking tours for more than 14,000 visitors and residents. In a White House ceremony, the National Endowment for the Humanities cited MYTOWN as “One of ten best Youth Humanities Programs in America.”

Karilyn holds a PhD from the American Studies program at Yale University, a Master of Science in Geography from the London School of Economics, and a Master of Arts and Religion from Yale Divinity School. Karilyn served for four years with the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development as the Director of Economic Policy & Research and the Director of Small Business Development for the City of Boston. She recently completed her service as the City of Boston’s first Chief of Equity, a Cabinet-level position Mayor Walsh established to embed equity and racial justice into all City planning, operations, and work moving forward. She holds a faculty appointment as professor of urban history, public policy and planning in MIT’s Department of Urban Studies & Planning. She is currently leading the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce in a partnership with the Boston Federal Reserve Bank to revisit the 2015 “Color of Wealth” report on closing the racial wealth gap. Karilyn’s career mission is to continue to work at the nexus of education, economic development policy and urban revitalization.

We hope to see you at the Venture Cafe in Cambridge, located at One Broadway, 5th Floor, Cambridge, MA 02142, for our first in-person annual meeting in three years. Register here.

Join us as we honor our Keynote Speaker, Golden Shoe Award winners, and reflect on the past year. Food and drinks will be provided.

We will also be live streaming the formal program for those unable to attend otherwise. Stay tuned for our Golden Shoe Winner announcements coming soon!

This year’s Golden Shoe Awards go to…

Join us on March 30th at 5PM as we award this year’s Golden Shoes to people or organizations who have accomplished terrific wins for walking. (See all of our past winners.) We will be honoring Josh Ostroff, Meg Robertson, and “Just Walk Boston.” Congrats to all the winners!

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, 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. Read more about Kyle on our website.

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

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!

Golden Shoe Award Winners For March 2021 Annual Meeting

As presented at this year’s annual event on Zoom, March 24, 2021.

Karen Cord Taylor for her long term service as a committed Board member and fierce advocate for better walkability in her Beacon Hill neighborhood and the greater Boston community. Karen has devoted thirteen years to WalkBoston and has been part of so many wins as a WalkBoston Board member. Her dedication to clearing sidewalks and curb ramps of snow is particularly top of mind this winter. In addition to her advocacy work, Karen, a former newspaper owner and publisher, often used her editing skills to ensure our written communications were top notch. Karen was also instrumental in attracting and nominating wonderful new Board members, including our former Board President Emma Yashar. Your impact continues far beyond your 13-year Board tenure!

The MassDOT Shared Streets and Spaces Program provided funds to municipalities that allowed them to quickly respond to the many mobility challenges highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the need for more sidewalk space to walk safely 6’ apart, to dine outdoors in unused parking lanes, and to reimagine streets as low speed, safe spaces for people walking and biking. The popularity of this program demonstrated the desire, need and capabilities of municipalities to implement quick build projects to make streets safer and more enjoyable for all. WalkBoston is a huge fan of this program and we would love to see the program continue beyond the pandemic! In fact, we have a call to action for all of you to help make this happen later in our program. Kate Fichter, MassDOT’s Assistant Secretary for Policy Coordination and Project Lead for the Shared Streets and Spaces Program will be accepting the Golden Shoe Award on behalf of the group. We also want to thank the Barr Foundation and the Solomon Foundation for not only funding technical assistance to municipalities, but also for truly leading program outreach to ensure that all municipalities had capacity to apply regardless of local resources or expertise. Help us say THANKS for Shared Streets and Spaces so these types of projects happen more often.

Finally, our last Golden Shoe Award goes to Frank Caro. Frank died unexpectedly in October of 2020. He was an extremely dedicated Brookline resident determined to make streets and spaces more hospitable to older adults. As the founder and co-chair of the BrookLINE Community Aging Network (CAN), Frank ensured that the needs of older adults were more integrated into the life of the town. His work earned BrookLINEan Age-Friendly town designation by the World Health Organization, the first town to do so in New England. In addition to Frank’s Age-Friendly work, he founded the BrookLINE Pedestrian Advisory Board, which continues to conduct research on pedestrian activities and needs. Some of the Board’s projects included sidewalks on Longwood Avenue, audible signals along Beacon Street, and an inventory of hedges interfering with pedestrian space on sidewalks. Carol Caro, Frank’s widow, will be accepting the Golden Shoe Award on Frank’s behalf. Read a post about Frank Caro by WalkBoston board member Anita Johnson.