PRESS RELEASE

Long Beach, CA - The Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services (Health Department) has been awarded a $302,500 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The one-year grant will continue and expand the Health Department’s Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention Division’s Walk and Roll Long Beach Program focused on improving and promoting safety for all pedestrians and bicyclists, among other educational activities conducted between Oct. 1, 2021, to Sept. 30, 2022. 

“We are grateful to receive this funding from the California Office of Traffic Safety,” said Mayor Robert Garcia. “These funds will support the city’s effort to make it safer for residents to walk and bike in our city.” 

Grant funding will be used to support a variety of comprehensive strategies and activities that promote bicycle and pedestrian safety, including:   

• Hosting bicycle and pedestrian safety pop-up events, where staff will distribute safety information and reflective gear at street intersections frequently traveled by pedestrians and bicyclists. 
• Facilitating in-person and/or virtual walking workshops for older adults to provide strategies to walk safely in their neighborhoods and to safely interact with new pedestrian street infrastructure.  
• Conducting interactive in-person and/or virtual community skill-building activities on how to use bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure properly and safely.  
• Launching a new Youth Ambassador Program to encourage and promote safe cycling and pedestrian behavior. 
• Providing training and safety kits to school crossing guards to promote safe routes to school at sites throughout Long Beach. 

In partnership with other City departments and community-based organizations, funding will also be used to support the Health Department’s participation in national, state and local bike and pedestrian safety awareness campaigns including Long Beach Walk to School Week, which will take place in March, and National Bike Safety Month, which will take place in May.  

 “Walking and biking are great ways to be physically active,” said Health Department Director Kelly Colopy. “This program will provide community members with the tools to prevent injuries and stay safe while participating in these fun and healthy activities.”   

“Our roads are increasingly riskier for people who walk or ride their bike,” OTS Director Barbara Rooney said. “The goal of this funding is to reverse the growing trend of bicyclist and pedestrian-involved crashes by educating the public on safe road behaviors.” 

This is the sixth year the Health Department has received an OTS grant to promote bike and pedestrian safety. Last year, despite the challenges of COVID-19, the Walk and Roll Long Beach Program provided bicycle and pedestrian safety materials at events such as emergency food distributions, reaching more than 11,500 residents. The program also distributed and fit 276 bicycle helmets and partnered with the department of Parks, Recreation and Marine to provide bicycle safety training and bicycle helmet fitting and distribution to COVID-19 Health Ambassadors.