BikeWalkKC's Aetna Project with Children's Mercy Kansas City, 2017-2019
In 2017, the Aetna Foundation selected BikeWalkKC as one of 25 nonprofit organizations in 14 states for its Healthy Communities Initiative. This initiative was designed to address critical factors that impact social determinants of health. BikeWalkKC was awarded this grant from the Aetna Foundation in late 2017 to conduct community interventions and a program evaluation in Northeast KCMO.
Results from the program exceeded our expectations, and the program evaluation was submitted and accepted for publication by The Journal of Transport and Health. Contact info@bikewalkkc.org for more information.
- "Impacts of temporary pedestrian streetscape improvements on pedestrian and vehicle activity and community perceptions," 15:100791, December 2019
- "Impacts of an earn-a-bike cycling education program on children's time spent cycling," 16:100826, March 2020
Project Activities: Education and Evaluation
In partnership with Children's Mercy Kansas City, BikeWalkKC conducted an evaluation of the Earn-a-Bike program in four Northeast elementary schools to measure bicycling behavior and attitudes before and after completion of the program.
4th & 5th grade students enrolled in Earn-a-Bike wore GPS and accelerometer devices prior to the weeklong program to measure baseline physical activity. Following Earn-a-Bike, students wore the GPS and accelerometer devices for another 6 days and completed a post- survey about bicycling perceptions.
Project Activities: Community Engagement + Quick-Build Projects
BikeWalkKC chose two intersections in Northeast Kansas City, identified through community member and stakeholder input, for temporary built environment “quick build” projects. The designs aimed to slow traffic and create a safer, more inviting environment for pedestrians.
These projects included temporary bump-outs to narrow the vehicle traffic lanes and shorten the crossing distance for pedestrians and painting of crosswalks by the Kansas City Missouri Public Works Department. The bump-outs were in place for seven days at each location, and a kick-off event was held during the first day of each implementation.
For more information:
Please contact Karen Campbell, Director of Development and Communications
karen.campbell@bikewalkkc.org or (816) 205-7056, ext. 2
Click here to view the complete project activity summary.
