To close the year, Safe Routes Partnership staff and board members wanted to share what gives us hope going into 2021.
For more than 15 years the Safe Routes Partnership has been doing the next right thing to improve safe and equitable access to health and well-being in communities across the country. We have continually looked for the bright light when there did not seem to be one and we have strived to always do better as we learned more. As we close out this most challenging year we have chosen to continue our quest to remain hopeful and persistent. We hope these messages of hope from our leadership and staff will uplift you as you join us in progress for 2021 and beyond. Knowing that our work is guided by a strong and committed Board of Directors and driven by passionate, experienced, and dedicated staff lets me know that anything is possible.
-- Cass Isidro, President & Executive Director
2020 has been a year of extraordinary challenges, COVID-19 and the changes it brought to all of our lives with more than 200,000 people lost; the racial reckoning that came after the murder of George Floyd resulting in protests and civil unrest, and finally a presidential election unlike any other. I have lived through many decades of change, the 1960’s and 70’s. None have been, in my memory, as tumultuous as this one year. As 2020 comes to a close, I am grateful for our resilience as a country, I am hopeful that even though we have been given lots of lemons we are making lemonade. I am hopeful because I trust new leadership and I trust the voice of the people. I am hopeful because I know that everyday citizens like you and me want the best for everyone and want our neighborhoods and parks to be good places for all families and children and will continue to stand up for what is right. Finally, I am hopeful because I know that 2021 will be a brighter place for us all! -- Carol Goss, Board Chair
I'm hopeful about being able to visit my favorite museums, having a little more time to browse in the bookstore, and being able to share baked goods with friends and family. -- Kori Johnson, Program Support Manager
What gives me hope in 2021 is a solid foundation of advocacy and partnerships to build on for federal transportation reauthorization in the 117th Congress. -- Marisa Jones, Policy and Partnerships Director
I’m hopeful about being able to travel to see family and restarting all of the extracurricular “kid activities.” -- Michelle Lieberman, Consulting & Program Support Director
I'm hopeful that we'll be able to take our daughter, who just turned a year old, to meet her great-grandmother, aunts and uncles and cousins abroad. -- Jonathan Matz, California Senior Policy Manager
I often say that hearing from local advocates about their work is the best part of my job, and especially at the end of 2020 it has bolstered me with a great deal of hope for what the future holds. We are in the midst of accepting applications for the next round of our Safe Routes to Parks Activating Communities program and I have been so inspired by my correspondence with different interested applicants. There is great work happening all across the country to increase safe and equitable access to local parks, and I feel honored to support it! -- Natasha Riveron, Healthy Parks and Places Manager
In 2021, I look forward to the opportunity to reconnect with and support the community in person. -- Kari Schlosshauer, Pacific Northwest Senior Policy Manager