NJAIM is the New Jersey Bicycle and Pedestrian Resource Center’s public outreach team. The team consists of adult ambassadors trained to educate and conduct outreach to bicyclists, pedestrians, and motorists to promote safety and active transportation throughout the state of New Jersey. The Ambassadors employ four forms of outreach: event outreach, classroom outreach, on-street outreach, and municipal/governmental outreach/assistance. The part-time ambassadors work from April to November in an effort to fulfill the following goals:
- Promote a culture of courtesy, acceptance, and safety for all modes
- Strengthen and leverage a network of community organizations and leaders who can advocate on behalf of safe bicycling and pedestrian activity in their communities
- Provide training and education that helps to transform places and behaviors
- Encourage non-motorized transportation as a viable alternative to motorized transport
- Encourage everyday safe practices and behaviors by all modes
The following is a list of the activities that the team was involved in, from July 16 to July 31.
Wednesday July 16, 2014
Ambassadors traveled to Flemington to perform public outreach. They spent their time on Main Street and were able to distribute 50 pamphlets. They were met with a good response as the people in Flemington were eager to speak with them about cycling safety. Ambassadors also traveled to the nearby city of Raritan to perform public outreach. They walked along Thompson Street and West Somerset Street, but did not come across many people. They came in contact with roughly 25 people.
Friday July 18, 2014
Plainsboro’s new urbanist development downtown was still under construction when the Ambassadors arrived for public outreach. They arrived at the intersection of Market Street and Liberty Street to hand out pamphlets on walking and cycling safety at 10:30 am. There were very few people in the area and they were only able to distribute 10 pamphlets in their time in Plainsboro. They then left for Princeton which had much more foot traffic. They came in contact with roughly 175 people and stopped by Jay’s Cycles, where they left several bicycling pamphlets.
Monday July 21, 2014
Ambassadors worked with Haas Media LLC conducting outreach for NJTPA’s Street Smart Pedestrian Safety Education Campaign on Long Beach Island. The island is a vacation destination for many, and with a large boulevard running through the middle, can be hazardous to drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians. Along with several volunteers, Ambassadors distributed pedestrian safety information along Long Beach Boulevard in order to promote safety to those accessing the beach. They were on the island from 11:00 am to 4:30 pm distributing safety information. They also went and took pictures of the complete streets in Harvey Cedars.
Wednesday July 23, 2014
Ambassadors traveled to Westfield to perform public outreach. There were a lot of people in Westfield and roughly 200 people received literature. Afterwards, Ambassadors went to Cranford to perform public outreach at North Avenue. They only came in contact with a total of 5 people while in Cranford and the area had almost no people walking the streets. However before they left, they left fifteen pamphlets at Hilltop Bicycles for their customers to pick up.
Friday July 25, 2014
Trenton was full of pedestrians on Friday. Ambassadors came in contact with children, commuters, and people who were touring the sights. Over the course of the afternoon, Ambassadors came in contact with roughly 250 people, distributing pedestrian and bicycle safety literature.
Monday July 28, 2014
NJAIM traveled to Bergenfield to hand out pamphlets on walking and cycling safety. There were some people out doing errands and about 50 people were contacted. Ambassadors then moved to Tenafly. There were not many people out but there were several bicyclists and Ambassadors left bicycling safety brochures with a local bike shop.
Wednesday July 30, 2014
The complete streets infrastructure in Jersey City encouraged walking in the area, providing an excellent spot for outreach. The area had several shops and restaurants which attracted workers at lunch as well as those who were just running errands. Ambassadors came into contact with roughly 250 people, mostly young adults.
Government Outreach and Technical Assistance
The Ambassadors provided outreach and technical assistance on Complete Streets to several municipalities and counties throughout the state over the past two weeks. This list of municipalities contacted included: Flemington, Raritan, Fanwood, Plainsboro, Jersey City, Princeton, Cranford, Westfield, Trenton and Long Beach Island. The list of counties contacted included Ocean, Essex, Mercer, Middlesex, and Union Counties.
To request the services of NJAIM please go here: https://njbikeped.org/nj-ambassadors-in-motion-njaim/
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