New Jersey Ambassadors in Motion NJAIM
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 August 1 to August 15.
Friday August 1, 2014
Ambassadors traveled to Caldwell to perform public outreach on Bloomfield Avenue. The weather was overcast so very few people were out walking the streets. They were only able to hand out a few pedestrian and safety pamphlets. They then went to Maplewood where there were more people walking around town. Over the course of the day, Ambassadors contacted roughly 40 people.
Monday August 4, 2014
Route 33 in Hightstown served as an excellent location for pedestrian and bicycling safety outreach. Ambassadors arrived at 12:00 pm and estimated contact with roughly 50 people. They then traveled to Robbinsville. There was not much street activity in the new urban development, and little outreach was conducted.
Wednesday August 6, 2014
Ambassadors traveled to Hoboken to perform public outreach on Washington Street. The team was able to hand out 90 pamphlets and left 30 pamphlets in the local bike shop, Flow On Cycles.
Friday August 8, 2014
The team finished the week in Ridgewood’s downtown. They were fortunate to be visiting Ridgewood on one of the town’s busiest days of the year. Two days out of the year the town holds a special event where it allows all of the local stores and other vendors to set up on the sidewalk and sell products. The event brings a lot of people to the area and roughly 100 people received literature. Ambassadors also left 20 pamphlets in the local bike shop, Ridgewood Cycle Shop Inc.
Monday August 11, 2014
Ambassadors traveled to Linden along Wood Avenue to distribute pedestrian and bicycle safety information. Ambassadors distributed roughly 80 pamphlets and conversed with many more people as several recipients were part of a group.
Friday, August 15, 2014
NJAIM traveled to Cherry Hill to hand out pamphlets on walking and bicycling safety. Ambassadors came in contact with children and commuters. There were some people out doing errands as well, and about 50 people were contacted.
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: Caldwell, Maplewood, Hightstown, Robbinsville, Cherry Hill, Hoboken, Ridgewood, and Linden. The list of counties contacted included Union, Essex, Mercer, Camden, and Hudson Counties
To request the services of NJAIM please go here: https://njbikeped.org/nj-ambassadors-in-motion-njaim/
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