America Walks is a national organization that aims to provide and support efforts to increase “safe, accessible, equitable, and enjoyable places to walk and move.” They do this in a number of ways some of which include educating leaders, providing grants, and extending technical assistance to local organizations.
Most of the people who walk across the country, walk for a purpose. They walk to bring awareness to some issue that they care about. Although I found a cause to support after I had already decided I wanted to walk, for me it was still important to attach a cause to my walk. Walking across the country is still a novel idea that garners attention and to me it seems like a no-brainer to redirect some of that attention to an issue or organization I believe in. Additionally, from speaking with people who have taken these types of journey’s having some larger motivating purpose helps when the days get long and the legs get tired.
For me the organization I most wanted to support was America Walks. No matter where I am on this walk the pervasive danger I will face will be cars and car-based infrastructure. For that reason it will be difficult for a day to go by without me thinking about the hostile nature of our built environment for everyone outside of a car. The way I have put it is that the “Advocacy is built into the activity.” A large part of the reason I am walking is to shine light on the fact that although walking across America is tough, walking IN America can be just as difficult. The goal is less about getting people to walk across America like me, and more about getting them to walk around THEIR America in order to see. A child should be able to walk to school, without the fear of injury or death. An elderly man or woman should be able to walk to the park and hear the birds sing, without the fear of injury or death. Someone with a disability should be able to visit a grocer, without the fear of injury or death.
For all of this and more America Walks was the organization I wanted to bring attention to and help raise money for.
Ways to Support America Walks:
Donate: I would highly recommend donating to them to further their work and their mission.
Visit their website: Obviously I can talk them up, but they will do a much better job at describing themself and their mission. They also have great resources some of which include the benefits of walking, how to get involved locally, and what makes for a nice walkable space. (Americawalks.org)
Follow them on Social Media: They have all of the usual social media and they share some great resources for walking advocacy and keeping up to date with news surrounding the issues.
Find a local organization to join and support: A lot of the work America Walks does is by supporting local advocates at the city, county and state levels. If you live in a city in America, most have organizations to join/support/learn from locally. You can find the list of organizations here (Organization list)
Walk 2 Washington 