Accessibility is Beautiful Stroll with RAMP and PVD Streets
HOURS
Saturday, May 6 10am-12pm
MEETING POINT
225 Dyer St.
ENDING POINT
Same as meeting point
WALK DESCRIPTION
How can our city better support the mobility of all residents, regardless of ability? The built environment of Providence is rife with hazards and barriers for people walking, rolling, and using accessible parking spots. Join Liza Burkin of the Providence Streets Coalition and Tina Pedersen of RAMP to learn how to use the Parking Mobility app – a new digital tool in the fight for accessibility and inclusion! We’ll demonstrate how to use the app, then go for walk/roll around downtown Providence to map and record accessibility violations to use as a foundation for ongoing advocacy.
WALK LEADERS: Liza Burkin and Tina Pedersen
Liza Burkin is the lead organizer of the Providence Streets Coalition where she builds the human infrastructure that is necessary to change physical infrastructure for a safer, more accessible and sustainable city. Liza is an urban planner, community organizer, and communications professional working to bring safer streets, mobility justice, and more transportation choices to the Providence area. The Coalition includes 40 community organizations, local businesses, schools, and civic organizations who work together to advance streets built to share. Liza has a degree in journalism and strategic communications from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a masters in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning from Tufts University. She is also the longtime Digital Editor of Edible Rhody Magazine and on the organizing team of Providence Bike Jam (PBJ), a monthly social group ride / mobile dance party that spreads joy around the city. Except for those few years in the midwest, she is a lifelong New Englander.
Tina Guenette Pedersen is a motivational speaker, national podcast host, and the CEO, President, and Founder of the national nonprofit RAMP: real access motivates progress. She is also a 4x cancer, 4x stroke, and 2x heart attack survivor who 8 years ago walked into a minor procedure and suffered a stroke to her spinal cord, paralyzing from the waist down. Tina now works with schools, businesses, and first responders to improve communication and use best practices when working with the disability community. She also works directly with the Governor and Lt. Governor of Rhode Island, serving as Vice-Chair of the Rhode Island Governor’s Commission on Disability and Chair of the Awareness Committee, and was recently appointed by President Joe Biden to serve on the United States Access. Through RAMP, Tina loves to promote businesses, organizations, and resources from across the country to make a difference.
