Creating safe, sustainable, and resilient school communities starts here. The Green Schools, Safe Streets Toolkit is your hub for actionable resources, interactive activities, and powerful tools designed to help school communities reclaim street space, improve safety, and build environmental resilience.
Green Schools, Safe Streets in Action
Walk Audit
Good street design starts with understanding the needs of all street users. This activity empowers students to observe and evaluate the safety, accessibility, and overall quality of their local streets. Through guided exploration, students document the strengths and challenges of their walking environment, identifying factors like traffic volume, transit connections, and access to green amenities. This hands-on activity encourages students to think critically about how street design affects their daily lives and equips them with the insights needed to advocate for safer, more welcoming streets.
Spatial Equity Exploration
Spatial Equity NYC is an interactive map that documents inequities in the ways that public space is designed, distributed, and accessed. This activity invites students to explore disparities in health, environment, and mobility within their own communities and beyond. By analyzing these patterns, students gain valuable context about how urban design impacts daily life and can envision actionable changes to their streetscape that promote safer and more resilient communities.
Design Challenge
Bring your vision of a safe, green, and vibrant school street to life! In this design challenge, students reimagine the space outside their school to address the biggest challenges they identified in the Walk Audit and Spatial Equity Exploration activities. Through this activity, students gain hands-on experience in urban planning, problem-solving, and creative design, envisioning a street where everyone can thrive.
Advocate
Ready to make your vision a reality? This resource provides school communities with the know-how to request meaningful changes in their neighborhood. With guidance on drafting proposals, gathering community input, and presenting ideas to local decision-makers–students, parents, and educators are empowered to advocate for greener, safer streets in their communities.
Learn more about Green Schools, Safe Streets
Understanding the language of street design and sustainability is essential to creating safe and green school communities. Our Glossary provides clear, student-friendly definitions—both visual and written—of important terms used in street design, urban planning, and environmental sustainability. Designed to make complex concepts accessible, this glossary empowers students to engage confidently in discussions about their communities and advocate for change.