Streets Are For Everyone

Traffic violence and low transit use threaten Los Angeles as the 2028 Olympics near. To curb crashes, cut emissions, and ease congestion, we must elevate public transit, walking, and biking. This project funds student-made PSAs that frame buses, trains, bike lanes, and safe walking as greener, cleaner, and more accessible ways to move. Posters and 30-second films will run on social media, digital billboards, buses, and other means county-wide, sparking peer-to-peer influence and building a culture of safe, sustainable travel across LA.

In 2024, Compton Unified School District requested a simple, engaging road safety educator kit that anyone—teachers, parents, or youth leaders—could use to teach students and help fill the gap in traffic safety education. This grant will fund the creation of that kit, incorporating award-winning PSAs from our existing high school program. It will equip users to teach safe driving, biking, and walking habits and help protect youth from rising traffic violence. It will be distributed through our established, and growing, school network in LA.

This grant will fund a first-of-its-kind pilot between Streets Are For Everyone and LAPD to revolutionize how Los Angeles responds to traffic violence victims. Through bilingual, trauma-informed case management, and led by an RN, SAFE will provide emotional support; mental health, medical and legal navigation; and resource connection, relieving officers from non-criminal social duties while ensuring no victim faces trauma, grief, or bureaucracy alone.

SAFE Support is a unique wraparound social support service for victims of traffic violence – those physically or emotionally traumatized and family members who have lost loved ones in LA County. While SAFE Support has been helping hundreds for the last eight years, we are engaging in a first-of-its-kind pilot with LAPD to provide free support to anyone who’s been through any type of traffic collision in South Los Angeles.

Traffic collisions are the #1 killer of children ages 5-14, making parents fearful to let their kids bike, walk, or take public transit. Lecturing kids on traffic safety often meets with disinterest. Streets, Art, SAFE is a unique way to teach kids road safety and empower them to act. Through fun and impactful visual storytelling, they learn and advocate for safety in their communities and encourage people to get out of their cars. They also develop expertise and gain experience in the visual arts. The program is provided free of cost.

Los Angeles will host the 2028 Olympics. The children of today will be Team USA's athletes of tomorrow. Unfortunately there are sections of Los Angeles with huge disparities in the ability for children to safely play. We aim to address that inequity by providing a means (free refurbished bicycles, helmets and bike locks) and a bicycle safety skills class lead by Olympic Athletes, igniting a passion for sport, play, and physical activity in children regardless of their race, gender, zip code, or socioeconomic status.