Most community projects get their start because someone wanted a change.

They want AT to be safer, more accessible, and more prominent in their community and they are willing to champion AT. Interest in the issue may be generated by citizens, municipal staff, business members, or municipal councilors. For example, in the Town of Bridgewater, Eric Shaw, the Director of Planning, and Bill McInnis, a member of Town Council, were pivotal in creating momentum for AT. In Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Velo Cape Breton, the island-wide bicycle association, was a driving force behind CBRM’s AT Plan.

The following are tried and true strategies used throughout Nova Scotia.

Do some research.

In order to be an AT champion, you need first-hand experience using your own energy to get around. Start by walking to work, to a friend’s house, or to the local corner store. Notice what makes you feel comfortable and safe while walking and biking, as well as what makes you feel uncomfortable or unsafe. If possible, borrow a wheelchair or baby stroller and attempt to navigate your community. Notice the barriers to getting around, and how conditions change with the seasons.

In addition to experiencing AT firsthand, draw on available tools and resources to educate yourself. Get informed and inspire yourself with ideas. What are other municipalities across Nova Scotia doing? What is happening in other provinces? What about overseas? This will give you the knowledge and the background needed to educate others and advocate for change.

A team of people working to promote AT will achieve more than one individual, no matter how enthusiastic that person is. It’s important to identify and contact potential allies to initiate conversations about AT in your municipality.

Your team of allies can include:

• People who walk, bike, or use other forms of AT to get around

• Individuals who participate in AT for recreation (e.g., belong to recreational cycling or running clubs)

• Members of trail groups or other outdoor clubs

• Public health professionals

• Municipal physical activity coordinators

• Recreation and planning staff

• Members of local non-governmental environmental organizations

• Enforcement officers

• Local business owners who support AT

Need a few more participants? Try asking your colleagues and friends for their help. Most people have a vast network and everyone loves to feel needed. Enlarge your own circle by picking the brains of your contacts. Who do they know that may be interested in growing AT?

Another option is to hold a public meeting or event where you talk about your vision. Ask people who are interested to leave their names and contact information if they would like to help promote AT in your community. Don’t forget about local schools, regional non-governmental organizations, and chambers of commerce or business improvement associations. All would have comprehensive networks to tap into.

Identify your champions.

Among your collection of allies, there will be those who are extra keen. These are your AT champions. They want AT to be safer, more accessible, and more prominent in their community and they are willing to champion AT initiatives. Identify these individuals early on and give them leadership positions where they can show their natural initiative.

Creating an AT Committee is key to generating enthusiasm and commitment, and is often a precursor to developing a municipal AT Plan. It is important to include a range of stakeholders on the committee:

• Municipal councilors

• Municipal staff, including physical activity coordinators and recreation, traffic, and planning staff

• Public health professionals

• Police officers

• Representatives of walking, biking, running, skateboarding, and trail groups

• Members of not-for-profit environmental organizations

• Local business owners

• Members of the local chamber of commerce

• Regional economic development representatives

• Local tourism office staff

• Parents of children and youth attending local schools

• Youth, seniors, and persons with disabilities

Tips when forming an AT Committee:

Consider what already exists

Does your municipality already have a committee to promote physical activity? If so, it could become the AT Committee.

For example: in Guysborough and Antigonish, the AT Committee is a subgroup of the larger Guysborough/ Antigonish Active Living Network.

Be inclusive in the recruitment process

As you recruit members, ensure that your AT Committee represents diverse ages, abilities, backgrounds, and income levels in your community. It is important that youth, seniors, and persons with physical disabilities are represented, as well as the different geographic areas of your municipality. A Committee that represents a cross-section of society will help ensure that AT planning is inclusive and will assist you in establishing strategic partnerships and getting buy-in from decision-makers in your municipality.

Get the word out!

The more people who know that you are assembling a group to make your community more AT friendly, the better. Advertise your events thoroughly and make sure they are all open to the public. Public service announcements in the local newspaper, and radio spots designed to announce community events are two examples of ways traditional media can be utilized. Establishing a Facebook page, a Twitter account, online videos, and a blog are more modern methods of networking and relaying information.

Terms of Reference

If you don’t know what this heading means, here’s a nutshell version. Terms of Reference describe the purpose and structure of a project, committee, or group of people who have agreed to work together to accomplish a shared goal. Simply put, you should develop a Terms of Reference that covers the purpose, composition, and structure of the committee, the location and frequency of your meetings, and your decision-making protocol.

The following questions can be used as a guide to develop your terms of reference:

• What is your purpose?

• What goals do you want to achieve?

• Who needs to be there to achieve these goals?

• How will you achieve these goals?

• How will your committee be organized? Will you have a chair, co-chair, secretary, and treasurer?

• How will your committee make decisions? Will you work by consensus or through votes?

• How often will you meet and where?

• Who will organize the meetings and take notes?

Check out example terms of reference documents from around the province.

• Antigonish

• Bridgewater

• Chester

• Halifax Regional Municipality

Some examples of short-term goals may be:

• Collecting information from residents and businesses to get a feel for their knowledge and attitudes towards AT.

• Completing an initial community walkability or bikeability assessment.

• Setting up booths at local events and in key community locations to generate support for AT.

• Identifying some quick and easy wins like:

  • Bike corrals

  • Wayfinding signage

Some examples of long-term goals may be:

• Identifying sources of research that could be used to strengthen your funding and project proposals.

• Talking to your surrounding municipalities to see what projects they are working on (this is key when approaching funding sources).

• Preparing for and making presentations to agencies, such as local school boards, regional development authorities, and community health boards.

In order to create an AT culture in your community, you first have to let people know what is going on, so they can express interest and buy into the concept. This means visibility and positive associations! Brainstorm with your AT committee to come up with a list of your own ideas, but here are a few tips to get you started:

• Show a family-friendly, AT-focused film at a local school or library (Street Films features many short films on AT).

• Co-host an autumn trail hike with a local business and offer complimentary beverages or snacks. Make sure to choose an accessible trail.

• Organize a short, monthly bike ride at a regular time departing from a regular place.

• Celebrate international, national, and provincial AT events.

• Participate in walk to school and walk to work events.

• Create an online AT survey and use social networking to get people to fill it out. Offering an AT-friendly prize from a random draw of completed surveys may help.

• Set up a Facebook page and use other forms of social media. This will allow you to pass on information about events, generate buzz, and create a huge network.

• Organize a trail walk or ride in your region. Hike Nova Scotia, Trails Nova Scotia and the Nova Scotia Trails Federation are great resources for information on the trail systems throughout the province.

• Celebrate and promote small infrastructure wins (e.g., bike racks at local businesses or a new section of trail built).

Always let local media know about every AT meeting or event. The more engaging and unique the event, the more likely it is to make it into the newspaper or receive coverage on the radio or television. Keep it positive and keep it up!

We can’t emphasize powerfully enough the importance of using social media to spread the AT word. Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and websites are essential, and good photos and videos seal the deal! If you don’t feel comfortable in this realm, make sure you have someone on your team who is, and put that person in charge of online messaging and promotion. Social media is a powerful tool in promoting AT and can reach many more people than was once possible.

You can raise public awareness and build momentum for AT by generating some local success stories, or “quick wins.” These are highly visible and low-cost investment infrastructure projects that do not take much time or energy to complete. Examples could include building benches next to popular walking routes, painting lines for crosswalks*, erecting share-the-road signs*, or installing bike racks in popular and visible locations. These projects need to be well advertised and highly visible to the community in order to build awareness.

If possible, partner with community and business groups to help carry out these projects. This will open up funding opportunities and help you access volunteer time and donations.

Small projects may be eligible for funding from:

• Your local Community Health Board

* May require approval from TIR.

Potential Local Partners:

• Chamber of Commerce - Business Community

• Regional Development Associations &Tourism Organizations

• Health Authority - Public Health Services - Community Health Boards

• Unions

• Youth Organizations

• Churches and Religious Groups

• Libraries

• Environmental Organizations

Celebrate all of your successes, large and small, and appreciate the individuals and groups who have been integral to making it happen. In addition, make sure to join forces with organizations that already have well-established annual AT activities, like:

• International Walk to School Month

• Bike Week activities

• Open Streets events

Once you have all of the elements on the checklist above, you are ready to prepare a formal AT Plan for your community. Remember to draw on lessons learned in other communities and to get lots of help and input from local AT users, your strategic partners, and the municipality. Your AT Plan should set your vision and state how you are going to get there. The information in this section will help you feel confident in your abilities to both create and bring to life the AT Plan for your community.

Ingredients of an AT Plan

A good AT Plan provides strategic direction to a municipality or community for twenty or more years. It is integrated and cohesive, and should serve to motivate staff, council, and the public in creating the vision laid out in the document. The centrepiece of your plan must be the development of safe, connected, continuous, and accessible routes for AT transportation. Without this, AT infrastructure is likely to be patchy.

A good plan also integrates AT into everyday municipal activities: land use planning and design, transportation engineering, road and trails maintenance, public health, and recreation. The plan should ensure that AT infrastructure is supported by safety enforcement, public education, social marketing, policies, and supportive community planning and design.

Essential elements of a GREAT AT Plan:

Engineering

Identifying the infrastructure needed to create a connected network is key. A connected network, or “connectivity,” essentially means that barriers, such as incomplete sidewalks, non-continuous bike lanes, buses without bike racks, and inadequate end-of-trip facilities are identified and then remedied to make travel convenient for AT users.

It costs money to even write an AT Plan, let alone implement it! And it’s your AT Committee that needs to secure the funding to cover the preparation of the formal AT Plan. Wondering what the ballpark range is? Contact municipalities that have already completed AT Plans or the regional representative for the Nova Scotia Department of Health and Wellness to get an idea. Funding typically comes from municipal and provincial governments, with a listing of other organizations below. The average municipal contribution in Nova Scotia to the development of AT Plans varies from one region to the next. The CBRM and Colchester-Truro financial plans are two examples.

Other sources of funding may include:

Once funding is secure, you can begin developing your municipal AT Plan. Keep in mind that this funding is only for plan development.

The ongoing implementation of your AT Plan will require separate funding. (see Implementing an Active Transportation Plan).

The municipality must start to take ownership of the planning process. To that end, your AT Committee should include supportive municipal councillors and staff. In addition, the plan must be managed by a specific municipal department.

Several decisions will have to be made:

• Will it be planning, public works, recreation?

• Will this department provide dedicated, paid staff to work on the planning and implementation of the AT Plan?

• How will an interdepartmental approach be assured in order to successfully implement the plan?

Choosing a Model of AT Planning

Basically, you have two choices when it comes to developing an AT Plan. You can do it in-house or hire a consultant. Both models are outlined below. As you decide which one to use, keep the following things in mind. Developing your community’s AT Plan requires a substantial investment of time and resources.

The person or group developing the plan must have the appropriate skill set and experience to achieve all the project deliverables, such as:

• Conduct a wide review of the municipality’s operations, policies, and planning strategies

• Interview stakeholders

• Hold public information sessions

• Create projected maps

• Develop/use street design guidelines

Bringing all this information together can be a challenge for any municipality or community. Realistically, it could take years to produce, but it’s important not to rush an AT Plan. It’s equally important to keep your momentum while you are developing the plan and figuring out how to implement it. Completing and marketing fun and easy projects is a great way to keep AT in the spotlight, grow awareness, and build support.

Municipalities and communities have two options for preparing an AT Plan.

Internal Process

AT Plans can be produced in-house. Sometimes, there are municipal staff who have the skills, knowledge, and passion to do this work. Another plus is that different municipal departments can collaborate on the AT Plan, bringing different skill sets to the table. However, developing a plan in-house can put a strain on regular duties, or if combined with regular duties, may mean the AT Plan takes longer to complete.

External Process

Many municipalities hire consultants to produce AT Plans. The advantages of consultants are their high level of expertise and the relatively short period of time before delivery of the final product. The drawback is the expense. Here’s what it cost these Nova Scotia communities to have consultants prepare their AT Plans:

• Bridgewater: $47,000

• CBRM: $111,500

• Truro: $28,197 (Bikeways Plan)

A strong candidate will be able to provide numerous services. To hire a consultant, you will need to develop a clear request for proposals (RFP).

It is important to note that if senior staff or council offer their support, but will not embark on the path to a formal AT Plan at this time, ask for AT to play a prominent role in related plans. AT-related goals and objectives are in 27 of the 55 Nova Scotia municipal Integrated Community Sustainability Plans (ICSP). Other planning documents which may include AT-related goals include the Municipal Planning Strategy (MPS) and Municipal Physical Activity Leadership strategy (MPAL). Request that an AT Committee representative be included on the committees developing or overseeing both of these plans. Your AT Committee can then focus on ensuring AT-related goals and objectives in the ICSP or MPAL strategy are achieved.

This is the stage where the rubber meets the road. The AT Plan has been produced and reflects the input of a whole community. Now the plan must be realized.

Even with financial and other support from a municipality, council must still formally endorse the completed AT Plan. If you have done your work and if councillors and staff have played a role in developing the AT Plan, you should be assured of their support.

By formally adopting the AT Plan, council is committing to implement and fund the policies, infrastructure, education, and promotion of the plan. Be sure to thank council for all their support of AT in your community.

After the AT Plan is complete, more funding will be required to cover infrastructure, policy, promotion, and education programs. The work that was done to build strategic alliances and secure municipal buy-in pays off at this time. Begin lobbying your AT champions who are on council or who are municipal and provincial staff. Start an advocacy campaign with all your strategic partners. The AT Plan identified priorities and the successful implementation of these priorities will be a result of the great groundwork that was completed earlier in the process.

The Ecology Action Centre has a detailed list of potential funding sources.

Here are several categories of possible funding sources.

The partnerships you worked so hard to create at the beginning of this process should be maintained to keep up the momentum on AT. Arrange for regular meetings with strategic partners where they update you on what they are working on. In addition, ask them for their input on upcoming projects. In some cases, strategic partners may be able to contribute funding or in-kind contributions for projects.

A crucial partnership that you don’t want to overlook is the one you should have with Nova Scotia Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal (TIR). As they manage all provincial roads, a TIR representative should be on your AT committee. If they are not, make sure that you build a positive relationship with them and ask to be included in their 5-year work plans.

It’s crucially important to measure your progress and the results that come from the successful implementation of your AT Plan. Here are four important areas of evaluation below.

Choose Key Indicators and Measure Regularly

Remember all that data about your community that you collected through asset mapping and needs assessments? This is where you can use it. You will need to be able to show quantitative improvements to your community and you can use comparative data (before AT interventions and after) as evidence. Routinely measuring key indicators will help build your business case, strengthen presentations to stakeholders, and inform your communications strategy.

Develop Annual Work Plan

Each year, your AT committee, in conjunction with the municipality, should develop a detailed work plan. It should include projects to complete, education and enforcement campaigns, the preparation of new policy documents, public presentations and events, funding applications, etc. For bigger projects or longer campaigns, it may be necessary to start planning years in advance. At the end of each year, review the plan and its successes and address any shortcomings. Make sure that your work plan is realistic; AT investment takes time.

Implement Accountability Strategies

Annual work plans should always be tied back to the original goal and objectives of your AT Plan. This type of evaluation framework (below) can assist you in keeping the end goal in sight, while helping to guide you through the nitty gritty details of implementation.

Document Success and Challenges

It is essential to document your successes and indicate areas for improvement. This can be done through reports to municipal council and funders, or in more creative ways. Community annual reports can be made available to citizens at bike shops or AT events and can highlight successes of the last year and plans for the future. Websites devoted to AT in your municipality are a “green” alternative to printed reports and can incorporate photos, videos, and social media.