Walk and Bike Smart Volunteer
ORGANIZATION: Ecology Action
Please visit the new page to apply.
Want to teach kids about pedestrian and bike safety? Are you passionate about the environment and ready to take local climate action? Looking to gain a new skill or advance your career in children/youth and environmental education? Or are you simply looking to give back to your community? If so, you can do all that and much more by becoming a Walk and Bike Smart volunteer at Ecology Action.
What is the Walk and Bike Smart Program?
The Walk Smart Program focuses on teaching kids about pedestrian safety by providing a fun, educational, on-foot learning experience for elementary students. Whether or not students walk to school, learning to be a safe pedestrian is a critical life skill. Our Walk Smart program is modeled on the best national practices in terms of age of delivery, diversity of teaching methods, student interaction, and course content.
The Bike Smart Program teaches kids bike skills for life. By teaching bike safety at a young age, Ecology Action imbues children with lifelong healthy habits and a passion for pedaling. Our Bike Smart program is modeled on the best national practices in terms of age of delivery, diversity of teaching methods, student interaction, and course content.
Volunteer Responsibilities: Assist Ecology Action Staff with instruction of youth in bike and pedestrian safety trainings (bike skills obstacle courses), set up and break down obstacle courses, and prepare materials for and assist with classroom presentations.
Time Commitment: At least once a month between Monday through Friday mornings, usually 7:30am-1:30pm (time varies depending on the school site we are visiting). We begin when the academic school year begins for elementary schools across Santa Cruz and Monterey County.
Benefits: Volunteers with experience working in environmental public education and/or with youth. You can gain a new skill and help advance their career in children and youth education or the environment. Volunteering for this position can also bring lots of fun and fulfilling memories as you work with enthusiastic children that are excited about riding a bike or going on a walking field trip.
*A requirement to volunteer is a background check, Live Scan, and TB test done before they begin to volunteer with the youth program
1 More opportunity with Ecology Action
1 ReviewOpportunities
About Ecology Action
Location:
877 Center Street Ste 240, SANTA CRUZ, CA 95060, US
Mission Statement
Ecology Action is passionately driven to empower individuals, businesses, and communities to take actions today that achieve environmental and economic sustainability.
Description
BIKE TO SCHOOL DAY: Is a monthly incentive program held at 7 schools through out the county. Volunteers set up a table in front of school at the beginning of the day and have students sign in if they biked, walked, skated, or scootered to school. Students receive small prizes and are entered into a raffle to win more prizes for the day like bike lights, locks and helmets. We currently need a volunteer at Del Mar Elementary School in Live Oak and H.A. Hyde Elementary School in Watsonville. BIKE SMART: Help create a generation of empowered skillful young cyclists! Volunteers for the BikeSmart Youth Bicycle Safety Program will be assisting elementary and middle school youth learn about bike safety. We set up a bicycle safety skills obstacle course, called a "rodeo" and bring bikes for the students to ride. We also fit helmets and guide the students through different stations in the obstacle course. This is an outdoor activity, really fun and interactive with lots of laughing while learning. In the ten years that BikeSmart has been active, we have provided hands-on bike safety training to over 18,000 youth in Santa Cruz County. For some students, this is their first time riding a bike and by the end of the day, they are riding strong! BikeSmart operates during the school year and school hours, and volunteers are always needed. We encourage volunteers to commit to a minimum of 2 hours per month. Active4Me & Boltage: Are free student active transportation programs where children earn prizes by walking, biking, scootering and skateboarding to school. Children's trips, miles traveled, calories burned and greenhouse gases saved are uploaded to an online tracking program. The more trips kids have the more prizes they earn. When students arrive at school "actively" they scan in with a volunteer using a handheld scanner (Active4Me) or zap in through an RFID reader (Boltage). We want to create healthy life-long habits by getting kids excited about riding/walking/skating/scootering to school. We are looking for volunteers to help with our south county schools: Mintie White, Starlight and H.A. Hyde. Morning volunteer opportunities include scanning and hand out prizes to students. Afternoon volunteers are also needed to help manage the monthly "Active4Me store" where students can buy fun prizes with the points they have acquired from their active trips to school. Office work: If you would rather work in office we have many in office tasks available. Please contact Erin Devitt at edevitt@ecoact.org or by phone (513) 833-1454 with any questions. We look forward to hearing from you!
CAUSE AREAS
WHEN
WHERE
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
DATE POSTED
July 9, 2022
SKILLS
GOOD FOR
N/A
REQUIREMENTS
N/A