2008 Grantee Meeting Outdoor Learning Activities
ALbD used the incredible active living and healthy eating environment of Portland to demonstrate how community change has occurred over the last decade. Instead of cramped, dark hotel meeting rooms or lengthy powerpoint presentations, we decided to walk (and bike) the talk. The Outdoor Learning Activities were visceral opportunities to learn on our feet in the community.
History and Renewal: Evolution of the Healthy, Active Lents Neighborhood
Welcome to Portland! We will kick off the grantee meeting with a walking and riding tour of Lents, an Active Living by Design and Healthy Eating by Design neighborhood. Five years and Ps later, Lents is emerging as a model of how active living and healthy eating initiatives can thrive in lower-resourced, ethnically-diverse communities. As one of the city’s urban renewal districts, Lents has undergone significant physical and social changes over the last several years, with many improvements still on the horizon. This tour will depart by bus from the Benson Hotel on a route through central Portland neighborhoods. Participants will begin a walking tour in the heart of the Lents community - the emerging Lents town center. Though the town center struggled for many years due to the I-205 interstate division of the neighborhood,
it has recently begun to thrive as the site of the Lents International Farmers Market, a developing retail center, affordable housing opportunities, light rail transit access, traffic safety improvements and new urban green space. Tour participants will also gain valuable lessons learned from several public and community partners who will describe how critical policy and environmental change successes were achieved in Lents, and discuss opportunities and challenges associated with healthy, active redevelopment. At the end of the tour, participants will have the option of traveling to Zenger Farm by foot or by bus.
Building a Bicycling Culture: Systems Change in Action
Experience Portland’s internationally-famous bicycling environment and
culture. This outdoor workshop will tell the story of Portland’s
comprehensive support system for bicycling and highlight its seamless,
varied and extensive bike network. Experience Portland’s cutting-edge
infrastructure, hear from dynamic leaders and organizations, and learn
more about its successful promotion of cycling for transportation and
recreation. See how an integrated package of supports has been
institutionalized throughout the city, and how it has given rise to a
larger cycling culture. Participants will have the opportunity to
discuss current challenges, issues and lessons learned with a variety
of seasoned local leaders and experts. Appropriately-sized hybrid road
bikes and helmets will be provided.
B is for Broccoli and Bikes: Engaging Youth in Healthy Eating and Active Living
Take a bus and walking tour to experience the many ways Portland
supports healthy, active communities for youth and families. First,
ride a bus to a local school and learn about local and statewide
farm-to-school and school garden policies and programs. Hear how new
staff at the Oregon Department of Education and Oregon Department of
Agriculture are working with local stakeholders to kick off its
innovative farm to school initiative, and how local advocates are
working to institutionalize and sustain school garden efforts. Visit a
school community that has benefited from Portland’s Safer Routes to
School initiative, and learn about new city-wide strategies partners
are employing to help ensure sustainability of safer routes programs.
Participants will learn about local youth and family bicycle,
pedestrian and gardening programming efforts.
It Takes a Neighborhood to Raise a City: Exploring the Complete Neighborhoods Approach
Enjoy a streetcar and walking tour of the Pearl District. Once a
decaying industrial warehouse area in downtown Portland, this
neighborhood has undergone significant renovation and is now Portland's
premier urban-chic neighborhood with boutiques, specialty retailers,
grocery and book stores, up-and-coming art galleries and trendy
restaurants. New buildings are selling out before construction begins.
On the other hand, the District is also dealing with criticism that
this complete community is elitist and not available to most Portland
residents. Learn how residents and planners are dealing with criticisms
and how they are working to create better equity through affordable
housing policy. Hear from local planners how the blueprint for the
Pearl was created and is being implemented. Learn how the Pearl
District fits into the Portland context and connects to broader
city-wide efforts to update the Comprehensive Plan. Meet local leaders
and learn about Portland’s neighborhood association system, which
involves resident leaders in community development and the public
decision-making process.
Park It! Exploring the Role of Urban Greenspace
Portland may be well known for its supportive bicycling culture but it
also has a well developed municipal and regional park system.
Portland's park system was envisioned by John Charles Olmsted, nephew
of Frederick Law Olmsted and partner in the Olmsted Brothers, Landscape
Architects firm who visited Seattle and Portland in 1903 and prepared
plans for both cities. Over the years portions of his plan have been
realized, and Portland Parks and Recreation continues to be guided by
the plan's recommendations. This outdoor workshop will highlight the
history and context of Portland’s park planning and park’s role as
neighborhood public spaces within the larger community. Participants
will also learn how non-profit organizations and local governments
contribute to equity of parks and nature within this urban landscape,
and how community gardens increase Portland opportunities for urban
agriculture. The session will include discussions with parks experts,
neighborhood leaders and advocates for open space. Participants of this
guided tour will travel to three Portland parks to view the system
first hand. The Wednesday tour will begin at the weekday Portland
Farmers Market.
Get Your Nature On: An Off-Road Tour by Bike
The City of Portland and the surrounding communities have become
increasingly connected by off-road paths (greenways) for active
transportation and recreation. This outdoor session is a bicycle tour
of selected paved greenways throughout Portland. The tour will begin
and end at the Benson Hotel and will follow portions of the off-road
Eastbank Esplanade, Willamette Greenway and Springwater Corridor Trail.
Participants will experience various natural areas and wildlife along
the route and learn about the “Three Bridges Project” on the
Springwater Corridor Trail, which crosses a highway, railroad track and
a creek. The session will include discussions with trail experts,
greenway advocates and nature conservationists. Topics will consist of
Portland’s trail development history, collaborative opportunities and
future challenges. Appropriately-sized hybrid road bikes and helmets
will be provided.
Self-Guided Tour of Northwest Portland
Would you like some time and flexibility to explore a neighborhood
outside of downtown Portland on your own or with a smaller group? Enjoy
a self-guided tour of Northwest Portland, a mature, densely populated,
mixed-use and transit oriented neighborhood. Participants will be
offered a streetcar pass, map and neighborhood guide, and encouraged to
put themselves in the place of a resident as they travel friendly
streets between the food co-op, parks, trails, schools, hospital,
commercial centers, historic residential areas, transit stops,
restaurants and other neighborhood features.
