Improving the lives of children doesn’t start with projects; it starts with people. In March 2022, GDCI announced its call for applications for the first-ever Streets for Kids Leadership Accelerator—an initiative aiming to create a global cohort of city leaders and professionals in order to hone their knowledge, network, and skills to create change for kids in their cities.
The Leadership Accelerator will bring together 60 changemakers from 20 cities around the world to participate in an eight-month virtual professional leadership program, followed by implementation grants and technical support for up to ten child-focused street projects worldwide.
As part of the application process, cities assembled interdisciplinary teams of three representing a combination of leaders from local governments, non-profit institutions, educators, and other organizations supporting the needs of children in cities. We were thrilled to receive over 90 applications from six continents around the globe demonstrating the global interest and need for this work.
Today, we are proud to congratulate the 20 cities comprising the 2022-2023 Streets for Kids Leadership Accelerator cohort!
The selected cities are:
These selected cities represent six continents whose population ranges from approximately 50,000 people to over 10 million. Participants — which include Mayors, city staff, educators, and local advocates—will connect through monthly meetings, share opportunities and challenges in their cities, hear from guest speakers, and learn technical skills for creating better streets for kids worldwide. Additionally, they will have the opportunity to apply to grant funding for implementation projects in 2023.
“We are thrilled to be working with such a diverse cohort of cities across the globe who share a common goal of designing streets to improve the lives of children, said Skye Duncan, executive director of GDCI. “We believe these 60 changemakers from 20 global cities will learn from one another, share their successes, and adapt global best practices from the Designing Streets for Kids guidance to deliver meaningful and lasting change in their communities.”
In facilitating this program, GDCI will combine its extensive experience working with international cities, street design transformations, and global expert networks to share industry best practices and encourage group peer learning with the goal of improving lives for kids and their caregivers.
Learn more about the Streets for Kids Program
Use the controls in the green box to learn more about the participants in the Leadership Accelerator. For example, you can use the dropdown menu to learn about their professional backgrounds, or click on the graph icon and sort them by population size.
GDCI marks this World Children's Day with the release of two new booklets, “How to Engage Kids in Street Design” and “How to Evaluate Street Transformations Near Schools.”
In 2023, ten cities across four continents started designing their streets for kids. Collectively, the cohort reclaimed over 40,000 SqM of public space that prioritizes children and caregivers, engaged over 4,000 children in the process, and trained 140 practitioners.
Learn how street transformations designed for children can be scaled up and made permanent.
