FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Felix Facchine
ffacchine@howardcountymd.gov
Councilwoman Christiana Rigby Accepted
Into Complete Streets Champions Institute
Ellicott City, MD (September 7, 2021) – Smart Growth America (SGA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity have announced that Howard County Councilwoman Christiana Rigby will join the second class of the Champions Institute. The Champions Institute is a program created to help motivated local elected officials equitably define, design, build, and evaluate Complete Streets in their communities. Councilwoman Rigby was selected as one of twenty local elected officials from across the United States and its territories, and she is the first elected official from Maryland to participate in the program.
“I am thrilled to join local leaders from across the United States participating in the Champions Institute to promote safe and complete streets in our communities,” said Councilwoman Christiana Rigby. “We have made important progress on delivering Complete Streets in Howard County over the past several years, and this program will build upon our work to provide safe, accessible, and equitable modes of travel to all Howard County residents. A truly multimodal transportation system is good for public health, it benefits our environment, and it strengthens our community."
Over the next six months, Councilwoman Rigby and fellow participants in the Champions Institute will attend virtual learning sessions that will make them experts in equity-based principles and train them on the fundamental steps to take to achieve Complete Streets in their community, from envisioning to implementation. Participants will also learn about best practices and challenges from across the country, as they grapple with different strategies in a collaborative and supportive peer-learning environment.
Local leaders who are selected for the Champions Institute will have the opportunity to learn from a broad array of national experts and former local elected officials in the areas of public health, policy, street design, and project implementation. At the completion of the institute’s program, champions will be experts in promoting community reforms to create safer streets for all users including pedestrians, cyclists, transit riders, and motorists. Champions will be prepared to support plans, policies, and funding that promote the CDC's Active People, Healthy Nation℠ Initiative of expanding activity-friendly routes to everyday destinations, in their communities.
After participants complete their work in the Champions Institute, SGA will provide continuing support to the local champions as they serve their communities. Newly minted Complete Streets Champions will act as emissaries to other local leaders, sharing their expertise and ideas to grow a network of more Complete Streets Champions across the country who will build and expand activity-friendly routes to everyday destinations across the country.
“We are pleased to welcome Councilwoman Rigby to the second class of the Champions Institute,” said John Robert Smith, Senior Policy Advisor at Smart Growth America, and the former mayor of Meridian, Mississippi. “Her commitment to position Howard County to become a more accessible, equitable, and economically viable community for all residents was compelling. Experts in their field will provide Councilwoman Rigby with valuable skills throughout the program, and share their own insights in developing more activity-friendly routes to everyday destinations.”
“Our most sincere congratulations to Councilwoman Rigby on being selected to participate in Smart Growth America’s Champions’ Institute. She has been a champion for residents in neighborhoods that have had the least investment in roads, bike lanes and sidewalks that can accommodate all users – and an advocate to improve health equity more broadly,” said Nikki Highsmith Vernick, president and CEO of the Horizon Foundation, Howard County’s community health foundation and the largest independent health philanthropy in the state of Maryland. “In areas where the need for complete streets is the greatest, you can expect Councilwoman Rigby to work alongside community partners and residents to make change happen. With her leadership, we will continue to transform Howard County into a safer, healthier and more walkable, bikable community for all residents.”
This program is funded through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Nutrition, Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity. This program is designed to support the Active People, Healthy Nation initiative through developing more activity-friendly routes to everyday destinations.
To learn more about the Champions Institute, please visit this website. You can learn more about Howard County’s ongoing Complete Streets initiative here.
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