![]() That’s why we’ve been able to grow so quickly in a few years.”īike Walk Macon hosts a lot of free events, including group rides and walks, to teach people how to safely walk and bike on the streets and get more comfortable doing so. “As we kept doing the work, it connected to so many things. “It started as very passionate people who wanted to see changes,” Umana said. Since then, additional funding has allowed it to grow into a nonprofit with a small staff and a board of directors. ![]() Umana applied for the Emerging City Champions Fellowship, funded by the Knight Foundation and hosted by Toronto-based nonprofit 8 80 Cities, and founded Bike Walk Macon in 2015 with the $5,000 grant she received. “I wanted to grow this community voice to speak up for transportation improvements in public.” There was really a need for it and a new interest in it,” Umana said. “Bike Walk Macon came at an important time. In addition, more people were moving to downtown Macon and interested in using their cars less. Around this time, a study revealed that one in three people in Macon-Bibb County didn’t have driver’s licenses and relied on other forms of transportation, and the county was in the news for having one of the highest pedestrian fatality rates in Georgia. Umana said she experienced the challenges of biking in a city where the streets are built around car transport and noticed that there wasn’t an outlet to share her ideas. After participating in a community biking event during the Cherry Blossom Festival, she was motivated to buy a bicycle and start biking the 1-mile distance to work. She took on jobs at Riverside Cemetery Conservancy and then Susan G. When she came back to Macon, she wasn’t sure of her career path but knew she wanted to work with nonprofits on social issues. That was her first experience living somewhere without a car and getting everywhere by walking or using public transportation. ![]() ![]() “I just feel glad to be acknowledged as one of those people who is doing something transformative, and it’s nice to see Macon on the map for being a city that’s trying new things,” Umana said.Īfter graduating as a triple-major in psychology, Spanish and social entrepreneurship, Umana taught English in Thailand for a year with Teach Thailand Corps. ![]()
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