Project History
The Walk Audit Academy was created by the Prevention Research Center at UMass Chan Medical School in collaboration with WalkBoston and Health Resources in Action (HRIA) with grant funding from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (cooperative agreement number 6-U49-DP-006381) as part of the Prevention Research Centers program.
The Walk Audit Academy is the next step in a research program of the Prevention Research Center. We worked with an expert panel of over 50 land use planners, transportation engineers, and public health personnel to identify how health departments and their partners can help improve opportunities for walking and rolling. Based on their input, we developed Capabilities for Public Health Agency Involvement in Land Use and Transportation Decision Making to Increase Active Transportation Opportunities. You can think of these 10 capabilities as categories of actions that groups can take to influence routine decision making about a community’s built environment. By aligning your activities with these capabilities, you can check that you are targeting systems change rather than individual behavior change.
The Walk Audit Academy integrates learning about your local context and how to collect data through walk audits, together with the capabilities, to prepare you to make connections in walking or rolling infrastructure; improve quantity, quality and accessibility of walking and rolling infrastructure; or correct a problem with the existing walking environment.
Partners
The Prevention Research Center at UMass Chan Medical School is proud to be part of the national network of 26 Prevention Research Centers funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that are conducting real-world public health research with a focus on prevention. Together, we focus on developing, testing, and evaluating public health approaches to promote health and well-being, particularly among people who face increased disadvantages and challenges in their lives.
The PRC has been funded since 2009. Our mission is to prevent disease and advance health equity by fusing community-engaged research, practice, policy and education. Our broad portfolio of projects includes four focus areas: Public Health Practice; Policy, Systems, Environment; Intervention and Implementation; and Training Grants.
Along with the University of Illinois Chicago, we are the Coordinating Center for the Physical Activity Policy Research and Evaluation Network (PAPREN). In addition to CDC PRC funding, we have numerous other funding streams that align with this work, including NIH research grants and contracts with state and local agencies.
WalkBoston is a nonprofit organization that works to make walking safer and easier in Massachusetts to encourage better health, a cleaner environment, and more vibrant communities. It is the oldest pedestrian advocacy organization in the US and has a long-established, in-person walk audit process plus a newer, virtual format developed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Health Resources in Action a non-profit public health organization with expertise in developing, implementing, and evaluating solutions for clients who share a vision of a world where social conditions and equitable resources foster healthy people in healthy communities. Their mission is to help people live healthier lives and create healthy communities through prevention, health promotion, policy, and research.
Contact Us
You can contact us one of three ways:
- Use this form
- Email us: info@walkauditacademy.org
- Call us: (508) 856-5675