December 3rd is International Day of Persons with Disabilities. We strive to create inclusive and accessible Monday Mile walking routes that all members of our community can enjoy. Our Inclusivity Policy assures Monday Miles will be safe and accessible for those of all abilities. Here is our feature in the article from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Making the Monday Mile Inclusive for All in City of Syracuse, New York

Approximately 1 in 5 adults in New York State has a disability, and compared to adults without disabilities, they are less likely to get leisure-time physical activity. Two nonprofit organizations based in Syracuse, NY – ARISE, a Center for Independent Living, and HealtheConnections, a group that supports better health for the people living in Central New York – partnered with NACDD’s Reaching People with Disabilities through Healthy Communities project to create inclusive health opportunities. One project, done in collaboration with the Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion at Syracuse University, is Monday Mile, a program with 25 designated 1-mile walking routes. Each route is marked with maps, directional arrows, and distance markers to encourage residents to be physically active. As a direct result of the NACDD’s Reaching People with Disabilities through Healthy Communities project, the Lerner Center adopted a new Inclusivity Policy to incorporate the principles of inclusion in the design of new Monday Mile routes. They created a checklist of considerations and a feasibility assessment to help designers carry out the policy. Project partners are already using the Inclusivity Policy with interested groups to designate a new Monday Mile route in a low-income Syracuse neighborhood that lacks safe, accessible walking paths. Partners are also developing Monday Miles routes in parks and public places in counties in central New York, where an estimated 95,000-115,000 people with disabilities could benefit. The Inclusivity Policy is now an integral part of the Monday Mile toolkit, a planning resource used by local communities to plan accessible walking routes.