Grand Boulevard Initiative Wins Sustainability Award

How do you bring together 19 cities, a myriad of government agencies and a gaggle of community organizations to revitalize a really long road? How do you balance broad requirements with individualized community needs? And perhaps the most challenging question of all, how do you talk about that effort in a harmonized way that engenders support?

These were the questions at the root of our work with the Grand Boulevard Initiative. Their vision—to create more walkable, bikeable and liveable neighborhoods along the 41-mile El Camino Real, a road that winds down the Bay Area Peninsula from Daly City to San Jose—had support across many sectors. However, they struggled to connect with the small business owners, neighbors and community members whose lives would be impacted by the project. Last year, Fenton partnered with the Initiative to build a brand and message platform that would enable them to talk about their work in simple, accessible ways.

Through our work together, the Initiative now frames their project as making more ‘People Friendly Places, From Daly City to San Jose.’ With a new logo and refreshed messages, and an upcoming training series by Fenton, the Grand Boulevard Initiative is growing the number of people who can be ambassadors for the project and speak up in their communities about the need for its important work.

Just this month, the Grand Boulevard Initiative was recognized with a San Mateo Sustainability Award for their efforts. According to the City of San Mateo and Sustainable San Mateo, “The Initiative visualizes wider sidewalks, street trees, landscaped roadway medians, bike routes, and safer pedestrian crosswalks. The goal is to redevelop the El Camino corridor so that it can [provide new housing], and create a streetscape that is so attractive that people will want to live and work there.” Fenton staff member Erin Hart was thrilled to be in the audience as the Initiative won this honor.

Learn more about their work to make the El Camino Real Corridor a more people friendly place.