Started as a simple page devoted to cycling in the San Gabriel Valley, ActiveSGV was launched by a group of local advocates who shared a desire to realize a cohesive network of people-friendly streets in the San Gabriel Valley. ActiveSGV was formed in 2010 by a group of San Gabriel Valley residents, public health activists and community leaders to address an unmet and critical public health needs in east Los Angeles County: grassroots education, support, and encouragement for Active Transportation, Complete Streets, and Green Streets programs, policies and projects that would support sustainable forms of mobility, promote physical activity, and help address chronic illnesses such as obesity and hypertension among residents young and old. Since then, the organization has grown from an all-volunteer group to the San Gabriel Valley’s leading, place-based, active transportation and sustainability education, encouragement, and advocacy organization. Led by a dozen full-time staff members committed to realizing a more sustainable San Gabriel Valley, ActiveSGV has made strides in accelerating the development of more livable, active, and healthy communities in east Los Angeles County. In particular, ActiveSGV has placed specific focus on advancing these goals in high-need, under-resourced communities that suffer from some of Los Angeles County’s highest rates of chronic illnesses associated with pollution exposure, sedentary lifestyles, and poor diet. With many staff and volunteers stemming from these communities and still residing within them, ActiveSGV staff, volunteers, and supporters place specific emphasis on helping high-need groups including children, youth, and older adults who are disproportionately dependent upon and impacted by unsafe streets. ActiveSGV project and programmatic highlights include the facilitation of almost a dozen active transportation plans (including the cities of Baldwin Park, El Monte, South El Monte, San Gabriel, Monterey Park, Glendora, Montebello, La Puente, and Monrovia, among others); the coordination of the largest multi-jurisdictional open streets event in the nation in 2017 (626 Golden Streets); the opening of the San Gabriel Valley’s first Bicycle Education Center at the Jeff Seymour Family Center in El Monte; and the launch of one of the first Traffic Diversion Programs in the State of California in conjunction with the El Monte District Court. The latter program allows anyone cited in the Court’s service area while riding a bicycle the opportunity to go to Traffic-School-for-Bikes and have their fine and court fees waived.
