Kicking off our 25th year of winning safe streets for everyone who walks

It seems like every great cause starts with just a few dedicated people, doesn’t it?

25 years ago, a small group of passionate folks came together around a simple belief: that walking in San Francisco shouldn’t be life-or-death.

More than that, Walk SF’s founders believed that our compact city – where millions of people walk every year – should be leading the way with creating safe, equitable, pedestrian-friendly streets.

These founding beliefs continue to be at the heart of why Walk SF exists. And how Walk SF exists is thanks to the support of so many supporters who saw the need for an organization dedicated to safe streets for all.

Walk SF is so excited to celebrate all of YOU and the many defining wins we’ve made happen together in the past 25 years. Read about Walk SF’s impact.

We’re also eager to share more about what’s needed and what’s next. Pedestrians face more threats than ever, and pedestrian deaths nationwide are at their highest levels in 40 years. Walk SF will lead in pushing San Francisco to truly be at the cutting-edge of designing and enforcing safe streets citywide – and do more to influence state and federal policies that also affect our safety.

This is going to take a real investment by people like you. But you’re how we went from an all-volunteer organization for many years to the team we have today: working every single day on behalf of pedestrians.

So get ready for transformative plans, inspiration, and fun coming your way, including:

• Special social walks and a big birthday party
• Unveiling our plans for the next decade
• A special 25-year fundraising campaign to support Walk SF building an even stronger movement to transform our streets

One more thing: thanking our founders!

We have a lot of people and partners we’ll appreciate this coming anniversary year.

But let’s start today with a shout-out to the two dedicated people who saw the need for Walk SF and first got us off the ground back in 1998: Mike Smith and Betsy Thaggart.

It’s a delight to still have Mike Smith and his wife Nancy Botkin deeply involved in Walk SF as generous supporters and volunteers. In fact, Nancy Botkin started our annual Peak2Peak fundraiser 19 years ago!

Want to support Walk SF today and into the future? Become a monthly sustainer!