Lisa Indovino named FBA 2014 Educator of the Year

Congratulations to Lisa Indovino who was named Florida Bicycle Association (FBA)'s 2014 Educator of the Year. Lisa is the Safe Routes to School Educator for the All Children's Hospital Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Program in Lee County, and has done a great job establishing and running this program over the past two years.

As one example of Lisa's work, check out the blog post about the amazing music video about safe biking and walking created by Challenger Middle School students under her leadership. (see BikeWalkLee Blog Feb. 11, 2015: "Safety Kids": Local students create music video PSA on biking safety)

Dawn Huff, Sarita Taylor, Dan Moser, Lisa Indovino, and Becky Afonso

On April 16th, Becky Afonso, FBA's Executive Director, came to the April School Health Advisory Committee meeting to make the award presentation.  The event was attended by Sarita Taylor, the head of FDOT's statewide SRTS initiative; School Board member Mary Fischer, other school officials; and members of Cape Coral Bike Ped and BikeWalkLee.

Award winner Lisa Indovino and FBA ED Becky Afonso

Florida Bicycle Association awards are presented to worthy recipients for their contributions to bicycling. The purpose of the awards is to bring attention to the efforts and achievements of groups, organizations and individuals that help shape our vision for all Florida bicyclists to be safe, respected and encouraged to bicycle for transportation and recreation. Over the past 15 years that FBA has presented these awards, Lee County recipients have frequently been among the awardees. This year, 3 of the 16 award winners are from Lee County. We will be reporting on each of the award winners at the time that FBA makes the award presentations in person, so stay tuned!

Below is FBA's award write-up about Lisa Indovino.

Educator: Lisa Indovino, Safe Routes to School Educator, All Children’s Hospital
Lisa is a Community Educator for the All Children’s Hospital Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Program. The program operates in seven counties, and Lisa heads up the Lee County branch. The primary focus of the program is to combine classroom instruction, educational outreach, and experiential learning to educate children and parents how to walk and bike in a safer way. To do this, the program uses developed classroom lessons, conducts safety assemblies at schools, presents at PTA/PTO meetings, coordinates walking schools buses and walk/bike to school days, conducts bike rodeos, and participates in various community and school events.

The Lee County program started in 2013, making it one of the most recent additions to the All Children’s Hospital Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Program. While the Lee County program is new, Lisa has taken initiative and turned the program into a success. Lisa has met with key stakeholders in Lee County and received tremendous buy-in and support from the Lee County School District. She has provided lessons and bicycle rodeos in 32* schools and reached over 17,000* students so far this school year. One student was the winner of the State-wide Florida Department of Transportation SRTS/Alert Today Walk to School Day poster contest. Lisa’s passion and drive to teach pedestrian and bicycle safety education is evident in the success of the Lee County program. With the program as a resource in Lee County, many children will receive much-needed pedestrian and bicycle safety education.
*updated numbers from Lisa's SRTS PowerPoint presentation at 4/16 meeting.

Click here to learn more about the FBA Award Program.

Report by Darla Letourneau, photos by Ann Pierce.