Back to School: School Open Street Season and Student Winners of ‘We’re Walking Here!’ Traffic Safety Contest

School children participate in activities with Street Lab at the P.S. 059 The Community School of Technology Open Street. Credit: Street Lab

A Record-High Number of Open Streets at Schools Enhance Safety, Accommodate Smoother Pick-Ups and Drop-Offs, and Create Additional Outdoor Space for Students To Gather, Learn, and Socialize

“We’re Walking Here!” Contest Challenged Students To Create Videos Related to Street Safety; Winning Videos Came From Elementary and High School Students From Brooklyn, Staten Island, and the Bronx. Registration for 2025 Contest Is Now Open.

New York City’s Open Streets program transforms streets into public space open to all. Open Streets at schools enhance safety for kids, help facilitate smoother pick-ups and drop-offs for parents and guardians and create new space for outdoor play and learning. 

NYC DOT also shared the winners of a safety education contest for public school students, known as “We’re Walking Here!” The contest challenged New York City school students to create public-service announcement videos to warn of the dangers of reckless driving and traffic fatalities. The winning videos will be featured online and incorporated into a new Vision Zero traffic safety curriculum to be used this academic year. Registrations are now open for the 2025 contest cycle.

Open Streets for Schools

As part of the program, the Full Closure: Schools type of Open Street allows participating schools to temporarily close streets to vehicles for drop-off and pick-up operations, recess, and outdoor learning. Once called ‘Playstreets,’ New York City has a roughly 100-year-history of closing streets for children to play and to support educational opportunities. Open Streets for Schools follows in this tradition and, for the first time, established a legal structure to create streets for play and to support schools through the Open Streets program, which was codified into law in the spring of 2024.

Partnerships

The growth in Open Streets at schools has also been fueled by a partnership between NYC DOT and the nonprofit Street Lab, which works directly with schools in low-income neighborhoods to launch new Open Streets. Street Lab works with schools in these neighborhoods to help pilot and operate new Open Streets, helping with permits, planning with the school and community, and transforming streets during the school year with furniture, activities, and staff. Street Lab’s efforts have yielded 15 new Open Streets for schools, with another 22 sites currently in process.

2025 OPEN STREETS: SCHOOLS LOCATIONS

*denotes sites that are currently under review

2025 Open Street: Schools	Borough	Street
P.S. 811 The Academy for Career and Living Skills	Bronx	LONGFELLOW AVENUE
Success Academy Charter Schools – Kingsbridge Heights	Bronx	EAMES PLACE
Success Academy Charter Schools – Williamsbridge	Bronx	CAPUCHIN WAY
P.S. 032 The Belmont School	Bronx	BEAUMONT AVENUE
*South Bronx Academy for Applied Media	Bronx	FOREST AVENUE
P.S. 028 Mount Hope	Bronx	MOUNT HOPE PLACE
Bright Leaders Group Family Day Care Inc.	Bronx	GRAND AVENUE
Leaders In Our Neighborhood Charter School	Bronx	LONGFELLOW AVENUE
P.S. 083 The Donald Hertz School	Bronx	RHINELANDER AVENUE
P.S. 059 The Community School of Technology / Street Lab	Bronx	BATHGATE AVENUE
P.S. 109 Sedgwick / Street Lab	Bronx	PALISADE PLACE
P.S. 018 The John Peter Zenger School	Bronx	EAST 148 STREET
St. Saviour Catholic Academy	Brooklyn	Seventh STREET
The Dock Street School for STEAM Studies	Brooklyn	DOCK STREET
Mary McDowell Friends School	Brooklyn	SUMMIT STREET
The Little Brooklyn PreK Center @ Third Avenue	Brooklyn	WHITWELL PLACE
Brooklyn RISE Charter School	Brooklyn	HANOVER PLACE
*P.S. 284 The Gregory Jocko Jackson School	Brooklyn	OSBORN STREET
Brooklyn High School for Law and Technology	Brooklyn	MADISON STREET
P.S. 090 The Magnet School for Environmental Studies & Community Wellness	Brooklyn	WEST 12 STREET
P.S. 146 The Brooklyn New School	Brooklyn	RAPELYE STREET
P.S. 169 Sunset Park School	Brooklyn	43 STREET
P.S. 137 Rachel Jean Mitchell	Brooklyn	CHAUNCEY STREET
Hellenic Classical Charter Schools	Brooklyn	18 STREET
LEEP Dual Language Academy Charter School	Brooklyn	54 STREET
Riverdale Avenue Community School	Brooklyn	STRAUSS STREET
Central UTA	Brooklyn	PENN STREET
P.S. 118 The Maurice Sendak School	Brooklyn	SEVENTH STREET
*P.S. 031 Samuel F. Dupont	Brooklyn	LORIMER STREET
The Dalton School	Manhattan	EAST 91 STREET
The École	Manhattan	EAST 22 STREET
P.S. 042 The Benjamin Altman School	Manhattan	HESTER STREET
The Nightingale Bamford School	Manhattan	EAST 92 STREET
Academy of St. Joseph	Manhattan	WASHINGTON PLACE
The Buckley School	Manhattan	EAST 73 STREET
Saint David’s School	Manhattan	EAST 89 STREET
Manhattan Day School	Manhattan	WEST 75 STREET
P.S. 343 The Peck Slip School	Manhattan	PECK SLIP
Collegiate School	Manhattan	FREEDOM PLACE SOUTH
P.S. 003 Charrette School	Manhattan	GROVE STREET
P.S. 003 Charrette School	Manhattan	BEDFORD STREET
The Allen-Stevenson School	Manhattan	EAST 78 STREET
Friends Seminary	Manhattan	RUTHERFORD PLACE
City-As School	Manhattan	CLARKSON STREET
Community Health Academy of the Heights	Manhattan	WEST 158 STREET
I.S. 528 Bea Fuller Rogers School	Manhattan	WADSWORTH AVENUE
P.S. 112 Jose Celso Barbosa	Manhattan	EAST 119 STREET
Ballet Tech School	Manhattan	BROADWAY
Washington Irving Educational Campus (NYCPS)	Manhattan	IRVING PLACE
*Harlem Children’s Zone Promise Academy II Elementary School	Manhattan	EAST 111 STREET
The Birch Wathen Lenox School	Manhattan	EAST 77 STREET
Global Community Charter School	Manhattan	WEST 142 STREET
P.S./I.S. 116 The William C. Hughley School	Queens	WREN PLACE
The Young Women’s Leadership School of Astoria	Queens	NEWTOWN AVENUE
The Young Women’s Leadership School of Astoria	Queens	23 STREET
Thomas A. Edison CTE High School	Queens	84 AVENUE
P.S. 134 The Langston Hughes School	Queens	109 AVENUE
P.S. 129 The Patricia Larkin School	Queens	NINTH AVENUE
P.S. 095 The Eastwood School	Queens	90 AVENUE
P.S. 144 Col Jeromus Remsen	Queens	JUNO STREET
P.S. 012 James B. Colgate	Queens	72 STREET
J.H.S. 008 Richard S. Grossley	Queens	167 STREET
*The Emerson School (28Q287)	Queens	167 STREET
Mosaic 3K/Pre-k Center	Queens	41 AVENUE
P.S. 143 The Louis Armstrong School	Queens	113 STREET
P.S. 174 William Sidney Mount School	Queens	DIETERLE CRESCENT
P.S. 176 The Cambria Heights School	Queens	235 STREET
Moving Up Children Center	Queens	94 STREET
P.S. 014 The Fairview School	Queens	OTIS AVENUE
P.S. 014 The Fairview School	Queens	VAN DOREN STREET
Our World Neighborhood Charter School	Queens	37 STREET
P.S. 005 The Huguenot School	Staten Island	DEISIUS STREET

“We’re Walking Here!” Competition 

NYC DOT hosts an annual “We’re Walking Here!” competition, in which schools compete to develop creative public-service announcements (PSAs) that encourage walking and give young New Yorkers the platform to communicate with New York drivers. The competition encourages fitness and builds on the city’s Vision Zero efforts that aim to educate New Yorkers about our shared responsibility when it comes to street safety. Students were encouraged to submit lyrics, informal videos and even dances they have created to express their ideas. Schools participated in the competition with classroom teachers leading activities and students using pedometers to count steps and increase their walking.

In total, 101 schools registered for the “We’re Walking Here” competition in 2024, with a final group of 34 elementary, middle, and high schools, representing every borough, submitting PSA entries, which were evaluated by NYC DOT’s Safety Education unit for their creativity and messaging.

This year’s winners are:

First Place
PS 69 K Vincent Grippo School, Brooklyn 

Second Place 
PS 194 K Raoul Wallenburg School, Brooklyn

Third Place
Tottenville High School, Staten Island

Honorable Mention
Theatre Arts Production Company School (TAPCo), the Bronx

2025 Competition

Registration for the 2025 competition is open until October 3, 2025. All New York City schools, K-12, are eligible to participate. The nine-week contest begins on International Walk and Roll to School Day, October 8, 2025, and ends when submissions are due on December 12, 2025. Registration can be submitted online.