Hop! Wins Ontario Ministry of Transportation Award

We’re thrilled to announce that Hop! – our app to encourage families to walk to school – has won Initiative of the Year in the Ontario Ministry of Transportation Road Safety Awards.

The Hop! web app was made possible with support from Green Communities Canada, the Government of Ontario, the City of Ottawa and our local school boards. It was created by EnviroCentre in partnership with the Ottawa School Transportation Authority (OSTA).

EnviroCentre and OSTA accept an award from the Ontario Ministry of Transportation
Jennifer Stelzer (EnviroCentre), Laurie Fridd (OSTA)

This award is truly exciting, and we are so very pleased to be recognized by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation for this initiative. With support from our partners, we know our Hop! app will continue to help make walking to school (or anywhere) safe and fun for years to come!

Jennifer Stelzer, Director of Community Sustainability Programs – EnviroCentre

About Hop!

Hop!  is an app created by EnviroCentre and OSTA to encourage elementary students to walk to school. Students can use the app to log the distances they have walked and see the positive impact walking has on the environment. Hop! tells students how much greenhouse gas they’ve averted by walking instead of driving and its group challenges and milestones keep students motivated to choose active transportation. 

How Hop! came to be

OSTA and EnviroCentre have been working together on School Active Transportation Programming for many years, but we wanted to come up with an innovative way to get families to understand the impact of walking to school in a fun and meaningful way.  We talked to families, teachers and community members and came up with an easy-to-use interactive app that can be used by anyone. And it turns out, folks loved it!

Why we need Hop!

We need more kids walking to school when they can, and Hop! makes walking to school a bit more fun through class or school challenges and personal milestones! We hope you will … hop … on over to the 123Hop.ca website and share this free, fun and bilingual resource with your community!

Learn more about our School Active Transportation programs here.