NOYS, Bentley Announce Youth Infrastructure Safety Contest

WASHINGTON, DC, June 23, 2023 – National Organizations for Youth Safety (NOYS) announced theĀ Your Voice, Your Action = Youth Infrastructure Safety Contest, which encourages young people to identify a problem in their neighborhood that affects pedestrian safety and propose a solution to fix it. The contest, which is open to young people in the United States age 15 to 29, was developed by NOYS in partnership with Bentley Systems, Inc., the infrastructure engineering software company.

Your Voice, Your Action = Youth Infrastructure Safety Contest encourages young people to identify a problem in their neighborhood that affects pedestrian safety and propose a solution to fix it.

TheĀ Your Voice, Your Action = Youth Infrastructure Safety Contest aims to give young people in the United States a voice by hearing their opinions on what infrastructure improvements are needed in their neighborhoods to support safe walking, cycling, and equitable use of street spaces for all road users. The contest will be their space to assess the state of the local infrastructure and propose design alternatives, and justify how their proposal will lead to a more secure, environmentally friendly transportation system for all road users.

Jacob Smith, executive director of NOYS, said, ā€œYoung people have the creativity, expertise and lived experience to propose infrastructure solutions that are directly impacting them. Iā€™m pleased to partner with Bentley Education to center the voices of a generation that is being disproportionately impacted by poor infrastructure across the country.ā€

The contest incorporates a learning, ideation and design and visualization component. Participants attend master classes from Bentley experts to develop and strengthen their CAD skills using Bentleyā€™s MicroStation. The participants are invited to submit their ideas to improve pedestrian safety within their community either through video, song, poster, collage, film, or any other creative expression to describe their views.

Zeljko Djuretic, head of Education with Bentley Systems, said, ā€œWe are excited to be continuing our partnership with NOYS to empower youth in promoting aĀ safer pedestrian infrastructure. What is amazing about this contest is that it puts power to improve infrastructure into the hands of future generations and helps them understand how they could go about doing so in real terms. At Bentley weā€™re no strangers to the power that infrastructure has to shape our world. Through initiatives like this contest, our aim is to equip youth with digital skills, nurturing their creativity and enabling them to take impactful actions.ā€

A $1,500 prize will be awarded to the winner by a panel of expert judges. Additionally, each participant will receive a certificate of training from Bentley Systems following their successful completion of activities.

Those who are interested in participating in the challenge should register and submit their projects before December 31, 2023. To register and learn more about the submissions, judging criteria, and other information,Ā click here.

About National Organizations for Youth Safety (NOYS)

National Organizations for Youth Safety (NOYS) is a national youth-powered organization leveraging 25+ years of collaborative engagement and expertise to position young people to lead in addressing the most pressing youth health and safety issues affecting them today ā€“ with mobility safety being a key issue. Founded by the US Department of Transportation, NOYS has played an integral part in the traffic safety industry by supporting youth (15-29) in developing youth-led mobility safety programs and campaigns. Youth are mobilized to take action through peer-to-peer education, community mobilization, and youth-powered advocacy. NOYS is the only national youth-led organization in the US with the largest base of youthserving and youth-led organizations focused on youth health and safety.

About Bentley Systems

Bentley Systems is theĀ infrastructure engineering softwareĀ company. They provide innovative software to advance the worldā€™s infrastructure ā€“ sustaining both the global economy and environment. Their industry-leading software solutions are used by professionals, and organizations of every size, for the design, construction, and operations of roads and bridges, rail and transit, water and wastewater, public works and utilities, buildings and campuses, mining, and industrial facilities. Their offerings, powered by theĀ iTwinĀ Platform for infrastructure digital twins, includeĀ MicroStationĀ andĀ Bentley OpenĀ applications for modeling and simulation,Ā Seequentā€™s software for geoprofessionals, andĀ Bentley Infrastructure CloudĀ encompassingĀ ProjectWiseĀ for project delivery,Ā SYNCHROĀ for construction management, andĀ AssetWiseĀ for asset operations. Bentley Systemsā€™ 5,000Ā colleagues generate annual revenues of more than $1Ā billion in 194Ā countries.

For more information, visit www.bentley.com.