Three young people with ties to Evanston Township High School are spending the summer asking residents a simple question: How do you get around town, and what would make it easier?

Isaiah Burns, Olin Wilson-Thomas, and Kiki Hall are the city's first youth Mobility Ambassadors, a paid program the City of Evanston announced in its July 1 Transportation and Mobility Newsletter. The city describes it as its first-ever effort to put young people on the ground collecting transportation input from neighbors.

Wilson-Thomas is an incoming ETHS senior who also serves as the school board's student representative and is involved in local housing and transportation advocacy. Hall, a recent graduate, will study Interdisciplinary Health Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign starting fall 2026. Burns focuses on bike-share access and walking.

"I feel that it is important that every single resident has easy and affordable access to bike share networks, and this summer, I hope to help the community access these different memberships," Burns wrote in the city's July newsletter introducing the team.

The ambassadors have staffed tables at Downtown Summer Sounds, the Summer Sidewalk Sale, community centers, libraries, and transit stops, according to the newsletter. Two Transportation and Mobility Fellows work alongside them: Meghan Volcy, who has a background in education and civic systems, and Marley Concha, a graduate student in Urban Planning and Policy at UIC.

Beyond conversations, the team is collecting data for the city's 2026 Bike Plan Update. Evanston's People for Bikes City Rating sits at 41 out of 100, a benchmark the plan aims to improve.

The ambassadors are also pointing residents toward free cycling workshops run by the city, the Evanston Public Library, and the Recyclery, a nonprofit bicycle education organization. Upcoming sessions include Learn to Ride on Wednesday, August 19, at the Library Main Branch and Intro to Bike Mechanics on Wednesday, September 9, at the library's Innovation Station. Participants who don't own a bike can request a loaner. Registration is required at cityofevanston.org, by calling 847-448-8600, or in person at the library.

The city's Divvy bike-share network is also expanding with 17 new stations this summer, including stops near Noyes, Foster, and Dempster CTA stations. The equity membership costs $5 per year for eligible residents.