Advocacy

We’re proud to have worked on behalf of pregnant people and families with the incredible partners below.

Notable Transit Accessibility Projects/Programs

UP-STAND advocated for 8 years for an open stroller policy on buses in New York City. The open stroller pilot program was introduced in 2022 and expanded to over 1,000 buses on 57 routes in 2023.

UP-STAND proposed and successfully advocated for the MTA's Baby on Board pregnancy pin pilot program in New York City, the first of its kind in the United States.
The MTA is no longer sending the pins via snail mail, and is considering alternative methods of distribution.
We asked City Council Member Costa Constantinides to introduce Resolution 198 (formerly 1514), calling on the MTA to add a Pregnancy and Family Representative. Our founder Christine is now a member of the 18-person Advisory Committee for Transit Accessibility (ACTA), working with New York City Transit on a range of accessibility issues. This is the first time our constituency has a seat at the table.
Following an UP-STAND station visit with MTA representatives and years of advocacy, stroller symbols are being piloted at the accessible boarding area as the safest place for stroller users to enter and exit subway cars in NYC. Avoid the gap!
We lend our voice to transit events on behalf of pregnant women and caretakers, organize speakers and participants via UP-STAND, and host transit rallies to draw attention to the MTA’s significant customer base of caregivers and children. We are happy to announce that after decades of extensions, our Astoria Boulevard station rally contributed to the efforts of many advocates/organizations in holding the MTA accountable to its commitment to complete an elevator at Astoria Boulevard; it opened in August, 2020.
UP-STAND worked with Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal to create and support New York State Assembly Legislative Bill A586, an act to increase priority seating for pregnant, elderly, and disabled passengers and to introduce reserved seating on public transit. This bill was reintroduced in 2018. Pregnancy and lap infant courtesy seating signage is now displayed on NYCT buses.
Our feedback and advocacy contributed to the move to allow general access to the autogate so that children and parents would not be separated by heat gates and turnstiles.

UP-STAND is a proud member of the Fix the Subway Grassroots Coalition and our founder, Christine, serves on New York City Transit's Advisory Committee for Transit Accessibility (ACTA) as well as on the LIRR's ADA Task Force. We continue to advocate for a family travel information web page, wide fare gates, family fares, and more. UP-STAND appreciates the work of many disability advocates and organizations that have worked with us to advance the aforementioned accessibility projects and policies.

General Accessibility and Family-Friendly Projects

In direct response to our community poll, in which UP-STANDers ranked Queens Library as one of the top 5 locations where they wanted to see "Breastfeeding Welcome Here" signs displayed, each of the Queens Public Library locations now displays that signage since 2019. Read more.
The #LoveTheChange campaign, UP-STAND, and Pampers partnered with Comptroller Stringer to donate 1,041 changing tables to the City Parks Department. This collaboration followed the Comptroller report in June 2019 that found only 387 of the 1,428 bathrooms in Parks’ inventory had a changing table for infants and toddlers. 600 new changing tables were installed in both men's and women's restrooms by 2024, making NYC Parks/Playgrounds more accessible, equitable, and welcoming for families.
UP-STAND was also able to facilitate the donation of diaper changing tables to the Queens Criminal Court.

During COVID-19, our founder Christine became a volunteer with NYC's Open Streets program and helped to introduce a Kids' Bike Hour for the Astoria neighborhood.
In partnership with Queens artist Rica Takashima, Christine was awarded two 2018 neighborhood grants from the Citizens Committee of New York City to improve accessibility locally, The Ramp Project NYC and One Stop Family Pop Up.
Christine served as a 2017 and 2018 CIDNY Poll Site Accessibility Monitor in the NYC General Elections.

Want to make your local establishments more family-friendly? Get help here.

If you have an issue or item you would like us to consider addressing, please email us at info@up-stand.com.