As children across the country begin school, the Safe Routes to School National Partnership is taking steps to make their trip to school a healthier and safer activity. Recently, the Partnership launched a new Web Site to help parents, schools, local and state governments and advocacy groups implement programs that will encourage more kids to walk and bike to and from school.

The $612 million federal Safe Routes to School program, which was approved by the U.S. Congress in 2005, provides funding to all 50 states and the District of Columbia to support education and enforcement programs and to help communities improve infrastructure such as building sidewalks and bike paths. MoDOT has funded three grants that will be help involve several schools in the program.

The SRTS program is an important initiative, as the percentage of U.S. students who walk and/or bicycle to school declined from approximately 50 percent in 1969 to only 15 percent today. At the same time, obesity rates have increased dramatically among children of all ages. Today, more than 33 percent of children and adolescents-approximately 25 million kids-are overweight or obese. In addition, the SRTS program helps relieve traffic congestion caused by parents driving their children, which is substantial in many U.S. communities.

The new SRTS Web Site provides proponents at all levels the resources and contacts they need to implement programs locally and statewide. Each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia has dedicated pages with program funding details, application guidelines, state and local contacts and examples of successful, local SRTS efforts and best practices.

The Missouri state page features the Columbia SRTS program and its successful Walking School Bus. More than 160 children in six Columbia schools participate in the WSB program, a partnership between the Columbia/Boone County Health Department and the PedNet Coalition. The program’s benefits to parents is demonstrated by the experience of WSB leader, mother Tracy Culley who continues to lose weight and improve her health walking her son and several other children to school every day.

“We created this Web Site to help people take action now to bring SRTS programs to their communities,” said SRTS National Partnership Director Deb Hubsmith. “The potential benefits of SRTS programs include healthier children, reduced congestion around schools, less pollution and safer streets.”

Other features of the new site include an interactive U.S. map that allows users to access pages for all 50 states and the District of Columbia, a robust search function, updated national SRTS news, in-depth policy pages, event listings, resources and a submit-a-story form. See www.saferoutespartnership.org for more details.

The new www.saferoutespartnership.org site is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (www.rwjf.org) and the Bikes Belong Coalition (www.bikesbelong.org).

CONTACT: Deb Hubsmith, Director
Safe Routes to School National Partnership
deb@saferoutespartnership.org
(415)454-7430
or
Ian Thomas, Executive Director
The PedNet Coalition
ian@pednet.org
(573)445-2928