Encouragement

Introduction

Cleveland Elementary School is located in urban Oklahoma City, OK. The kindergarten through fifth grade school has more than 300 students. Wanting to increase the amount of physical activity among the students, school staff and community leaders organized an event in fall 2007 to encourage walking and bicycling to school.

Introduction

Two Lawton, Oklahoma, schools have begun walking school buses to address different challenges, and both schools have seen unexpected benefits from their efforts.

Principal Brenda Hatch has been instrumental in Safe Routes to School programs at both schools in the pilot project: she was principal at Howell Elementary School when the program started in 2007, and now she is principal at Whittier Elementary School.

Introduction

Nine elementary and middle schools in Mansfield, OH, received funding for Safe Routes to School (SRTS) infrastructure and non-infrastructure projects through the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT). As a result, more than 1,000 students will benefit from sidewalk improvements and installations, as well as from various education and encouragement activities.

Introduction

The village of Ossining, NY, is located within Westchester County, NY, along the Hudson River. The elementary schools within the town and village of Ossining are divided into two grade increments, and several buses serve each school. The necessary busing program and a lack of physical infrastructure prevent many children from walking to school.

Introduction

Parents at Bear Creek Elementary School in Boulder, CO., are leading students and the entire school community into life-changing choices. The Car-Free Commute program at the school, only in its second year, has succeeded in engaging 70 percent of students in walking and bicycling to school consistently throughout the school year.

Introduction

The Riverside County Department of Public Health Injury Prevention Services (IPS) developed a Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program at several priority schools, which it identified by mapping youth pedestrian and bicycle injuries and deaths in the county. The mapping process “enables us to strategically map where the SRTS efforts might be beneficial,” says Gail Carlson, Program Coordinator, IPS.

Introduction

In August 2000, the Marin County Bicycle Coalition was funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to participate in a Safe Routes to School pilot program. Congressman James Oberstar, then the ranking Democrat of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, endorsed the program as a means to reduce traffic congestion around schools and promote healthy alternatives to driving.

Introduction

During the summer months, Yuma, Arizona, is a mid-sized city with approximately 85,000 residents. In the winter months, however, the population increases as people migrate to the city to escape the colder climates. This migration leads to increased traffic congestion and pedestrian safety concerns when students are walking to school. In 2007, the Yuma Elementary School District #1 organized a parade to school at Desert Mesa Elementary School and O.C. Johnson Elementary School to promote safe and healthy places for the children to walk and bicycle to school.

Introduction

Maybe it’s not feasible to travel by jet pack, but that didn’t stop students from including the idea on a middle school mural that highlights creative, non-car ways to arrive at school. The alternative transportation mural, painted on the corner of Mile High Middle School in Prescott, AZ, just behind the bicycle rack, was part of an encouragement effort, according to Lisa Barnes, Executive Director of Prescott Alternative Transportation (PAT), a non-profit pedestrian and bicycling advocacy organization.

Introduction

Maricopa County Department of Public Health- Office of Health Promotion and Education in 2008 began working with Griffith Elementary School on “Walk n-Rollers,” a Safe Routes to School program to address parent concerns about traffic, speeding and safety as students walk and bicycle to school. Griffith is a neighborhood school with about 650 students, more than half of whom live within a quarter mile of the school. The school population is predominantly low income, and obesity issues are a concern.