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Safe
Routes to School E-News
"Changing the habits of an entire
generation"
Safe Routes to School E-News is a monthly
email newsletter published by the Safe Routes to School National
Partnership, a growing network of more than 400 organizations working to
advance the Safe Routes to School National movement. Please forward it to
anyone you think might be interested by clicking the link at the bottom of
this page.
In this issue:
- Safe
Routes to School State Network Project Receives $1.5M Award from the
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
- International
Walk to School Day is October 7
- Safe
Routes to School National Partnership's Federal Update
- Institute
of Medicine Releases Report on Childhood Obesity Prevention
- 2nd
Safe Routes to School National Conference a Resounding Success
- Resource
Helps Locals Address School Bicycling and Walking Policies
- Safe
Routes to School State Network Project Update
- Illinois
Announces $13.7 Million in SRTS Funding Awarded
- Send Us
Your Local Success Stories
- SRTS
News Throughout the Country
1. Safe Routes to School
State Network Project
Receives $1.5M Award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Project
to expand to 15 states to help increase physical activity, reduce childhood
obesity
The Safe Routes to School National
Partnership (the Partnership) received a two-year expansion award of nearly
$1.5 million from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) for the Safe
Routes to School (SRTS) State Network Project. The grant will help spur
policy work and environmental changes in 15 states during 2010 and 2011 to
help increase regular physical activity for school-aged children and make
it easier for them to walk and bicycle to school safely.
This fall, the Partnership will release a
call for applications within states that meet selection criteria, including
the number and percentage of students in the state who are overweight or
obese, living in poverty, and from diverse communities. An organization
will be picked in each state to coordinate the network's efforts there,
with 16 hours per week of staff time contracted for the project. The
Partnership hopes to announce the selected states and lead organizations in
December and to start this new work early next year.
The SRTS State Network Project was
launched in 2007 in nine states (CA, GA, IL, KY, LA, NY, OK, TX, and VA)
and the District of Columbia
through a grant from RWJF and support from the federal Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, Kaiser Permanente, and Bikes Belong Coalition. It
brings together agencies and advocates from health, education, youth advocacy,
equity, smart growth, and transportation to work with state transportation
departments to ensure the best use of federal funds authorized for SRTS
programs. These programs build sidewalks, bike lanes, pathways, and safe
crossings in communities in every state and the District of Columbia. The SRTS State
Network Project also works to leverage additional funding resources for
SRTS and to create an institutional framework to generate long-term policy
changes that will remove barriers to walking and bicycling to school.
2. International Walk to School Day is October 7
Invite
local physicians and Congressional members to participate
International Walk to School Day is taking
place next month on Wednesday, October 7, 2009. More than 1,700 schools are
currently registered! You can register your school today at www.walktoschool.org/register.
This year, Kaiser Permanente is building
on our successful collaboration from last year. Kaiser Permanente supports
SRTS efforts as part of their Healthy Eating Active Living initiative. The
organization's efforts to support International Walk to School Day this
year include driving media attention to SRTS efforts at schools in their
local communities, engaging clinicians to submit letters and op ed's to
local news outlets, and promoting participation in walking and bicycling to
school activities by employees and physicians. It is expected that Kaiser
Permanente will participate in local Walk to School Day activities in
nearly all of its regions this year.
As you are planning your event, the Safe
Routes to School National Partnership encourages you to think about the
bigger picture of who to invite. Inviting your Congressional members to
your event is a great way to show them Safe Routes to School in action and
to generate support for future funding. Check out the Partnership's step-by-step
toolkit, which was created to assist you specifically with invitations
to elected officials and gaining media attention. You can also follow the
Kaiser Permanente model and invite local physicians, dressed in their white
coats, to participate in your walk to school day event.
3. Safe Routes to School National Partnership's Federal Update
Draft
a "Dear Congress" letter and spread the word; state DOT
rescissions in the works
Transportation
bill - Congress is
back in Washington, DC this week after spending the month of
August listening to constituents; this fall will be a busy one on Capitol
Hill. While most of the public attention is focused on the fate of the
health care bill, the next month is also likely to result in movement on
the transportation bill and the climate bill.
On the transportation bill, the House and
Senate must agree upon the length of the extension to the current
transportation bill, which expires September 30. The Senate and the
Administration want a longer extension of 18 months, while the House
prefers a much shorter extension to keep a continued focus on passing the
next 6-year transportation bill.
Whatever the length of the extension, it
is expected to continue all current transportation programs at their
current fiscal year 2009 funding levels. However, an extension may create
difficulties for state DOTs in committing to new projects and grants as
they will be receiving money in installments over the course of the year.
The Safe Routes to School National Partnership will continue to monitor
state DOTs to ensure that Safe Routes to School funds are awarded and
obligated in a timely fashion.
To keep attention on the next
transportation bill, the House Transportation & Infrastructure
Committee may hold a full committee "markup" of the existing
House transportation draft bill, which was unveiled in June 2009
without funding levels. In a markup, members of the Committee offer and
vote on proposed changes to the legislation to develop a final version of
the bill that would then be considered by the full House of
Representatives.
Letters
to Congress - To prepare for
the potential House Committee markup of the transportation bill and to
continue to grow support in the Senate, the Safe Routes to School National
Partnership has launched a "Dear Congress" campaign. We are
asking parents, children, SRTS program staff and volunteers, and school and
city leaders to write letters about the importance of SRTS. All letters
should be delivered to the Partnership, and we will bundle them to share
with members of the House and Senate. Please write a letter and ask others
you know to write letters too. The deadline for these letters is September
24, 2009. Full instructions are posted on our website at http://www.saferoutespartnership.org/national/299443.
Rescissions - In other federal news, it is time for rescissions.
In this federally-mandated process, state DOTs must return a portion of
their existing transportation funds in a number of programs to Washington. For most
transportation programs subject to the rescission, the loss of funding will
be approximately 5% of a program's total funding from FY2004-2009. Safe
Routes to School is unique in that there are two methods of calculating the
rescissions for each state -one based on unobligated balances as compared
with other programs, and one is based on the funding level as compared with
other programs. The Safe Routes to School National Partnership is working
closely with the Federal Highway Administration to determine the impact on
state Safe Routes to School programs. At this point it appears that the
maximum rescission will be around 4.5% of a state's Safe Routes to School
funds, but could be less in some states depending on obligation levels. As
soon as we have more details, including state by state figures, we will
share those via a subsequent email alert.
4. Institute
of Medicine Releases
Report on Childhood Obesity Prevention
Report
affirms local governments' role in creating healthy environments
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) released Local
Government Actions to Prevent Childhood Obesity in early
September. The report identifies specific actions that local governments
can take to increase physical activity and improve healthy eating in communities.
Local governments play a crucial role in the fight against childhood
obesity by creating environments that make it either easy or hard for
children to eat healthier diets and move more, said the committee of health
experts that wrote the report.
Highlighted in the report are twelve
policies that have the greatest potential for impact, including incentive
programs to attract complete streets policies and joint use. Safe Routes to
School is also mentioned several times within the report as a strategy to
increase physical activity. IOM's careful examination of these policies and
its resulting recommendations adds another layer of consensus to the
growing momentum for environmental and policy change efforts across the
country.
5. 2nd Safe Routes to School National Conference a Resounding Success
Close
to 550 in attendance from across the country
The 2nd Safe Routes to School National
Conference held in Portland,
Oregon from August 19-21st
was a resounding success, with more than 500 attendees discussing best
practices and learning more about ways to propel their Safe Routes to
School work to the next level. Mobile workshops to explore the fantastic
bike culture of Portland
were offered, and motivating keynote speakers were featured from the Kaiser
Permanente, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, The Conservation
Fund, and more.
If you missed a session or weren't able to
make it to the conference, you can download
presentations here.
6. Resource
Helps Locals
Address School
Bicycling and Walking Policies
Jointly-developed
by the Partnership and the National
Center
Children across the US are back
in school, and many communities are seeing the traffic jams that result
from parents driving their children to schools. To help encourage more
walking and bicycling, the Safe Routes to School National Partnership and
the National Center for Safe Routes to School have released a
jointly-developed resource, School
Bicycling and Walking Policies: Addressing Policies that Hinder and
Implementing Policies that Help. This tip sheet was developed in
response to numerous requests from across the country.
School policies that encourage and support
bicycling and walking can substantially boost a Safe Routes to School
(SRTS) program, both within individual schools and throughout the
community. In contrast, a policy that discourages or prohibits bicycling or
walking can stop a SRTS program in its tracks. The tip sheet provides
simple steps explaining how to approach and overturn barrier policies that
prohibit walking and/or bicycling to school, and encouraging supportive
policies, which support and enable bicycling and walking to school
programs.
7. Safe Routes to School
State Network Project
Update
State
Network Project meeting provided a learning network forum
This year the Safe Routes to School
National Partnership held a day-long meeting with our
ten Network states in Portland,
Oregon the day before the
launch of Safe Routes to School National Conference. The ten state networks
convene leaders in their state to develop and implement an action plan that
will improve policies that affect the ability of children to walk and
bicycle to schools, engaging in healthy physical activity.
Highlights from this year's meeting
included brainstorming and sharing new partners for the networks,
discussing how to focus on the most vulnerable communities within states,
and how to approach the most difficult policy issues that need to be
changed at the state level.
After lunch the SRTS coordinators from the
ten respective state Departments of Transportation joined the group to talk
about increasing non-infrastructure applications and program quality, Title
23 (federal aid) tools and techniques, how to get money spent more quickly
after awards are made (obligation), the importance of state advisory
committees, and how to better ensure social equity.
8. Illinois
Announces $13.7 Million in SRTS Funding Awarded
171
projects were funded out of 200 applications received
In August, Illinois announced $13.7 million in Safe
Routes to School grants to schools and communities across the state.
"This innovative program reaches out to our youth, instilling in them
the healthy habits of physical activity," said Governor Quinn.
"With Illinois
ranked fourth in the nation for childhood obesity rates, providing children
with a safe and secure means of walking to school is an important tool to
improve the health of our children."
The 171 funded projects include projects
encompassing everything from sidewalk repair to safety training for
students and equipment for police and crossing guards. The complete list of
grants in Illinois
is available on the web at: www.dot.il.gov/saferoutes.
IDOT Secretary Gary Hannig stated that the
agency received almost 200 applications adding up to $27.9 million in
requests," Hannig said. "Safe Routes to School has become a part
of many Illinois
schools and communities, and we encourage anyone who is interested in
implementing Safe Routes to contact the Department for information on how
to bring Safe Routes to your community."
For more information on Illinois'
SRTS program, please contact Megan Holt at Megan...@illinois.gov or (217)
785-2932.
9. Send Us Your Local Success Stories
Your
Congressional members want to hear from you
We want to hear local success stories from
your SRTS programs so that we can share them with your Congressional
members! This will help to make the case for increasing funding for SRTS
and asking for support for the SRTS Senate Bill (S. 1156). Please send a
brief story, about three sentences long, to Kelechi Nwosu,
including: your name, email, phone number, city, state, and school. To view
sample stories, click
here.
10. SRTS News Throughout the Country
Local
and state SRTS program news links
Safe Routes to School news around the
country keeps growing! Updated regularly, see our new SRTS
in the News media center for the latest in local, state, and national
SRTS news.
Help
Grow the Partnership!
Joining the Partnership is free. Please
encourage other organizations, schools, businesses, and government agencies
to join the Safe
Routes to School National Partnership, a network of more than 400
organizations and agencies.
Funding
for the Safe Routes to School National Partnership has been generously
provided by Bikes Belong Coalition, the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, Kaiser Permanente, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, SRAM
Cycling Fund, and partner affiliates.
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Please Contact:
Brooke Driesse,
Communications Manager
Safe Routes to
School National Partnership
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Safe
Routes to School National Partnership
P.O. Box 663
· Fairfax, CA · 94978
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