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Mississippi

Mississippi SRTS Program
Managed by the Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT), Mississippi’s federally funded Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program is the source for state coordinator contact details, federal SRTS funding amounts, SRTS applications and guidelines, and state SRTS program information.

Mississippi DOT SRTS Coordinator
Cookie Leffler
(601) 359-1454
cleffler@mdot.state.ms.us
http://www.gomdot.com/divisions/outreach/resources/programs/SRTS/home.aspx

Click on any of the menu items below for more information.
Mississippi SRTS Federal Funding
Application Guidelines
State Advisory Committee
State Outreach Programs
Evaluation Methods
Success Stories
Other Statewide and Regional Programs
Mississippi Partner Affiliates

Mississippi SRTS Federal Funding
Mississippi’s SRTS funding totals $6,498,861 and includes the following annual apportionments:

Application Guidelines
Mississippi’s second call for applications took place in the fall of 2007 with a deadline of October 1, 2008. Applications are available on-line. Mississippi will most likely make grant announcements in the first part of 2009.

In July 2007, the Mississippi Transportation Commission approved funding for the first Safe Routes to School projects. Twenty awards were made to 17 Mississippi communities and three statewide organizations totaling $2.9 million. Communities receiving awards submitted well thought-out, comprehensive plans that included both infrastructure and noninfrastructure projects developed by an array of community members working together.

Mississippi features two types of SRTS funding programs, each with their own grant applications and guidelines. The Comprehensive Safe Routes Program is for those schools, cities, and communities that have completed or are in the process of completing a Safe Routes plan and are ready to begin implementing the program. There is no maximum request or award for this type of application.

The Non-infrastructure Only Program is designed for statewide, regional and local governments, and non-profit organizations that wish to engage in non-infrastructure activities and programs only, like Safe Kids or State Department of Health. There is no maximum request or award for non-infrastructure only applications.
For more information, please see Mississippi’s SRTS program. 

State Advisory Committee
Mississippi’s SRTS Steering Committee was formed in June 2006 and met for the first time in July 2006. The goal of the committee is to collaborate with statewide stakeholders to ensure Safe Routes program outcomes are comprehensive and effective. In the beginning, the committee met monthly. In 2007, the committee has gone to meeting semi-annually. Members are kept informed through email as to the progress of the program.

Organizations represented on the committee include FHWA, Safe Kids Mississippi, Safe Kids DeSoto County, Safe Kids Lowndes County, Columbus Fire and Rescue, American Heart Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, Brain Injury Association of MS, Bike Walk Mississippi, Central Mississippi Planning and Development District (on an advisory basis), Meridian Police Department, and the MS Departments of Health, Education and Public Safety. 

State Outreach Programs
Mississippi is currently considering applications from three statewide organizations—Safe Kids Mississippi, MS Department of Health and MS Department of Education—all proposing to offer education, encouragement and training/outreach throughout the state. Award details and program information will be announced in the summer or fall of 2007.

Mississippi’s SRTS state coordinator has been trained to teach the National Center for Safe Routes to School’s National Course. The state coordinator is available to meet with communities that would like to learn more about Safe Routes, to make a formal presentation about the program to a group, and to teach the National Course on SRTS.

In the fall/winter 2007/2008, MDOT will host workshops throughout the state for communities interested in learning more about Safe Routes to School and completing an application for funding. In addition, MDOT will hold training workshops for those communities that are awarded funding in the first round of funding.

Media Relations Efforts
Prior to the first call for applications in March 2007, MDOT held several SRTS news conferences around the state. These news conferences and other media relations will continue as the program grows. Local communities are encouraged to talk to their local media as they begin planning and move into implementation of the Safe Routes program. 

Evaluation Methods
Communities awarded funding will be required to complete evaluations of their projects beginning with the collection of baseline data. They will be required to complete the Student Travel Tally and the Parent Survey developed by the National Center for Safe Routes to School at the beginning and end of their award period and to provide the outcomes of these data collection tools to MDOT. Semi-annual progress reports will be required. The SRTS coordinator and engineers will oversee all projects to evaluate the success of infrastructure projects and non-infrastructure programs.

Success Stories
Petal, Mississippi: Building Sidewalks for Safer Routes
Petal is a community of 10,000 residents with 300 streets and only 4 sidewalks. Schools are within easy walking or biking distance of neighborhoods, but the lack of sidewalks and bike lanes prohibit walking or biking to school. And, since businesses, recreational facilities, and city services are also within walking distance of neighborhoods, if it can be made safe and convenient for a second-grader to walk then the needs of families and the elderly will also be accommodated. Incidentally, Petal sought funds to purchase materials to build sidewalks and stripe bike lanes. The city will use its labor to complete the work in order to build all the sidewalks desired.

Amory, Mississippi: Awarded Grant to Lessen Traffic Volume
All Amory schools are within a 2-mile range of one another. It is a small town where children actually could walk to school without parents having to worry. Yet the closer one gets to the school, the more dangerous it becomes due to high traffic volume. School administrators and the community as a whole are very interested in the project. Twenty nine percent of the students at one school alone have elevated body mass indexes. So, the school is actively implementing programs to address the need for physical activity. In Amory, the SRTS project works in unison with a Community Development Block Grant that was awarded to build an access road to remove busses from the routes students use.

Contact:
Cookie Leffler
Mississippi DOT SRTS Coordinator
(601) 359-1454
cleffler@mdot.state.ms.us 
http://www.gomdot.com/divisions/outreach/resources/programs/SRTS/home.aspx

Other Statewide and Regional Programs
Safe Kids Mississippi provides information and events that support pedestrian safety issues involving children walking to and from school. 

Mississippi Partner Affiliates
Find out which organizations in your state have pledged their support for the Safe Routes to School movement.