January 2010

Safe Routes to School E-News

Issue #49: January 2010

Safe Routes to School E-News is a monthly email newsletter published by the Safe Routes to School National Partnership (National Partnership), which is leading the national movement for Safe Routes to School by coordinating and energizing more than 500 organizations, government agencies, schools and professional groups. Our mission is to advocate for safe walking and bicycling to and from schools, and in daily life, to improve the health and well-being of America’s children and to foster the creation of livable, sustainable communities.

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In this issue:

1. Partnership Announces States for the Expanded State Network Project
Twenty states have been selected to participate in 2010 and 2011

2. Partnership Welcomes Three New Staff
Two New State Network Managers and a California Policy Advocate join the Partnership

3. We Are Hiring: Program Manager Position
The Partnership seeks a Program Manager for Safe Routes to School program planning

4. Safe Routes to School National Partnership Federal Update
The latest on the transportation bill

5. Partnership Releases Safe Routes to School Safety Report
New national report shows how SRTS programs help keep kids safe from traffic dangers

6. December 2009 American Journal of Preventive Medicine Features Active Living by Design
Practice-based issue highlights the 5P Community Action Model

7. Keep Kids Alive Drive 25 Targets Observance of Residential Speed Limits
Campaign targets nationwide observance of residential street limits

8. Indiana Schools Awarded More Than $3 Million in SRTS Funding
Nineteen awards benefit 51 schools around the state

9. Nevada Promotes Safe Routes to School
Coordinators in metropolitan areas help run local programs

10. Safe Routes to School News Throughout the Country
Local and state SRTS program news links


1. Partnership Announces States for the Expanded State Network Project
Twenty states have been selected to participate in 2010 and 2011.

The Safe Routes to School (SRTS) National Partnership recently announced an expansion of the State Network Project to 19 states and the District of Columbia beginning in January 2010. The project, which was first launched in 2007, brings together state leaders to remove barriers to walking and bicycling to and from school.

From 2010 to 2011, the project will support networks in Arkansas, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Lessons learned from working with nine states and the District of Columbia during 2007-2009 will help inform this second phase of the project.

Agencies and organizations within the 20 project jurisdictions are encouraged to get involved. Each network will hold a telephone kick-off meeting in January or February. If you would like to participate, please contact the organizer in your state.

The SRTS National Partnership held an open call for applications inviting all states to apply for the State Network Project. The networks were selected based on need and their capacity to support the program. High levels of childhood obesity, diversity and low-income communities also were considered. States that were not selected may still receive technical assistance to help move their state processes forward.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation provided funding for 15 states and Kaiser Permanente provided funding for another five states. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also provided financial support for the project. For more information, contact Robert Ping, State Network Director.


2. Partnership Welcomes Three New Staff
Two New State Network Managers and a California Policy Advocate join the Partnership

The Safe Routes to School National Partnership welcomes three new staff members. Follow the links to view their full bios on our website.

Justin Fanslau, State Network Manager, oversees nine states and three regions for the State Network Project. He joins us after 10 years of grassroots organizing, legislative policy development, and political prowess on a wide range of issues ranging from health and the environment to transportation and housing.

Rory Neuner, State Network Manager, oversees 10 states for the State Network Project. She brings several years of experience working at the intersection of transportation, land use, public health, and sustainability issues. Rory also previously worked with the city of Chicago and managed communications for an environmental magazine.

Jessica Meaney, California Policy Manager, works on statewide Safe Routes to School policy reform as well as funding policies and priorities for Southern California. Having lived car-free for over 10 years, Jessica brings a background in transportation planning that will contribute to improving communities and urban environments through Safe Routes to School National Partnership.


3. We Are Hiring: Program Manager Position
The Partnership seeks a Program Manager for Safe Routes to School program planning

The Safe Routes to School National Partnership, hosted by Bikes Belong Foundation, is looking for an energetic and dynamic professional with at least three years proven success in Safe Routes to School program planning and/or implementation to work with the Safe Routes to School National Partnership as a Program Manager. The Program Manager will provide technical assistance and support to local communities looking to implement Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programs, and produce resource guides, case studies and materials that support SRTS implementation across the country. Applications are being accepted on a rolling basis and will be considered on a first come first serve basis. For details on how to apply, please see the job description. No phone calls please.


4. Safe Routes to School National Partnership Federal Update
The latest on the transportation bill

Congress is currently in recess for the holidays, but they moved forward on several transportation-related items before leaving.

First and foremost, Congress passed an extension to the current SAFETEA-LU transportation bill, which allows transportation funds to continue to flow until February 28, 2010. All existing programs, including Safe Routes to School, will continue to be funded at their FY2009 levels through the end of February.

Also in December, the House passed the "Jobs for Main Street Act," focused on creating and saving jobs. The House bill includes $75 billion for a variety of programs, including $27.5 billion for surface transportation and $8.4 billion for transit. The Senate will reconvene in mid-January and one of their first priorities is to work on its version of the jobs bill. While the final jobs bill may differ from the House’s "Jobs for Main Street Act," there are several provisions in the House bill of interest:

    1. The surface transportation fund would be allocated similarly to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) economic stimulus that was passed in February 2009-including a minimum 3% set-aside for Transportation Enhancements, which amounts to $800 million. Many sidewalk, curb cut and bicycle infrastructure projects were funded under the ARRA bill, so this may be an opportunity for significant funding for Safe Routes to School projects.
    2. States would also be required to put half of their funding under contract within 90 days of the bill’s passage, which is significantly faster than the ARRA provisions. This could potentially help smaller ready-to-go bicycle and pedestrian projects that would be able to move more quickly through the contracting process.
    3. Also included is a proposal to extend SAFETEA-LU until September 30, 2010 at the FY2009 funding levels. As the House has been the least supportive of a long-term extension, this would indicate that we are not likely to see a new transportation authorization until late this year.

We will continue to keep you updated on the jobs bill as well as the longer-term transportation authorization bill. Even though a full transportation authorization seems unlikely in the near future, we continue to work with Members of Congress to build support for Safe Routes to School and our recommended reauthorization provisions.

In other news, the Safe Routes to School National Partnership submitted comments to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) encouraging them to strengthen their focus on the safety of bicyclists and pedestrians, including children.


5. Partnership Releases Safe Routes to School Safety Report
New national report shows how SRTS programs help keep kids safe from traffic dangers

In December, the Safe Routes to School National Partnership released a new national report showing how Safe Routes to School programs can be harnessed to keep children safe from traffic dangers while walking and bicycling to school. Titled, Safe Routes to School: Putting Traffic Safety First - How Safe Routes to School Initiatives Protect Children Walking and Bicycling, the report explores the approaches five different communities used through Safe Routes to School to create safer environments for children walking and bicycling.

The five communities (Santa Rosa, CA; Miami-Dade County, FL; state of ME; Springfield, MO; and Portland, OR) each demonstrate how Safe Routes to School evaluation, education, encouragement, enforcement, and engineering can address traffic safety concerns. Many of these safety improvements are made at relatively low costs to communities and schools, yet have profound effects on keeping children safe while also improving physical health and the environment.

Deb Hubsmith, Director of the Safe Routes to School National Partnership noted, "The success stories in this report show the power and promise of Safe Routes to School to help communities all across the country to address safety risks and improve conditions for students walking and bicycling to school."


6. December 2009 American Journal of Preventive Medicine features Active Living by Design
Practice-based issue highlights the 5P Community Action Model

The American Journal of Preventive Medicine has devoted its December 2009 issue to Active Living by Design’s (ALBD) efforts at building community-level partnerships to increase physical and social supports for active, healthy lifestyles. This issue features commentaries from experts in the field and describes lessons learned from 15 ALBD community partnerships representing a range of lead agencies that include planning departments, community development agencies, health centers and advocacy organizations. These community networks focused on physical activity in special populations such as African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, older adults, and children. Articles written by community health experts address the process of planning and implementing comprehensive approaches to increase community levels of physical activity, including how to engage partners, secure resources, increase community participation, design policy and environment interventions, increase political and community support, and address challenges and sustain momentum. Learn more about how Active Living by Design experienced successes through collaborative application of a 5P model of preparation, promotions, programs, policy, and physical activity. PDFs of all of the manuscripts are posted on the ALBD website.


7. Keep Kids Alive Drive 25
Campaign targets nationwide observance of residential street limits

The national non-profit Keep Kids Alive Drive 25® is committed to working with communities to involve and educate residents about increasing neighborhood street safety. Areas of focus include children at play, bicycle riders, pedestrians of all ages, car drivers, and passengers.

Tom Everson founded Keep Kids Alive Drive 25 in August 1998 in Omaha, Nebraska and has instituted a reduced speeding campaign in more than 1000 communities across the U.S., in two Canadian Provinces, and the Bahamas. He has written, "It’s No Accident - An Editorial", to highlight his organization’s critical efforts underway to promote neighborhood traffic safety. Among the issues he articulates are National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics: · Most speeders on local roadways live right in the neighborhood · If you hit a pedestrian: at 20 mph 5% will die at 30 mph 45% will die at 40 mph 85% will die · Pedestrian fatalities increase by three times when moving from 25 mph zones to 30 mph zones · Local roadways, including residential streets, have a fatality rate per miles driven over two times higher than on highways.

In 2005, Mr. Everson testified on HB87 in Texas which was signed into law and allows municipalities to lower speed limits from 30 mph to 25 mph in residential communities. He has also worked with two communities in Missouri to institute double fine zones for speeding and helped to integrate Keep Kids Alive Drive 25 initiatives into Safe Routes to Schools programs in Hastings, Nebraska and Ridgewood, New Jersey. Learn more at the Keep Kids Alive Drive 25 website.


8. Indiana Schools Awarded More Than $3 Million in SRTS Funding
Nineteen awards benefit 51 schools around the state

On December 3, the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) announced 19 awards to cities, towns, schools and school districts around the state of Indiana. From a field of 39 applications seeking over $6.8 million, six non-infrastructure activities and 13 infrastructure projects were selected to receive 2009 Safe Routes to School funding.

In approving the projects and activities recommended by the SRTS Advisory Committee, INDOT Commissioner Michael W. Reed remarked, "INDOT is responding to growing childhood health and safety concerns with increasing investments promoting walking and bicycling among Indiana’s youngest commuters."

"For our collective health and to progress toward a more sustainable future, walking and biking to school are fundamental travel options that we need to actively promote and support in Indiana," stated Michael O’Loughlin, Indiana’s Safe Routes to School Program Manager.

Of the 19 awards, nine will support safe routes activities and projects in Indiana’s larger urban areas, while ten will fund local safe routes efforts in smaller Hoosier towns. The awards are expected to benefit a total of 51 schools around the state. The most common infrastructure improvements are sidewalks, crosswalks, curb ramps, signs and signals. A few bicycling facilities will be constructed. Comprehensive safe routes plans, encouragement, outreach, education and training activities, and incentives purchases comprise most of the non-infrastructure activities funded with the federal SRTS funding.

With the 2009 awards, the fourth such award in the state, total funding under Indiana’s SRTS Program will climb to nearly $10.3 million. Since the program’s inception in early 2006, Indiana has awarded 66 projects and activities to improve safe walking and bicycling to 163 private and public schools.

More information about the Indiana SRTS Program, including a press release that features a listing of the 19 proposals funded this year, is available at http://SafeRoutes.IN.gov.


9. Nevada Promotes Safe Routes to School
Coordinators in metropolitan areas help run local programs

In a geographically dispersed state like Nevada, the Safe Routes to School Program faces interesting challenges. More than 180,000 square miles are federally owned, while the vast amount of the state is comprised of remote rural communities.

In three metropolitan areas, Las Vegas, Reno, and Carson City, Nevada have used federal Safe Routes to School (SRTS) funds to support three SRTS coordinators. The coordinators work with local school districts to help implement SRTS programs and help teach parents and educators how to create bicycle and walking programs. Coordinators work to address parents’ concerns pertaining to student safety, school congestion and parking problems. Special programs also take place in rural areas.

The Nevada SRTS program has also developed a statewide walking day, "Nevada Moves", planned for April 2010 to complement International Walk to School Day which takes place in October. The purpose of Nevada Moves Day is to provide schools with another day to strive towards encouraging parents and students to walk and bike to school. Through "Nevada Moves" the local SRTS coordinators can work to strengthen existing safe routes activities while encouraging new schools to get involved with SRTS.

There are several community groups that also have worked with SRTS programs in Nevada, such as Look Out Kids About - A Safety Coalition (LOKA). LOKA has developed a School Zone Safety Toolkit and provided it to each school principal. The toolkit covers a myriad of information pertaining to school zones and walking to school safely.

To learn more about the Nevada SRTS Program and "Nevada Moves", please contact Rebecca Kapuler at 775-888-7357 or e-mail rkapuler@dot.state.nv.us.


10. Safe Routes to School 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 Safe Routes to School in the News media center for the latest in local, state, and national SRTS news.


Help Grow the National Partnership!

Joining the National 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 500 organizations and agencies.

Funding for the Safe Routes to School National Partnership has been generously provided by the Bikes Belong Coalition, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Kaiser Permanente, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, SRAM Cycling Fund, individuals and partner affiliates.

For more information, contact:

Brooke Driesse, Communications Manager
Safe Routes to School National Partnership
brooke@saferoutespartnership.org
www.saferoutespartnership.org