This infobrief describes state outreach, technical assistance, and partnership approaches that support rural communities and highlights two communities that have successfully used federal funds to improve safety and accessibility for walking and bicycling. 

Safe Routes to School programs can succeed in rural areas. But ensuring that schoolchildren can get the benefits of walking and bicycling to school in rural communities requires dealing with some challenges and barriers that may be different than in other areas.

In over 17,000 schools around the country, these programs are making it easier and safer for students to be healthy by walking or bicycling to school. 

This report provides a primer for Safe Routes to School professionals looking to address community safety threats that may discourage or endanger students walking or bicycling to school. 

In some communities, the danger of violence and crime discourages children from walking to school and keeps people off the street, limiting physical activity and restricting errands and trips. Using a framework known as the “Six E’s,” we identify specific kinds of actions that can combat violence and support Safe Routes to School.

This report explores the complexities of equitable active transportation and the issues that arise at the junction of efforts to advance walking and bicycling and work to increase health, fairness, and opportunity for low-income communities and communities of color. 

Communities across the country suffer from insufficient physical activity and a lack of access to physical activity opportunities. Shared use can be a simple solution to increase physical activity in Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities.

This brief provides an overview of the unique considerations in implementing Safe Routes to School in tribal communities.

As the fastest-growing racial group in the U.S., Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders have a key stake in the transformation of American streets.