[Press Release] : Safe Routes to School National Partnership launches new Web site to promote walking and bicycling

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 22, 2007

CONTACT:  Deb Hubsmith, Director
Safe Routes to School National Partnership
deb at saferoutespartnership.org 
(415)454-7430
or
Ian Thomas, Executive Director
The PedNet Coalition
ian at pednet.org 
(573)445-2928

Safe Routes to School National Partnership 
launches new Web site to promote walking and bicycling
Columbia, Missouri Walking School Bus featured as a success story
									
	(COLUMBIA, MO) - As children across the country prepare for the
start of school, the Safe Routes to School National Partnership is
taking steps to make their trip to school a healthier activity. 
	Today, the Partnership launched a new Web site
(www.saferoutespartnership.org) to help parents, schools, local and
state governments and advocacy groups implement programs that will
encourage more kids to walk and bike to and from school. 
	The $612 million federal Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program,
which was approved by the U.S. Congress in 2005, provides funding to all
50 states and the District of Columbia to support education and
enforcement programs and to help communities improve infrastructure such
as building sidewalks and bike paths. 
	The SRTS program is an important initiative, as the percentage
of U.S. students who walk and/or bicycle to school declined from
approximately 50 percent in 1969 to only 15 percent today. At the same
time, obesity rates have increased dramatically among children of all
ages. Today, more than 33 percent of children and
adolescents-approximately 25 million kids-are overweight or obese. In
addition, the SRTS program helps relieve traffic congestion caused by
parents driving their children, which is substantial in many U.S.
communities.
	The new SRTS Web site provides proponents at all levels the
resources and contacts they need to implement programs locally and
statewide. Each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia has
dedicated pages with program funding details, application guidelines,
state and local contacts and examples of successful, local SRTS efforts
and best practices. 
	The Missouri state page features the Columbia SRTS program
(http://www.saferoutespartnership.org/state/5043/missouri#success) and
its successful Walking School Bus (WSB). More than 160 children in six
Columbia schools participate in the WSB program, a partnership between
the Columbia/Boone County Health Department and the PedNet Coalition.
The program’s benefits to parents is demonstrated by the experience of
WSB leader, mother Tracy Culley who continues to lose weight and improve
her health walking her son and several other children to school every
day.
	“We created this Web site to help people take action now to
bring SRTS programs to their communities,” said SRTS National
Partnership Director Deb Hubsmith. “The potential benefits of SRTS
programs include healthier children, reduced congestion around schools,
less pollution and safer streets.”
	Other features of the new site include an interactive U.S. map
that allows users to access pages for all 50 states and the District of
Columbia, a robust search function, updated national SRTS news, in-depth
policy pages, event listings, resources and a submit-a-story form. See
www.saferoutespartnership.org for more details.
	The new www.saferoutespartnership.org site is funded by the
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (www.rwjf.org) and the Bikes Belong
Coalition (www.bikesbelong.org).  

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