Safe Routes to School E-News
Issue #132: February 2017
Safe Routes to School E-News is a monthly email newsletter published by the Safe Routes Partnership. We are also on Facebook and Twitter. Join us!
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- Federal Update: USDOT Overhauls Performance Measures to Count People; Chao Confirmed as Secretary of Transportation
- DC-Area Safe Routes Advocates: Join Us to Meet Up With Your Colleagues!
- #MoveEquity Tweetchat: Walking and Biking in Black Communities
- Get Ready for Bike to School Day With Fire Up Your Feet!
- Free Technical Assistance for CA Communities for Active Transportation Projects
- Launching the Center for Healthy Food Access
- *New From ImSafe* : Be Safe - Be Seen Product Line Benefits the Safe Routes Partnership
- Active Schools Fundraising: Spring Into Raising Money the Healthy Way
- Featured Partner: CamelBak
- Are You On the Safe Routes to School Google Group Email Discussion List?
- StreetSmart: Evidence and Insight for Better Transportation
- PeopleForBikes Announces New Program: PlacesForBikes
1. Federal Update: USDOT Overhauls Performance Measures to Count People; Chao Confirmed as Secretary of Transportation
USDOT has significantly revamped their proposed system performance measures to account for the role that biking, walking and transit play in getting people out of cars and reducing congestion. This is a big shift from their first draft, which focused nearly exclusively on car speeds and vehicle travel times. Thank you to everyone who weighed in to request changes and to USDOT for listening. Learn more in our federal policy blog.
In addition, on January 31, Elaine Chao’s nomination to head the US Department of Transportation was approved by the full Senate on a vote of 93-6.
2. DC-Area Safe Routes Advocates: Join Us to Meet Up With Your Colleagues!
The Mid-Atlantic Regional Network Project, in collaboration with the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board, will host its annual Safe Routes to School Regional Network Meeting on Tuesday, February 28th, 2017. The meeting will bring together Safe Routes to School practitioners and advocates from the Greater Washington, DC, area to share experiences and learn about recent developments and best practices in Safe Routes to School program implementation, regional funding opportunities, and much more! Visit the Safe Routes to School Greater Washington DC page for more information.
3. #MoveEquity Tweetchat: Walking and Biking in Black Communities
How can we work together to make streets friendly, bikeable, walkable, and welcoming for people of all races without encouraging the effects of gentrification and displacement that often accompany active transportation investments? In honor of Black History Month, this #MoveEquity tweetchat will focus on the unique challenges, opportunities, and experiences of advancing equitable, healthy, and fair transportation options in African American communities.
Join us on February 15 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern to discuss advancing walking, biking, Safe Routes to School, and physical activity in African American neighborhoods, preserving Black communities and preventing gentrification, and what we can do to increase our shared understanding of the intersection of racial justice, active transportation, and health equity.
4. Get Ready for Bike to School Day With Fire Up Your Feet!
It' not too early to start thinking about your school's Bike to School Day event on May 10! Do you want a chance to win cash awards to support biking, walking, and Safe Routes to School programs at your school? The Fire Up Your Feet Activity Challenge is for you! Register for the challenge, then log the number of students, families, and school staff who bike to school on May 10. It’s quick and easy using the online activity tracker. Schools with at least 20 people biking will be entered into a drawing to win a $500 Bike to School Day Award.
Then, keep tracking physical activity throughout the month! The schools with the highest percentage of participants are eligible to win cash prizes. Visit fireupyourfeet.org to sign up today!
5. Free Technical Assistance for CA Communities for Active Transportation Projects
If you are working in California to make streets safer or to increase access to schools and parks so that children and families in your community can have more opportunities for physical activity – we can help!
The Safe Routes Partnership can assist your efforts to make your community a place where kids can easily be active and healthy. We are offering long-term, free technical assistance to five disadvantaged communities in California that are working to obtain funding to support of walking, bicycling, and Safe Routes to School. We are specifically interested in helping communities seeking funding from the State’s Active Transportation Program or other regional and state funding sources that fund Safe Routes to School projects, including both infrastructure and non-infrastructure activities.
The application deadline is February 27, 2017 at 5:00 p.m. PT. Learn more and apply here.
6. Launching the Center for Healthy Food Access
Now more than ever, collaboration is critical to ensure that healthy foods and beverages are available in every community from rural America to the heart of America’s cities. The Safe Routes Partnership, in partnership with The Food Trust and a diverse group of partners across the country, is launching a national collaborative effort – the Center for Healthy Food Access – to help organizations and businesses increase access to and demand for healthy, affordable foods and beverages.
The Center focuses on a number of efforts to ensure that every child has access to affordable, nutritious food, including:
- Strengthening federal nutrition programs including SNAP, WIC and SNAP-Ed.
- Improving the food and water quality in schools.
- Creating jobs and economic development by bringing grocery stores and other healthy food businesses to underserved areas.
- Working with hospitals and healthcare systems to prevent diet related disease in low-income communities.
- Partnering with businesses to focus marketing efforts on healthier choices.
- Expanding SNAP Incentive programs that provide support to make healthier food more affordable for those on food stamps.
- Promoting healthyfoodaccess.org so organizations and businesses can share successes with one another.
- Providing $1 million in grants to more than 15 organizations across the country.
The Safe Routes Partnership is excited to join The Food Trust in this innovative endeavor to raise up what works and tackle common challenges together so we can improve access to nutritional foods and beverages. Visit centerforhealthyfoodaccess.org to receive more information about the work of the Center as well as how to get involved through webinars, convenings, and other opportunities.
7. *New From ImSafe* : Be Safe - Be Seen Product Line Benefits the Safe Routes Partnership
ImSafe has graciously partnered with the Safe Routes Partnership to offer a Be Safe - Be Seen product line that will benefit the Safe Routes Partnership. Plus, a discount for you!
ImSafe is providing you a 10-20 percent discount plus 5 percent net sale proceeds to the Safe Routes Partnership on all orders that use code SRTS20. Check out the new Be Safe - Be Seen product line here. Products can be customized with your logo, name, message, at no additional charge. Get ready for spring and summer events—consider these pedestrian and bicycle safety reflective items and more!
8. Active Schools Fundraising: Spring Into Raising Money the Healthy Way
Raise funds using Active Schools Fundraising for a chance to win water bottles, bike cameras, Safe Routes to School reflective products, bike racks, oversized fitness games and MORE! In fact, you only have to raise a minimum $100 to be eligible to win a prize. Raise more money for a chance to win many prizes!
Click here to sign-up for a webinar to learn about Active Schools Fundraising, healthy fundraising ideas, our sponsoring partners, and the prizes you can win from them.
Our friends at PeopleForBikes connected us with a donation from CamelBak that will be used to encourage participation in our Fire Up Your Feet Spring 2017 Activity Challenge later this month. Thank you CamelBak!
10. Are You On the Safe Routes to School Google Group Email Discussion List?
Are you a member of the Safe Routes to School Google Group email discussion list? Join a vibrant online community space to discuss and exchange information with other Safe Routes to School, walking, biking, and equity advocates. Click here to sign up or email margaux@saferoutespartnership.org to request to be added.
11. StreetSmart: Evidence and Insight for Better Transportation
Advocates and civic leaders often struggle to find the evidence they need to evaluate and prioritize transportation investments. The research is scattered, time-consuming to find, and difficult to digest. Streetsmart is a new resource that's taking on the work of synthesizing the research and presenting in an intuitive and easy-to-use format, without compromising quality or rigor.
Civic leaders need to make the case for solutions that work best for their community, which sometimes requires defending innovation. Streetsmart reduces risk by providing the evidence and examples of what works in other communities and offering insight via case studies and guidebooks relevant to each topic area.
12. PeopleForBikes Announces New Program: PlacesForBikes
PeopleForBikes announces the launch of an ambitious new program, PlacesForBikes. The initiative offers a data-driven, easy-to-understand city rating system, expert guidance, and an inspiring annual conference for city and business leaders–all geared toward quickly building and connecting great places to ride. For more information and how you can get involved, visit placesforbikes.org.