6-22-11

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 22, 2011

Contact:
Dave Cowan,Program Manager, Safe Routes Partnership

New Local Policy Guide Published by the Safe Routes Partnership

The Safe Routes Partnership is pleased to announce the release of a new publication entitled Safe Routes to School Local Policy Guide.

The Local Policy Guide was published to help local communities and schools create, enact and implement policies which will support active and healthy community environments that encourage safe walking and bicycling and physical activity by children through a “Health in All Policies” approach. The guide was made possible due to funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Public Health Association.

The Local Policy Guide highlights strategies to advance policy change and covers more than 20 policy change examples including: regional transportation plans, Complete Streets, fine based mechanisms, school bonds, crossing guards, health impact assessments, joint-use agreements, speed limits and more. The Safe Routes Partnership’s Local Policy Guide was compiled through the help of more than a dozen leaders throughout the country who provided success stories and examples of local policy wins; we thank everyone who assisted for their help and contributions.

Deb Hubsmith, director of the Safe Routes Partnership says, “We are excited to bring this resource to the public, as we keep hearing that communities and schools need more examples of how to enact policy changes and develop new funding streams that will create healthy environments for children.”

The Safe Routes Partnership plans to continue to catalog and publicize policy wins that promote Safe Routes to School. If you have an example, please email the details to Dave Cowan, program manager at dave@saferoutespartnership.org.

Safe Routes Partnership
The Safe Routes Partnership is a fast-growing network of more than 600 organizations, agencies, schools and professional groups working to set goals, share best practices, leverage infrastructure and program funding and advance policy change to help agencies that implement Safe Routes to School. 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. For more information, visit www.saferoutespartnership.org.

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