Resource Library

This summer has been a busy one for transportation.  In addition to the late June committee consideration of the DRIVE Act, both the House and Senate are moving forward on transportation.

While members of Congress have been back in their districts meeting with constituents, House transportation committee staff has been huddled in Washington working on a transportation bill. You may recall that in July, the Senate completed action on its version of the transportation bill but the House instead pushed to extend current transportation law a few more months.

Bayard Rustin, the orchestrator behind the scenes of what we hail today as the civil rights movement, once said, “We need in every bay and community a group of angelic troublemakers.”  Today, I bore witness to one of those angelic troublemakers by the name of Olatunji (Oboi) Reed, Co-Founder of Slow Roll Chicago, as he was recognized by the U.S. Department of Transportation as a 2015 White House Transportation Champion of Change.

To increase physical activity opportunities available through schools over the long term, we need to put it in writing – through policy.

The Alliance for Biking and Walking recently released its 2016 Benchmarking Report, a biennial update on walking and biking across the United States intended to promote access to data, measure progress, support policy and advocacy efforts, and connect to health initiatives. More than half of member organizations in the Alliance for Biking and Walking are involved in Safe Routes to School efforts.

While we could only give one Hubsmith award, we were impressed by all of the dedicated individuals who were nominated for an award. We’ll be profiling each of the nominees over the next few months and look forward to lifting up great work from all around the country.

After the wrap-up of the 2016 Safe Routes to School Conference in Columbus, OH, we’ve been getting a lot of inquiries about when the next conference will take place. Thanks again to the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission for hosting an informative, inspiring, and fun gathering that has generated even more interest and excitement around bringing together advocates and practitioners from across the country for information-sharing and networking.

Hi Safe Routes advocates! My name is Kelechi Uzochukwu, and as administrative associate for the Safe Routes Partnership, one of my responsibilities is to provide useful and up-to-date studies and publications related to the Safe Routes to School movement.

Welcome to the News and Events blog! My name is Brooke Driesse, and I’m the communications manager for the Safe Routes Partnership. I’ve been with the Safe Routes Partnership for four and half years now. It is hard to believe it has been that long, and that the organization has grown from three staff in 2007 to 22 staff today – what a ride!

Next week I go to the National Bike Summit with several other staff and 800 of my closest friends to promote federal funding for bicycling (and walking). I find it frustrating that after decades of activism we still are not an accepted form of transportation in America in many places!

In the most recent application call, Arkansas received 36 applications requesting approximately $7 million dollars in projects. Because of the limited funds only 20 applications were selected with a budget of $1.5 million. As usual, the request for funding far outweighs what is available to applicants.

On April 18, we saw another unusual vote in Congress on the transportation bill. While current transportation spending is already extended until June 30, the House has just passed another extension (H.R. 4348) until September 30 on a vote of 293-127.

Safe Routes to School is on a roll in Washington, DC! The District of Columbia Safe Routes to School program continues to offer Safe Routes to School planning assistance to any school that requests it. Eight schools are currently receiving this assistance, for a total of 30 schools since the start of the program. DC schools are also able to request in-classroom pedestrian safety education for students in grades K-2 and bicycle safety education for students in grades 3-8.

Greetings Safe Routes Champions!  Welcome to “Blog BLF!”  

The seven states that comprise the state network project are all moving at a fast pace. Since the state advocacy organizers began in early March, they continue to make many very key contacts throughout their states.