Since 2017, the Safe Routes Partnership has worked with community-based organizations to make park access safe, convenient, and equitable for people walking and biking. However, making changes to a sidewalk or holding one community engagement meeting is not going to have as long-term of an effect if we don't zoom out to see the whole system that created unsafe routes or inequities in the first place. That is why in 2021, after assessing the national landscape of planning and funding opportunities at the state and regional levels, we built a cohort of state agencies along with state-based local leader networks to begin applying promising practices that engage grassroots and grass tops, then assessing how they work in the field. Below is a summary of our approach and high-level take-aways.