Building a Safe Routes to School program
The first thing you need to know about building a Safe Routes to School program is that Safe Routes Nebraska is here to help. We provide funding to schools to make improvements to the routes children use to walk and bike to school. These improvements may include physical infrastructure changes or noninfrastructure programs.
Infrastructure examples:
- Traffic-calming devices
- Biking/Walking trails
- New sidewalks
- Additional crosswalks and traffic signals
Noninfrastructure examples:
- Incentive program that rewards kids for walking/biking
- Educational materials to teach kids safety techniques
- Materials to educate the public about driving safely around schools
6 steps to building a Safe Routes to School program
Step 1: Read the application guidelines
First things first. Learn the requirements for funding. Once you know if your school and your initial project ideas qualify, you’re ready to move forward.
Step 2: Bring the right people together
Who else needs to be included in the process of developing a plan and applying for funds? Other teachers? The principal? School board members? City planners? City council members? Start an inquiry to find out how your school district and town handle things like this, and make sure to include everyone who you’ll need to keep the projects moving. For more information on developing strategic partnerships, see the Community Partnership Handbook.
Step 3: Identify problems
Once you’ve got your group of key players together, you can all discuss problems that may be keeping your students from walking and biking to school. Maybe the school is surrounded by busy streets with no crosswalks. Maybe the speed limits are too fast. Maybe the area parents are too busy. Make sure to think about every possible cause, infrastructure or otherwise. You’ll want to address all the things that make walking and biking to school difficult as you build your program.
Step 4: Develop a plan
Now that your committee has determined what’s keeping kids from walking and biking to school, it’s time to develop strategies to address each issue. Is the problem speedy traffic? Maybe a traffic-calming device is the solution to that problem. Perhaps area parents just aren’t aware that inactivity is a major health hazard for their children. In this case, an awareness campaign is in order. Or maybe the parents just aren’t comfortable letting their kids walk or bike to school alone. Here maybe you’ll want to consider crossing guards or a walking school bus so children will be supervised on their way to school.
You’re likely to find more than one reason your students aren’t walking or biking. Make sure your plan addresses all the issues. All fund recipients must have a comprehensive plan for building, promoting, and maintaining safe routes to school.
Step 5: Apply for funds
Use your plan as the basis for your funding application. Consult the application guidelines and begin moving through the funding process.
Step 6: Implement your program
Once you’ve been approved for funds, you can start implementing your plan. This will include developing a plan of action for both infrastructure and noninfrastructure components of the project. It’s a good idea to appoint one or two people to oversee the implementation of the Safe Routes to School plan (or one person to oversee each component, depending on the different qualifications of your committee members).
