Georgia has been slow to jump on the Safe Routes to School bandwagon, but we are finally on board. SRTS is a program to encourage elementary and middle school students to walk and bicycle to school (which 42% did in 1969, but only 16% do today) for the potential benefits of health, decreased traffic congestion and pollution. Because there are federal dollars backing it, we now have a staff member from the Safe Routes Resource Center who is helping schools get programs off the ground here in coastal Georgia (it also means that both public and private schools that establish programs will be eligible to apply for 100% federal funding of infrastructure projects — i.e. sidewalks, bike paths, traffic calming, etc — so this could be a great thing for our kids and our streets if adopted in a big way).
Patti Sistrunk, former South Carolina SRTS State Coordinator and now the Coordinator for Coastal GA, has organized a workshop for SRTS at Jacob G. Smith Elementary next Thu Feb 25 from 2-5pm. The workshop includes a walkability assessment, and participants will observe and comment on a regular day’s dismissal of students, while learning how to build incentives for kids and their parents to walk and bicycle to school. It’s open to all who are interested, so RSVP to Patti by Mon Feb 22 if you would like to attend.
