What's Happening in Safe Routes - June 2013
Mendocino County Public Health Department’s Prevention and Planning Unit has recently awarded Safe Routes to School mini-grants to four school communities to assist in developing programs and policy changes to increase the number of students safely walking or bicycling to school and improve community health. This round of mini-grants was awarded to Round Valley Elementary/Middle School in Covelo, in partnership with Round Valley Indian Health Center, Eagle Peak Middle School in Redwood Valley, Willits High School, and Laytonville Healthy Start, in partnership with the Laytonville Unified School District. The goal of the mini-grant program is to develop sustainable programs, practices, and policies that support youth in choosing active transportation as a means of getting to and from school on a regular basis. All of the grant recipients will work to increase active transportation for students by providing encouragement and safety education, through policy changes that further support active transportation, by conducting walkability surveys to evaluate infrastructure and identify needed safety improvements, and by communicating their findings to the appropriate agencies as they join the conversation about transportation planning around their schools and neighborhoods. Awardees will have from April 2013 to June 2014 to complete all project related activities. Public Health’s Safe Routes to School program works to increase physical activity, reduce traffic congestion and air pollution, improve public safety around schools, and improve student health through program and policy development within the areas of Education, Encouragement, Enforcement, and Evaluation. Funding for the program is provided by a CA4Health grant, awarded to Mendocino County Public Health by the Public Health Institute in partnership with the California Department of Public Health, under the Community Transformation Initiative from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (the CDC). The goal of the Community Transformation Initiative is to improve the quality of life and reduce chronic disease for all Mendocino County residents. For program details, please contact Jessica Stull-Otto with Public Health’s Prevention and Planning Unit at [email protected] or (707) 472-2608. |