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Safe Routes to School

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Pennsylvania - Selected to Participate in the Safe Routes to School State Network Project Get Involved!

Michele Barrett, Executive Director of PA Walks & Bikes, is pleased to announce that the Safe Routes to School National Partnership selected Pennsylvania to participate in the 2010 and 2011 phase of the State Network Project. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia were chosen to participate in this project, which is being funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Kaiser Permanente, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Pennsylvania Network will work to increase physical activity among all students, ensure that federal SRTS funds are spent on quality projects, work to leverage additional state resources for SRTS initiatives, and advocate to remove barriers to walking and bicycling to schools through policy initiatives. The 2010-2011 phase of the State Network Project also includes a focus on serving lower-income populations and reducing crime.

Farah Kauffman, Center for Nutrition and Activity Promotion at Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital, says, "PA Walks & Bikes is an ideal partner in the Safe Routes to School movement, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is in need of the State Network Project. Overall rates of childhood overweight and obesity in the state are high and mirror the national average - one-third of all Pennsylvania children, grades K-12 are overweight or obese (PA Department of Health, 2009). For the 2007-08 school year, children in grades K-6 living in three out of six regions in the state experienced significantly high rates of obesity - rates well above the national average; additionally, children in grades 7-12 experienced significantly high rates in five out of six regions." (PA Department of Health, 2009). Early intervention is key to fighting this epidemic.

How to Join your Network: The specific policy efforts of the Pennsylvania Network will be developed and achieved by working collaboratively with partner organizations and agencies. Please contact Michele Barrett at pennsylvania@saferoutespartnership.org to express your interest in attending our kick-off telephone meeting on Wednesday, February 3, 2010 at 10:00 AM. We invite government agencies, policy makers and non-profits from around the state working on health, equity, transportation, youth, environmental and smart growth issues to join us.

Robert Ping, State Network Director for the Safe Routes to School National Partnership says, "The State Network Project has been very successful in bringing together partners to change state level policies that are resulting in opportunities for more children to walk and bicycle to schools safely. We're honored and excited about expanding this project, and the impact that it will make towards the goal of reversing childhood obesity by the year 2015. We encourage state agencies, policy makers and non-profits to join us in launching this new project."

PA Walks & Bikes is committed to creating healthy, sustainable communities across Pennsylvania by making bicycling and walking safer, more convenient and more enjoyable. To learn more about us, please visit www.pawalksandbikes.org.

2010-2011 State Network Project Participants