As many students return to school in person this coming school year, there is an opportunity to establish new habits and behaviors that support health and wellness through your SRTS program. The following suggestions can help you lay a supportive groundwork this fall.
- Promote the community assets, routes, and important features that help make walking and biking an easy option, such as remote drop sites, route maps, locations of bike racks, and fix-it stations. This can be as simple as an image with a key that indicates the features available along a route, or as complex as an interactive map.
- Feature SRTS information on your school website to make it easy for parents to find SRTS resources.
- Sign up for and start planning a Walk to School Day event.
- Include SRTS information in your community mailers as a reminder that everyone is a part of building a safe environment for all road users.
- Raise awareness and remind residents that students will be walking and biking to school in your print and electronic communications. Promote your messages on community and neighborhood social media groups.
- Review your school and district policies. Determine if there are any outdated rules that could deter and discourage families from walking or biking to school and start a community conversation about how they could be updated to promote and support walking and biking to school.
- Talk with your regional Grant Coordinator to learn about funding opportunities and other supports for SRTS activities.