The effects of this trend are not hard to come across. Nationally, since the mid 1960’s rates of childhood obesity have increased exponentially from 4% TO 16%, while the number of walking and bicycling trips made by children have fallen by 65%.

Walking to school has countless benefits:

• Increases the amount of time devoted to physical activity, which helps reduce a child’s risk of obesity and various associated health problems.

• Improves concentration and increases alertness, like all physical activity.

• Enhances safety in the area around the school by reducing traffic.

• Makes children more self sufficient, an important part of developing social skills.

• Empowers children to contribute to the environment, by traveling pollution-free.

• Encourage children to learn about and get to know the neighborhood and community members.

• Provides a great opportunity to develop healthy life-long habits of enjoying physical activity.

• Is the perfect opportunity for family quality time!

Our program is available to any school in Alameda County that can provide parent and staff enthusiasm, support and volunteer power to champion the Safe Routes to Schools Program in the school.  Our staff partners with your school to provide resources, training, and technical assistance.  Our program is based on the comprehensive 5 E’s model: Education, Encouragement, Enforcement, Engineering, and Evaluation.  We encourage schools to address all 5 E’s through the programs, tools, and assistance we provide.  However, it is also possible to start out with only one or two programs in place. 

Read on to find out more about the programs we offer to schools at no cost or download our program menu.

Education -  Our education program offers fun and exciting tools to introduce and reinforce pedestrian, bike and “street smart” safety skills children need to travel confidently and independently. Also included are assessment checklists which are designed to inform parent’s decisions on whether a child is ready to travel to school on his/her own or with a group of friends.

Programs, Tools and Materials:

• Complete assembly program, A Breath of Fresh Air: The Walk and Roll Solution. This comic and educational puppet assembly follows the story of a young boy’s adventure on the journey to school.  The assembly has been tailored to appeal to two audiences: K-3 and 4&5th grades. This activity is an excellent way to kick off a Safe Routes campaign at your school or boost enthusiasm for an ongoing program.  Contact us to book an assembly at your school.

• Safe Moves Pedestrian Rodeo.  This child-sized mock city is designed to provide realistic examples of different traffic environments and is used to create problem-solving experiences for grades K-3.

• Bicycle Rodeo.  Available in certain areas of Alameda County.

• Bicycle PE Program.  This 8-hour curriculum is provided for 5th graders in the form of a one and a half day activity, or through several days of PE periods.  The program lends the school a fleet of bicycles, helmets, and cycling instructors that will work alongside the PE or classroom teacher.  Ultimately, the program will assist young people in developing bicycle control, safety navigation skills, and a clear understanding of the rules of the road.  Schools must provide a secure location to store 30 bicycles for the duration of the program.

• After School Youth Bike Safety Certification and Ride Club Training.  This 6-hour training is provided twice a year for after school program providers interested in running 8-hour on-the-bike trainings.  Programs that send a representative to this training will be eligible to receive a full fleet of bikes and helmets to implement this program for an entire month.

• Teacher training and tools, On the Move: out of the Box Ideas for Teaching Pedestrian Safety.  This workshop provides classroom and PE teachers with classroom and field-based tools to instill basic pedestrian safety skills in children.  Customized for children from K-5.  This tool is available as a one-on-one or group training, as well as in a manual. 

• In-Class Curriculum, The Standard Stroll: Linking Lessons from the School Journey to State Standards.  Age-appropriate educational materials created according to state standards, which address topics such as mapping, community, and the impact of travel on global warming.

• Parent and Guardian Training, Step By Step: A Parent’s Safety Guide for Raising Kids who get Around on Human Power.  This 20-minute workshop provides parents and guardians with a background on how kids see differently than adults and how to model, coach and observe children’s pedestrian habits.  Perfect for audiences of parent groups, such as PTA’s. 

• Parent Training, Prepare, Don’t Scare.  This parent workshop empowers parents by debunking common myths about kidnappings and strangers, and provides useful strategies to ensure that your child is prepared to avoid potentially dangerous situations and how to react if they happen.   

• Family Cycling Clinic.  This parent/child workshop is designed to give the next generation of cyclists (and their parents) the skills and confidence to ride their bikes on today’s roads.  This 3-hour course provides classroom, blacktop and on-the-bike drills and activities.  Participating youth will leave with increased ability to control a bicycle, safe navigation skills, and clear understanding of the rules of the road.  Participating parents will leave with the skills and tools to decide if their children are ready to bike to school independently.    

Encouragement - Walking to school is fun for everyone and a great way to strengthen your school community. Our encouragement program provides trainings for parents and volunteers who lead encouragement events in their school, such as walk to school day or walking school buses (a group of children walking to school with one or two adult leaders).

Programs, Tools and Materials:

• International Walk to School Day Celebration.  The first Wednesday of October marks International Walk to School Day.  Safe Routes to Schools Alameda County ensures that cities and schools throughout Alameda County are on the map for this international celebration by providing tools, trainings, materials, banners and prizes for any school interested in participating.  This activity is an excellent kick off activity for a year-round Safe Routes campaign in your school!

• Themed monthly Walk and Roll to School Days.  Weekly or monthly walk to school days are the best way to work active transportation into your school culture.  Safe Routes to Schools Alameda County supports any school undertaking this effort by providing materials and give-aways for different themes every month.    

• Bike to School Day.  Similar to Walk to School Days, Bike to School Days encourage kids who have bikes to use these wonderful machines to get to school.  We provide materials, safety flyers, and giveaways for any schools in the county that wish to celebrate this activity.

• Walking School Bus. We provide workshops, materials and technical assistance for schools and neighborhoods interested in starting a program to encourage children to walk to school in groups supervised by parents or other adults.  Biking School Trains are a great alternative for children on bicycles. 

• Encouragement Contests.  We offer to customize school-wide contests or school challenges for any schools with the capacity to coordinate these activities.  Contests highlight pollution reduction and miles traveled on human power by the school community.

Engineering - Walking to school is more safe and relaxing if your school neighborhood has adequate pedestrian infrastructure such as sidewalks, marked crossings, and bulb outs. We’ve partnered with an SR2S-experienced design firm to conduct community walk audits, bringing school staff, parents, traffic safety officers, and city engineers to identify infrastructure needs for safe walking and biking to school. The walkabout will then guide a community envisioning workshop which will result in a conceptual plan for the area surrounding the school. Schools demonstrating commitment to the SR2S program are eligible for the walk-about and conceptual plan process at no cost to the school. Through our city and district-wide task forces, we will submit the resulting document to public works staff and encourage them to use these documents to apply for funding toward these crucial improvements.

Enforcement - Our program will work closely with traffic safety officers to ensure that school efforts to increase walking and biking to school are not undermined by traffic and parking violations. Parents and staff also play a key role in enforcement, educating parents and neighbors on traffic and parking regulations that keep school streets safe for walking and biking children. Certain cities may also be able to organize “safety patrols” in which older elementary school children are entrusted to keep drop-off time in order.

• Student Surveys (coming soon)

• Parent Surveys (coming soon)

• Training Evaluations (coming soon)

Our Partners: We’ve partnered with some incredible agencies and organizations that will provide expertise and exciting resources to our Alameda County wide program. Below are links to some of our partners’ websites:

• Cycles of Change

• Alameda County Public Health Department

• City of Berkeley Public Health Department

• County Supervisor Nate Miley

• City of Berkeley Public Health Department, Injury Prevention Program

• City of Oakland’s Oakland Fund for Children and Youth (OFCY) Program

Download Safe Routes to Schools materials here.

• Walk to School Tools (5.5 MB ZIP file)

• Pedestrian Safety Brochure

• Pedestrian Safety Brochure (Spanish)

• Pedestrian Safety Brochure (Vietnamese)

• Pedestrian Safety Brochure (Chinese)

• Alameda County Safe Routes to Schools Program Menu

• Alameda County Safe Routes to School Program Brochure

• Alameda County Safe Routes to School Program Brochure (Spanish)

Contact us

For more information about starting a SR2S program in your school, contact us at (510) 740-3150 or SR2S@transcoalition.org.