Bike to School Day fuels change
Pump up your bike tires - national Bike to School day is May 3! Bike to School Day events connect with many issues that families care about, like the health and safety of children. Your school’s event can be large or small and still make an impact. These events are an easy way for students and families to try walking, bicycling and rolling to school. They might be surprised at how little time it takes and how much everyone enjoys it.
Register your event and we will send you a packet of materials to help your event.
Encourage students to participate in the poster contest for prize packs. First-place posters will win a bike rack for their school. Special thanks to Dero Bike Racks and Quality Bicycle Products for the prizes.
Inequities in our built environment disproportionally impact children of color or students with disabilities. Did you know that:
- Children of color and low-income neighborhoods are disproportionately represented in child pedestrian deaths and are priorities for attention.
- Youth with disabilities are significantly less likely to achieve the recommended amount of daily physical activity than their peers without Many travel environments need improvements to support people with disabilities.
One-time events like Walk/Bike to School Day events can help encourage communities to implement policy or engineering changes that make it safer to walk and bike to school. In 2021, 65% of Walk to School Day event organizers across the nation indicated that their event led to planned or already completed policy or engineering changes. Nearly 40% of Walk & Roll to School Day organizers used their event to draw attention to road safety needs in their communities.
Use our templates to promote Bike to School Day and inspire families to use their feet for the school commute more often.
Safe Routes Boost grant (implementation) funding available
Time is running out to apply for Boost funding for your non-infrastructure needs!
As the name implies, Safe Routes to School Boost grants are intended to help “boost” Safe Routes to School efforts. Through these grant awards, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) will support communities in advancing non-infrastructure strategies for schools. The strategies should support making it safer, easier and more fun for students to walk and bicycle to school. More detailed information on eligibility, funding restrictions/requirements, and the grant application materials, are available on the MnDOT SRTS Boost webpage.
Upcoming informational webinars are available on:
- Wednesday, April 12, at 11 a.m.
Grant application requests may range between $5,000-$50,000 and do not require a match.
Applications are due by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, May 17, and must be submitted online.
Awardees will be announced in June, with funding beginning in September 2023 and ending in June 2025.
Grant awards
Twenty-three communities around Minnesota will benefit from $725,000 from this year’s planning and programming grants that support the Safe Routes to School program. Find out more about the 26 recipients here.
SRTS in the news
Upcoming events
April 6, 10-11 a.m. – MN SRTS Network Call
April 27 – Walk! Bike! Fun! Teacher Training - Laporte
May 3 – Bike to School Day
May 4 – Walk! Bike! Fun! Teacher training – Grand Marais
May 5, noon – Walk! Bike! Fun! Ambassador Training – Grand Marais
May 6, 9 a.m. – Walk! Bike! Fun! Maintenance Training– Grand Marais
May 11 – Walk! Bike! Fun! Teacher Training – Dakota County
May 16 – Walk! Bike! Fun! Teacher Training – St. Paul
Resources
Order MN Bike Maps and MN Bicycle Handbooks (English, Spanish, Somali) for your organization’s events!
More about MnSRTS
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