NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
October 4, 2016
CONTACT: Josh Gorham, Public Health Nurse
218-725-5220
Safe Routes to School program kick-off scheduled at Piedmont Elem.
The number of children who are obese or overweight has skyrocketed in the last decade in the U.S. One reason is a lack of physical activity – according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 80 percent of adolescents don’t get enough physical activity. The good news is that schools across the country, including Piedmont Elementary in Duluth, are doing something about it by adding more activity to students’ days.
The Piedmont Elementary Safe Routes to School Program will hold a kick-off meeting for neighbors on Monday, October 10, at 5 p.m. in the Piedmont Elementary School Media Center. Safe Routes to School is a nationally renowned program with a strong track record for increasing the number of students who walk and bike to school. The program offers education and encouragement while focusing on improvements that make streets and sidewalks safer.
The meeting will include a presentation highlighting how the Safe Routes to School program works and the key issues identified through the Safe Routes to School surveys distributed to parents at Piedmont Elementary last school year. Following the presentation, participants can discuss current issues and determine next steps.
“The opportunity to walk and bike to school on a regular basis has the potential to really move the needle on physical activity levels in youth who are within a reasonable walking distance,” said Josh Gorham, a Public Health Nurse with St. Louis County. “Active students are healthier students, and healthier students are better equipped to focus and succeed in the classroom. That’s why programs like Safe Routes to School are so important.”
In Duluth, Safe Routes to School planning is provided through a collaborative effort that includes the Duluth-Superior Metropolitan Interstate Council, the Arrowhead Regional Development Commission, and St. Louis County Public Health and Human Services. Funding was secured through a Safe Routes to School Planning Grant made available by the Minnesota Department of Transportation. Similar Safe Routes to School programs operate at Lincoln Park Middle School and Myers-Wilkens Elementary.
St. Louis County Public Health, through Healthy Northland and the Minnesota Department of Health’s Statewide Health Improvement Program supports Safe Routes to School planning and other school based physical activity and healthy eating initiatives.
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 This photo from 2013 shows Lincoln Park Middle
School students walking to school with classmates, school staff, and
community volunteers, as part of the Lincoln Park, Myers-Wilkins Safe Routes to School Program.
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