Walking to school used to be an everyday thing for children and families – a chance to talk, to daydream and to prepare for and review the day ahead or recall what you learned in school.

That has changed over time for a variety of reasons. People just aren’t walking as much. But the Michigan Fitness Foundation and its partners hope to study this issue and help Michigan schools, parents and educators find solutions to bring back a long-held tradition of walking together to school.

The Michigan Fitness Foundation is inviting interested parties to attend a Safe Routes to School (SRTS) regional training; locally, the training will take place May 31 in Detroit. Each training will consist of a series of presentations as some of Michigan’s most innovative SRTS projects share best-practices and success stories, followed by hands-on, sessions designed to help build or sustain a SRTS project.

Potential participants include a variety of parties, including principals, teachers, school-transportation supervisors, city planners, road authorities or community members. All trainings are free, but registration is required because space is limited, officials said.

Breakout session topics include:

• Action planning for success
• Conducting a meaningful walking audit
• Addressing parent fears and safety concerns
• Building stronger student and parent encouragement programs
• Navigating the Michigan Grant System application site
• Sustaining a district-wide SRTS project
• Infrastructure and non-Infrastructure eligibility challenges

Detroit’s event will take place from 4 to 7 p.m. (with a light meal provided) on Wednesday, May 31, at SEMCOG Offices. These offices are located at Suite 1400 at 1001 Woodward Avenue in Detroit.

The need for such training and discussion is real. Over the course of the past three decades, there was a cultural shift in the number of students who walked and biked to school. In 1969, roughly 48 percent of students walked to school, and by 2007 only 12 percent of students walked having shifted to being driven.

There are several reasons for this sharp decline. For one, the journey between home and school has become longer and more treacherous because of decades of auto-oriented development. This pattern has been compounded by the trend toward building new schools far away from residential areas. Then, too, there are the fears and concerns of parents exposing students to threats from strangers and motor vehicles. And finally, in many communities sidewalks, crosswalks, and trails are either missing or inadequate.

To address these changes, in 2003 the Michigan Department of Transportation, through the Federal Highway Administration Transportation Enhancement Program, funded a two-year state Safe Routes to School pilot project which, was administered by the Michigan Fitness Foundation. The purpose of the project was to develop materials and procedures to help Michigan elementary schools begin and sustain SRTS initiatives.

Safe Routes to School (SRTS) is an international movement—and now a federal program—to make it safe, convenient and fun for children to bicycle and walk to school. When routes are safe, walking or biking to and from school is an easy way to get the regular physical activity children need for good health. Safe Routes to School initiatives also help ease traffic jams and air pollution, unite neighborhoods and contribute to students’ readiness to learn in school

  detroit, Federal Highwa, Michigan Department of Transportation, Michigan Fitness Foundation, Safe Routes, SEMCOG