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Greetings!
I hope that everyone is enjoying the gorgeous fall we are experincing in Montana. I am SO lucky that I get to work with each of you around this amazing state. I was in Cut Bank and Conrad last week working with those communities on starting SRTS programs. Welcome, Cut Bank and Conrad to the Montana SRTS community. I enjoyed a spectacular northern Montana sunrise while I was there. Cheryl from Conrad shared this amazing sunset photo with me.
As the sunrises and sunsets get closer together and we enter winter in Montana, I urge each of you to think about how we can inspire our students to be healthy and active. I encourage you to ask "Why can't we walk or bike today?" While we all have first hand experience with the sometimes brutal nature of Montana winters, I believe we each also have the opportunity to see winter as a time when walking and biking to school is possible. 
My colleague John Corrigan from New Hampshire loves to brag about the SRTS program in Littleton, NH that has walking school buses year round. If they can do it in NH we can surely do it in Montana. Pick those beautiful days we have each winter and walk with you students to and from school. Enjoy the snow, crisp air, the blue skies, and maybe one of those spectacular Montana sunsets with your students. |
A Webinar You Won't Want to Miss
| Montana SRTS Coordinator Taylor Lonsdale will be presenting this webinar along with Cathy Costakis. Tune in to here what they have to share. It will be a webinar that you won't want to miss.
Student Success Starts with Safe Routes to School
Thursday, November 17th at 12:00 pm (Mountain Time)
Register here
Call in: 888-617-3400 Room: 695912
Presented By:
Taylor Lonsdale, Safe Routes to School Coordinator
& Cathy Costakis, Physical Activity Coordinator from the Montana Nutrition and Physical Activity Program (NAPA)
The Safe Routes to School Program is a federally funded, competitively awarded, reimbursement program that encourages and enables children, including those with disabilities to walk and bicycle to school and makes bicycling and walking to school a safer and more appealing transportation alternative.
*If you are unable to attend the live session, this webinar will be recorded and posted online to view at your convenience.
For connection details or any other questions, please contact:
Julia Middleton
julia.middleton@montana.edu
(406) 994-5310Click here to see the schedule for other upcoming webinars as well. ** Please note that the date listed on the flyer for Taylor's webinar is the 16th but it will actually be held on the 17th as said above.** |
Additional Webinars
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Talking a Better Walk: Lessons from a Student Photovoice Activity with Schools in Lower Income Areas, Hamilton, Canada
Tuesday November 15, 12 noon (EST)
Learn how students in Hamilton are using photovoice techniques to bring neighborhood issues to light and connect with community partners to help kick-start neighborhood revitalization. This initiative is a part of the Stepping It Up project which aims to improve conditions for active and sustainable school travel through a school travel planning approach at elementary schools in Hamilton and Peel Region.
Please contact scjones@telus.net to register and receive log-in information.Keys to a Successful SRTS Program: Recruiting and Retaining Volunteers
Tuesday, November 29, 1pm (EST) Presenters: Wendi Kallins, Program Director, SRTS Programs, Marin County, CA Maria Lourdes Perez, Center for Human Services, Ceres Partnership for Healthy Children, Ceres, CA Volunteers are an essential part of a successful Safe Routes to School Program. In this sixty minute webinar, Wendi Kallins, Director of the Marin County SRTS Program, will provide tips and tricks on where to find volunteers, how to recruit them and importantly, how to retain and keep them motivated once they are on board. Lourdes Perez, Director of the Ceres Partnership for Healthy Children, will then provide insight and tips for successfully recruiting non-English speaking parents. This webinar is part of the Safe Routes to School Coaching Action Network Webinar Series, developed by America Walks and the National Center for Safe Routes to School. Register here. For more information please contact Michelle Gulley at mgulley@americawalks.org |
Recycle-a-Bicycle Youth Bike Summit 2012
|  Recycle-A-Bicycle is thrilled to announce the Youth Bike Summit 2012! The Youth Bike Summit is a three day gathering geared toward youth, bicycles, education, and advocacy. This annual national conference offers a dynamic inter-generational exchange through educational workshops and panel discussions that are interactive and practical. Save the date! Please help spread the word! For more information, please visit our website. WHEN: Friday January 13 - Sunday January 15, 2012
WHERE: The New School in New York, NY
ADMISSION: $10/youth; $25/adult Fundraising Tips: Want to come to the Youth Bike Summit but need help fundraising for a trip to New York City? Click here for some helpful tips! Youth Bike Summit 2012 is being planned by a Steering Committee comprised of officers, educators, and youth from youth bike education organizations throughout the country, including Bike Works, Bikes Not Bombs, Community Bicycle Center, Community Cycling Center, Neighborhood Bike Works, Phoenix Bikes, Sibley Bike Depot, West Town Bikes, and more! |
| New SRTS 2011 Policy Report |
The Safe Routes to School program is constructing sidewalks, crosswalks and pathways that improve safety for children and encourage them to be more physically active in all 50 states. There are long-term financial benefits of these public health and safety improvements, and those benefits are a critical part of making the case for Safe Routes to School in these challenging economic times.
The report shows that Safe Routes to School initiatives can:
- Reduce school busing costs, alleviating the strain on school and local government budgets;
- Decrease short trips to school, easing traffic congestion, fuel expenditures and wear and tear on the roads;
- Help small rural towns and low-income communities access much-needed funds to improve safety; and
- Lower medical costs from traffic injuries and fatalities and manage obesity costs.
The report shares new data, dollar figures and facts about the wide-ranging benefits of the federal Safe Routes to School program and illustrates them with potent local success stories. For example, Melrose Elementary in Wooster, Ohio installed sidewalks, crosswalks and signage that improved safety for kids who live close to school, resulting in a savings of $49,000/year in busing costs.
We encourage you to read the new report, Safe Routes to School: Helping Communities Save Lives and Dollars, and use it to show policymakers how critical Safe Routes to School investments are to the health, safety and well-being of our children-and the cities and towns in which they live.
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| EPA Releases New Voluntary School Siting Guidelines | This week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued its long-awaited School Siting Guidelines. The Safe Routes to School National Partnership participated on a Task Force that helped review and shape the guidelines, and we are proud to circulate the final product to the Safe Routes to School community.
These guidelines will be an important resource to communities across the country as they look to renovate or build schools. For the first time, the guidelines clearly lay out how school systems should look at the positive aspects of a school site (such as its proximity to students, walkability, and proximity to parks, libraries and other community assets) as well as environmental hazards.
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| Walk/Bike to School Savings Calculator |
The Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Foundation has created a great tool that can help people to see how much they will save each year by walking and biking to school. Check out this great tool and enter your numbers to see how much you can save each year by choosing to take a healthier approach to your daily commute.
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Sincerely,
Taylor Lonsdale
Montana Safe Routes to School
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Important Dates
| November 17 - Webinar presented by Taylor Lonsdale
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December 31 - Montana SRTS funding application is due.
January 13-15 - Recycle-a-Bicycle Youth Summit
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