The For Every Kid Coalition is focusing on the 2017 legislative session and will fight for dedicated funding for Safe Routes to School (SRTS) education programs and street improvements near schools.
Get involved and help improve our streets for our kids! Here are five things you should know:
#1 Will you host a For Every Kid community meeting in your town? Our team is excited to work with you to plan and help host a meeting of your friends, neighbors, and community partners. Please contact leeanne@btaoregon.org if you are in! We will be collecting a list of potential cities and hosts in the next week. These community meetings will be full of fun, food, policy and campaign information, resources, and inspiring ways your community can win funding for Safe Routes to School For Every Kid!
Congressman Earl Blumenauer and For Every Kid champion Trey Niggeman!
#2 Newsflash! Elected officials want to come to Safe Routes to School activities. In September For Every Kid leader and Eugene School District manager, Shane MacRhodes presented on Safe Routes to School to the Oregon House Transportation Committee, and this is what he learned: most elected officials have not been to a Safe Routes to School event and want to know more about what it is like!
Is your school celebrating walking and biking to school with yearly, monthly, or weekly events like Walk+Bike to School Day on October 5th? Do your kids receive bicycle or pedestrian safety classes at school? Invite your Oregon State Representative to join you at a Safe Routes to School event or on your walk to school! Find out how to identify and contact your elected representatives and send them an invitation today!
#3 For Every Kid spoke out for Safe Routes to School to 14 Oregon Representatives in Hillsboro at a school site visit.
Noel Mickelberry, For Every Kid leader and Executive Director of Oregon Walks, spoke to the Governor’s Joint Transportation Committee during their visit to Hillsboro on September 19. She highlighted the need for safe streets around schools and the need for dedicated funding to make it happen.
#4 Other ways to engage: Invite two organizations to join the For Every Kid Coalition! We learned over the last two years that our large, vocal, and diverse coalition was one of the main reasons why we won funding for SRTS in the Portland Metro area. I know we can be even more “vocal” at the statewide level! Invite your friends’ organizations to join the For Every Kid coalition with organizations, like Kaiser Permanente, Keen Footwear, and the Linwood Elementary PTA.
#5 Meet other Safe Routes to School players in Oregon: Shane MacRhodes, Safe Routes to School Manager at Eugene 4J School District, has been working with Safe Routes to School for the past 10 years and has worked in the bicycle industry and in active transportation advocacy since the mid-90’s. He has managed cargo bike courier companies, volunteered for several active transportation non-profit boards, served on two Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committees, taught thousands of youth and adult bicycle and pedestrian safety students, is a League of American Bicyclists Coach (training new League Cycling Instructors), and is the co-founder of the Kidical Mass family bike movement. He currently manages the Eugene 4J School District Safe Routes to School program and is a leader in the Oregon Safe Routes to School Network and the For Every Kid Coalition. He also is the proud papa of a six year old daughter and five year old twin sons.
For Every Kid is a growing coalition of community, public health, and social justice organizations that are seeking to ensure safe routes to school for every kid. Coalition Leaders include American Heart Association, Safe Routes to School National Partnership, Bicycle Transportation Alliance, Commute Options, Oregon Walks, Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon, Opal Environmental Justice, Community Alliance of Tenants, the Community Cycling Center, advocated from Eugene and Medford, and many more. Read more about the coalition at ourhealthystreets.org/foreverykid.