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To support the national goal of better health through physical
activity, CDC's Nutrition and Physical Activity Program has
developed KidsWalk-to-School. This is a community-based program that
aims to increase opportunities for daily physical activity by
encouraging children to walk to and from school in groups
accompanied by adults.
At the same time, the program advocates for communities to build
partnerships with the school, PTA, local police department, department of
public works, civic associations, local politicians, and businesses to
create an environment that is supportive of walking and bicycling to
school safely. By creating active and safe routes to school, walking to
school can once again be a safe, fun, and pleasant part of children's
daily routine.
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The goals of KidsWalk-to-School are to
- Encourage children to walk and bicycle to and from school.
- Increase awareness of the importance of regular
physical activity for children, improved
pedestrian safety, and healthy and walkable community
environments.
- Mobilize communities to work together to create safe routes to
school.
Anticipated benefits of the KidsWalk-to-School program include
- Increased levels of daily physical activity for children.
- Increased likelihood that children and adults will choose to walk
and bike for other short distance trips.
- Improved neighborhood safety.
- Fewer cars traveling through the neighborhood.
- Fewer cars congesting the pick-up and drop-off points at the school.
- Friendlier neighborhoods as people get out and about interacting
with one another.
New Resources
Walking
and Bicycling to School: Community Presentation
Information in the PowerPoint presentation may be presented to a neighborhood,
school, or community to increase knowledge and interest in participating
in a Walk & Bicycle to School program.
Train the Trainer
This PowerPoint presentation was developed
to encourage state level promotion of walk and bicycle to school programs
by building state level partnerships and assisting local constituents to
develop walk and bicycle to school programs. Includes various reference
links.
There are other materials available in our resources
page, as well as links to other KidsWalk programs and events on our related
links page.
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