Safe Routes to School programs across the nation are growing at exponential rates as communities begin to see the value of encouraging the simple act of walking and bicycling to school and in daily life from an early age. Nonprofit advocacy organizations involved in schools, health and transportation have found a way to inspire communities through the Safe Routes to School movement, and its momentum, to proliferate the message of their organization, build membership, and grow their staff.

Please join us as we talk with several organizations that have successfully engaged at the state and local levels to utilize Safe Routes to School to build capacity and leadership through an effective Safe Routes to School campaign.

Presenters

Dan Grunig, executive director, Bicycle Colorado
Jeremy Grandstaff, membership services director, Alliance for Biking and Walking
Sarah Shipley, director of marketing and communications, BikeWalkKC (Kansas City)

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER NOW.

This webinar is part five of a six part webinar series hosted by the Safe Routes to School National Partnership that focuses on bicycling and Safe Routes to School.

Thank you to the SRAM Cycling Fund for making this series possible.

For more information please contact Dave Cowan at dave@saferoutespartnership.org

*Long distance charges apply accordingly.
**Recording of the webinar will be available at www.saferoutespartnership.org within seven days of the original broadcast.

Please pass this announcement on to other advocates, schools, bike shops and friends.

As part of the conference, the 2011 County Health Rankings, a comprehensive, county-by-county report that measures how healthy people are and how long they live, was released, revealing significant improvements in Faulkner County’s health rankings in comparison to other counties statewide.

Paul K. Halverson, DrPH, ADH director and state health officer, said, “The battle for better health in Arkansas, like in the rest of the U.S., is focused on issues such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, obesity, cancer and tobacco use. While there are many other health concerns that affect us all, these are the problems that cause most of the serious illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths in our state. This data gives us the tools we need to organize our efforts locally in counties with very different needs.”

During the three-day conference, health officials from every county in the state will discuss ways to fund health initiatives that are specifically targeted to local area concerns based on results from the health rankings from each county. Presentations from different parts of the state will show how the rankings from last year have been put to use and highlight successful programs. Hometown Health coalitions are made up of community members who work with each other to find the best approaches to solving health problems in their own hometowns.

For more information on the 2011 County Health Rankings, visit the Hometown Health Improvement page at www.healthy.arkansas.gov.

A new Community Grants program from RWJF called Mobilizing Action Toward Community Health (MATCH) will help spark action in communities to address the many factors that influence health. As the County Health Rankings illustrate, social and economic factors such as education and employment can affect health directly and indirectly, and those negative effects may accumulate over individuals’ lifetimes and continue unbroken through generations. The first round of the Community Grants program is open to communities that are ready to take action to address the social and economic factors that affect health—factors which have a significant impact on health outcomes, yet are often ignored in community health improvement activities.

Here is a link to the article…

Traffic Skills 101 is taught by League Cycling Instructors, or LCIs, certified by the League of American Bicyclists and designed to give cyclists the knowledge, skills, and experience needed to confidently and safely share the road or trail. The course covers relevant traffic laws, bicycle safety checks, fixing a flat, on-bike skills, crash avoidance techniques, and some practice of riding in traffic. The first part, on Friday, April 1, from 6 until 9:30 pm, is classroom work based on a textbook included in the price of the course. The second part, on Saturday, April 2, from 9 am until 2 pm, is outside where we will be doing non-strenuous drills in the parking lot and a supervised, slow-ride on nearby streets. The class concludes with an open-book, written exam. The class will be held at the MEMS Training Center at the NW corner of Garland and Harrison Streets in Conway.

To register for Traffic Skills 101, please contact Jim Bruce at jbruce@conwaycorp.net or (501) 327-4672. The course fee includes all instructional materials, e.g., a 34-page manual, and is $20 for CAB members or $45 for non-members but includes a year’s membership in Conway Advocates for Bicycling. All revenue from fees is donated directly to CAB. All participants must have helmets and working bicycles which they know how to ride.