“I used to walk to school uphill both ways,” grandparents and elderly neighbors say to children. While we laugh at this old, often times exaggerated, adage, lack of access to safe walkways to school is a problem many communities face today.
 
With the help of Safe Routes to School, the community in Flint, Michigan is defying this problem by implementing a walking school bus. Cade Surface was brought on by the Crim Fitness Foundation as the safe routes coordinator through a partnership initiative by the Crim, United Way and several other community organizations to increase community education in Flint. Over Surface’s tenure with the Crim Fitness Foundation, seven Flint Community Schools have been able to implement walking school bus programs.
 
It takes a great community support system to successfully launch a walking school bus program. It starts with a grant, walking audit and a strong foundation of parent and teacher support.
 
“Part of my greater role is to look at the physical environment and policies in our city, and then identify and reach out to schools who may be having issues with families or kids not feeling safe to walk to school,” Surface explains. “We’ve never had a school say no.”
 
Safe Routes to School and walking school buses receive their funding from the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) and the Michigan Fitness Foundation (MFF). This funding creates walkable routes by providing sidewalk infrastructure, signage and lighting. Groups of parents and teachers will come together to conduct a walking audit around campuses and neighborhoods. These audits focus on identifying all potential barriers to walking, and then finding creative solutions to each barrier.
 
“Walking school buses are beneficial to both our youth and the greater community,” Surface said. “It’s getting kids active 10 to 20 minutes in the morning and another 10 to 20 in the afternoon. But it’s also encouraging good activities and increasing safety in the neighborhoods. With a walking school bus there is a large number of kids and families participating, so it is obvious to the community what is happening. It’s putting eyes on the street in a positive perception.”
 
The Flint schools that have started walking school buses have complemented this program with an educational aspect. The Safe Routes to School grants provided by MDOT and MFF also allow for safe walking curriculum in the schools.
 
“One challenge we’ve faced in Flint specifically when implementing the curriculum was that much of what was provided to us was tailored to suburban communities, which face a different set of barriers when it comes to walking,” Surface says. “We wanted to make sure that the curriculum was relevant to our local community.”
 
Surface is working with partner organizations and tapping resources, such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Association Safe Kids Worldwide campaign, to build off of the Safe Routes to School lessons and develop a curriculum that is effective and beneficial to students of all ages and grade levels in Flint.
 
“We wanted to find a curriculum that empowered students to look critically at their environment and then take the steps needed to make positive change,” Surface says.
 
This provided older students with safe walking lessons from a more civic standpoint. Students are taught how to look at walking infrastructure in their own neighborhoods, identify ways to improve it and how to present their ideas and initiatives to the city council.
 
Surface encouraged all communities to grant their students physical activity and safety through a walking school bus program, and provided some advice on how to get started.
 
“To get a walking school bus program started it takes a group of really dedicated people,” Surface explains. “If you just host a one or two time event, there’s no lasting change. Get your walking school bus going at least once per week, if not more often--even if it’s snowy or rainy. People who have to walk, have to walk no matter what. So make sure the resources are available at all times, especially in urban communities.”
 
To get started with a walking school bus program in your community, visit http://www.walkingschoolbus.org/ or http://saferoutesmichigan.org/.
 
“Working with Safe Routes to School and seeing these walking school buses take off, I feel like I’ve been a part of something even bigger,” Surface said. “It’s an entire social shift in the community.”