Introduction
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.
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.
Selected 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.
Walk-to-School Programs
Quick Start Resource
(PDF-65k)
This resource is intended to provide key references, tools, and components
for the planning, implementation, evaluation, and promotion of
walk-to-school programs. Nonfederal Web site addresses are provided for
informational purposes only, and this listing does not imply CDC
endorsement of these programs.
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.
KidsWalk: Then and Now — Barrier and
Solutions
Rates of walking to and from school have declined since first measured in
1969. This page explores the reported barriers to walking and bicycling
to/from school over time as a possible explanation, and offers potential
solutions to overcome barriers.
There are other materials available in our resources page, as well as links to other KidsWalk programs and events on our related links page.
Please note: Some of these publications are available for download only as *.pdf files. These files require Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to be viewed. Please review the information on downloading and using Acrobat Reader software.
* Links to non-Federal organizations found at this site are provided solely as a service to our users. These links do not constitute an endorsement of these organizations or their programs by CDC or the Federal Government, and none should be inferred. CDC is not responsible for the content of the individual organization Web pages found at these links.
Page last updated: May 22, 2007
Content Source: Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion