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Safe Routes to School: The Nexus of Public Health, Safety and Transportation

State: CA Type: Promising Practice Year: 2020

The Alameda County Public Health Department's Nutrition Services Program (ACNS) envisions that all people live in safe, connected neighborhoods that offer fresh, affordable foods, are choosing active healthy lifestyles and are engaged in their communities. We exist to promote and support healthy eating and physical activity through committed partnership with communities to reduce chronic disease and improve long-term health.


Alameda County Public Health Department Nutrition Services Program has been awarded Active Transportation Program (ATP) state funds since 2013. These  California Transportation Commission (CTC) state funds are designated state-only by the United States Department of Transportation to support the Active Transportation Program Safe Routes To School Program, a collaborative partnership, an innovative model and responsive practice that educates, informs, and encourages pedestrian and bicycle safety, with a menu of services that seed policy, implement systems, and initiate environmental changes at school sites and neighboring communities throughout the City of Oakland. The collaborative partnership is convened by ACNS. Partners include the Alameda County Public Works Department, the City of Oakland Police Department (OPD), and the Oakland Unified School District's (OUSD) Wellness Office, including non-profit partner, TransForm. In-kind partners include the American Automobile Association (AAA) of Northern California and Utah and Nevada and the City of Oakland's Department of Transportation (DOT). 


ACNS has prioritized the health of children since its inception in 1999. With our headquarters centrally located in Oakland, staff and partners are primed to serve economically disadvantaged schools in Oakland. Oakland is the 8th largest city in California and has 425,000 residents according to the United States Census Bureau. It is one of the largest, most economically diverse cities in Alameda County yet 28% of Oakland students are living in poverty. Students in West, Central and East Oakland where most of the schools are concentrated -- show even greater concentrations of poverty; approximately 47% of students are living in very low-income households. 


A shift in transportation patterns is of utmost importance for the health, safety and wellness of children in Oakland. Oakland has predominantly neighborhood schools, but much less human-centered, active transportation than years previous due to societal shifts and economic needs for cars, as well as concerns about high crime and safety resulting in a propensity for an increase in preventable chronic illnesses such as high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes amongst adults. These, however, are not limited to adults only 22% of Oakland fifth graders have asthma or other respiratory stresses and 42% are overweight or obese. Such conditions are most prevalent in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods (Alameda county Community Health Assessment, 2014). Couple these debilitating illnesses with traffic fatalities, the ACNS Active Transportation Program is of utmost importance. Last year, at least four children were hit by vehicles while  traveling to or departing school in Oakland and minor collisions are alarmingly common. In addition, overall community and school safety remain key factors that deter Oakland parents from allowing their children to walk or bike to school. This contributes to disproportionate rates of overweight and obesity, as well as chronic diseases listed above.


The ATP SRTS collaborative partnership and practice evolved from expertise and knowledge of influencers responsible for addressing the health and safety of Oakland's children including direct information from families with children attending the Oakland Unified School District. The goals are to:

  • Provide pedestrian and bicycle safety education to school communities with,

  • Encouragement activities promoting walking and cycling as a fun form of physical activity supported by,

  • Local traffic enforcement as part of the equation to ensure families who walk are safe and feel safe from uncooperative drivers, and

  • Develop a cadre and culture of safety amongst student leaders that can champion safe walking and bicycling in and around schools


The objectives have been met as evidenced through the long-standing collaborative partnership; the County has received three cycles of multi-year funding to expand and enhance the active transportation program from serving only district schools, to expanding service to middle and charter schools, to piloting safe routes to affordable housing near schools. Additionally, our innovative, model practice has been visited by another local jurisdiction, Los Angeles City and County, who recently piloted their first Safety Patrol in one school after their visit.


After having served 43 schools and thousands of students during the 2015-2018 school years, the ATP program has expanded services to include students and families attending charter elementary schools and also to OUSD middle schools, broadening the reach of pedestrian and bicycle safety education. 

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) sees Safe Routes to School as a nationally recognized practice. NHTSA prioritizes safety through education and enforcement with the goal to impact and positively influence traffic behavior and practices from vehicle drivers, to pedestrians, to bicyclists. The analysis by the National Center for Safe Routes to School's recent evaluation in 2015, revealed that low income communities were well represented in SRTS funding.

ACNS Active Transportation Program has focused on serving only OUSD elementary schools from 2013-2018. However, due to public, community demand coupled with the necessity to expand and/or provide new programmatic elements by the funder, the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 school years expanded to include OUSD middle schools and charter elementary schools. The program had to be nimble in order to be responsive to the number of youth in the city of Oakland as well as community need. As of 2017, there were approximately 20,000 elementary school aged students in Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) with another 5,000 in district approved, elementary charter schools. Fifty-one OUSD schools serve grades K – 8 and 17, K-8 elementary charter schools exist. Additionally, there are 14 OUSD and five charter middle schools. 50.3% of students speak a language other than English at home with at least 55 native languages spoken at home. On average, 2.6 miles are traveled by students to school (Oakland Unified School District Fast Facts, https://www.ousd.org/Page/16964).


The majority of Oakland Unified School District elementary schools are located near heavily congested commercial corridors in under-served areas of Oakland. Safety is a key factor that deters parents/caregivers from allowing their children to walk or bike to school. Many school sites may lack an up-to-date traffic safety plan for student arrival and dismissal that leads to dangerous traffic conditions. Common hazardous traffic circumstances at schools includeautomobile backups, double parking, unsafe turns and most schools are not equipped to manage the onslaught of cars. The general decline in students walking or biking to school nationally correlates with an epidemic of childhood obesity and other chronic health conditions. Oakland school children are more likely to be overweight or obese than their peers in more affluent parts of the city, county, or state.


One of the most innovative and responsive practices of the Active Transportation Program, Safe Routes to School collaborative partnership  that serves a diverse student population, is building an awareness and culture of safety and health at the younger school years by instituting youth-led, school Safety Patrols (SP). Safety Patrollers have the unique leadership role as elementary school students, to provide daily, safe zones during the busiest times of the day -- morning drop off and/or afternoon pick ups. During this time, emotions run high as families hustle and bustle to get their children to school on time. Vehicles cause congestion on often busy, broken streets and at congested intersections at Oakland schools. Schools are often left to call the police department to advocate for crossing guards or traffic enforcement. 


School communities, however, especially those in lower income communities, prefer to take the community engaged practice and become visible safety champions. Adults, who are family of the student Safety Patrol volunteer leaders, are paid a yearly monetary award for their presence and guidance on a daily basis, during the academic year. These essential adult advisors, liaise with the students, the school administrators, and law enforcement to uphold school, traffic safety plans.


The ATP program and Safety Patrols exist at the intersection of public health, physical activity, safety (violence prevention) and transportation. It is one of only thirteen non-Infrastructure projects funded by the State of California for the current cycle (Active Transportation Resource Center Webinar, July 2019)  that puts children and health at the center of the innovative framework. With children at the center, we use the National SRTS best-practice framework to tailor the unique program, with added elements of community service and youth development practices supported by a community of adult allies, both paid residents and community volunteers, and with strong institutional, organizational support. 



Making a Case for Injury and Violence Prevention and Response to Community Need: Garfield Elementary

In October 2019, a family caregiver was killed and her niece injured at a busy intersection of Foothill Boulevard near Garfield Elementary. Per a recent school district press release, this main street is notorious for speeding, pedestrian injuries, collisions, near misses and deaths. Earlier this year, an elementary student from a neighboring school and his parent were killed just blocks from Garfield.  Garfield Elementary is a large school with over 650 students and most students arrive by walking. After these incidents, the school community and neighbors rallied and advocated for additional safety measures. The school had one crossing guard regularly assigned. After the day of the rally, three to four more were assigned. This school also has an active Safety Patrol but the accidents occurred at the entrance on the opposite side of the school during kindergarten early release. For several years, the school community has been requesting that the City of Oakland make changes to help slow drivers. It took fatalities to implement traffic safety changes.


Garfield Elementary is an example of the challenges of the schools that the ATP SRTS partnership and program services. It is located in the San Antonio neighborhood of Oakland, a diverse pocket with 27% Latino, 23% African American, 34% Asian residents. Over 92% of the Garfield students participate in the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Free and Reduced Lunch program.  Alameda County Public Health along with community based partners have supported the school with other programs to support health efforts. A food pharmacy was implemented by the local Board of Supervisor, a weekly produce stand that gives market match discounts, and community health fairs.  

Though published in 2002, a San Francisco Gate, article states what is often times what continues to occur in present day, At the same time, the district has a relatively high number of welfare recipients and relatively high rates of unemployment and poverty. There are vacant stretches along the boulevard, and 23rd Avenue is still bedraggled - a far cry from the bright, commercial thoroughfare advocates imagine. Many immigrants face typical struggles over unfamiliar customs and language.

Alameda County Public Health Department Nutrition Services Program has received Active Transportation State Funds since 2013. Funds supported the 2013-2018 collaboration named Be Oakland Be Active, a comprehensive Safe Routes To School Program and the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 collaboration called Active Oakland. The collaboration supports an innovative, non-infrastructure only Safe Routes To School Program with the goal to educate, inform, and encourage pedestrian and bicycle safety, with a public health and equity lens, by offering a comprehensive menu of services that help to seed policy, implement systems, and make impactful environmental changes at school sites and neighboring communities throughout the City of Oakland. 

ACNS convenes the collaboration and has worked in partnership with the following entities:

  • Oakland Unified School District's (OUSD) Wellness Office with non-profit partner, TransForm. 

  • The City of Oakland Police Department

  • Fiscal sponsor, the Alameda County Public Works Department (ACPDWD) and

  • Community Engaged Residents and Students

In-kind partners include the American Automobile  Association of Northern California and Utah and Nevada (AAA) and the City of Oakland's Department of Transportation (DOT) and OUSD Transportation Office. 

Central to the collaboration and the program are community engaged partners -- Oakland residents or school staff who serve as the adult Safety Patrol Advisors to student-led Safety Patrol platoons, paid School Based Wellness Champions who uphold school wellness policy and implement safe routes activities, and volunteer Safe Routes Champions who promote walking, biking and rolling, as well as the elementary and middle school students who are may be participants and recipients of the program. SRTS leaders also assist with implentation of education and encouragement programming that iincludes special days that promote active transportation during the school year with activities to sustain and maintain new travel practices. Students are encouraged to walk, bike, skateboard, or scooter to school and practice helmet safety. Furthermore, Oakland's elementary school children are both beneficiaries of and participants in the Safety Patrol program. Although ACNS is the convener of the collaborative partnership, to uphold the value of  committed partnership” as the vision states, it is essential to have key institutional partners and community residents as influencers in place year to year to uphold the program. 

In 2006, Alameda County Public Health Nutrition Services supported active, Healthy Living Councils, resident cohorts whose purpose was to identify and problem solve barriers to living a healthy lifestyle in Oakland's lowest income neighborhoods with the least resources. Repeatedly, pedestrian safety and traffic related dangers surfaced from neighborhood to neighborhood. In particular, Bella Vista Elementary located in east Oakland (describe neighborhood) sought resources from the Oakland Police Department due to a student hit on his way to school. By 2013, ACNS was able to secure funding to serve up to 41 eligible schools.

The Active Transportation Program, Safe Routes to School collaborative partnership is uniquely designed to meet the needs of high need schools where at least 50% of families are eligible for the USDA Free or Reduced Meal Program (FRPM) in order to:

  • Administer a Walk and Ride to school program

  • Deliver Safe Routes to School Champion program

  • Provide Traffic Safety and Enforcement at school sites

  • Provide Helmet Safety and institute School Safety Patrols

Though held within the city limits of Oakland, the City of Oakland, Alameda County Public Works (ACPW) department became the fiscal sponsor of the innovative practice as they held an existing Master Contract with the California Transportation Commission. In response to the community need, ACPW has provided in-kind technical assistance to this project for at least five years considering their operational jurisdiction is generally focused on unincorporated areas of Alameda County. Over the years, the ACPW team has supported the capacity building of the ACNS staff and team to respond to the funding body, report on activities and invoice according to the Local Area Procedures Manual which was a new body of policies and procedures ACNS was becoming more familiar with. This practice, however, was a perfect complement to USDA SNAP-Ed Program that also supports the promotion of health and physical activity, in addition to nutrition education, for the families with 185% FPL.

The City of Oakland Police Department (OPD) celebrated the 93rd year of Safety Patrol. This component of the Active Transportation Program is the city's best practice and tradition that has evolved to embrace the public health lens by coupling traffic safety education with youth leadership development, a strategy for violence prevention and injury prevention in and around school sites. Modeled after the east coast Safety Patrols in the 1920's, the East Bay Safety Council organized in Oakland and neighboring cities of Berkeley and Alameda to reduce accidents. This council was comprised of chiefs of police, railway officials, DA, a public health commissioner, school superintendent, auto trade organization (Electric Railway Journal, June 1922). An Oakland survey disclosed serious traffic hazards, and in 1928, the first school Safety Patrol was piloted. 

Today, 22 schools with two pending, implement Safety Patrols and are comprised of 3rd through 5th grade Oakland elementray students and their 22 respective adult advisors who become culture keepers of safety on school campuses. They are adorned with bright, lime green hats and sashes, provided in-kind by AAA of Northern CA, Nevada and Utah. Throughout the academic year, rain or shine, the Safety Patrol students arrive at least 30 minutes early to campus to put cones out on the street, hold long stop signs to cover intersections near their schools to ensure safe crossing for families, and have clipboards to note vehicular observations. At the height of the recent programs, student Safety Patrols also engaged in:

  • Safety Zones:

    • Bus Patrols - where Safety Patrollers (SP) walk kids from the fenced area to the bus while we make sure they don't run into the street. [They] count how many kids get on each bus.”

    • Morning Drop Off Zones - In addition to focus on pedestrian crossing, students at some schools also focus their attention to drop off” areas positioning themselves car lengths apart along the zone. Once cars come to a complete stop, SP opens vehicle doors and greet the driver and their school mate. SP may also walk younger children to class from the drop off zone.

    • Afternoon Pick Up Zones – Similar to morning drop offs but ensures that cars line up to pick up students leaving school.

    • Street Crossing -- Safety Patrol students practice pedestrian and traffic safety techniques under guided, adult supervision at key interesections close to their school with high pedestrian traffic.

  • Leadership and Community Service. Safety Patrol students are ranked similar to traditional law enforcement and hold their roles seriously. They celebrate each other and uplift community by annually participating in community service from peer reading, to tending to sheltered animals, holding food drives, and neighborhood trash pick-up. In 2017, for example, Franklin Elementary School Safety Patrol made lunches with kind notes and distributed them to older adults and the unhoused at Clinton Park in East Oakland.

  • Team Building Activities. These included an informal partnership with East Bay Regional Parks District to utilize trails for bike rides led by volunteer guides from Youth Mountain Bike Association. 

One of the institutional backbones of the Active Transportation Program's innovative, model practice is the Oakland Unified School District Wellness Office. This office is responsible for upholding the district wellness policy and is committed to ATP by committing to recruit adult Safe Routes Wellness Champions. These champions collaborate on specific wellness programs and have ongoing training supported by district, school site staff and administration.


Having OUSD in this dedicated role ensures that Safe Routes nonprofit partner, Transform, is connected to students and families to hold Safe Routes education and engagement activities such as the International Walk and Roll to School Day and International Bike to School Day, Helmet Safety Education, introduction of walking school busses and the engaging Golden Sneaker Contest in the spring highlighting the classroom(s) who walk during a two week period.

The successful results of the collaboration continue to demonstrate that with the key institutional partners, resources continue to support so that youth continue to be exposed to active transportation, take on leadership roles in their school community, and provide safety during the busiest times of the day. We are proud to have had up to 38 active schools with active Safety Patrols during the past 5 years, including Nationally Recognized Life Saving Award by AAA which further increases the likelihood of engagement, education and exposure.


Alameda County Nutrition Services employs process and outcome evaluation. Process evaluation includes using the Results Based Accountability Framework which responds to three key questions: 1) How much did we do? 2) How well did we do it and 3) Are we better off. The collaborative partnership meets quarterly and on an as needed basis to reflect on outcomes such as service delivery and to ensure activities are on par and according to plan outlined in the contracts and project scope. Quarterly meetings allow space to anecdotally share what has worked as well as areas of improvement and strategies to address those challenging issues. 


We utilize the Safety Patrol Student survey to collect data for the past two academic years 2017-2018 and 2018-2019. The Safety Patrol public health team administers pre-surveys to Safety Patrol students during their first month. Post-test surveys are collected during the last program month. Students complete the surveys in the classroom setting and support is provided by the public health staff.  


For Safety Patrol with direct student interaction, monthly quality assurance meetings are held to ensure adult advisors and studenst discuss incidents and assess equipment needs. These meetings are student led following a formal protocol and utilizing a guided agenda.  Additionally, student behavior change in Safety Patrol students are surveyd with 3rd to 5th grade students as our primary data source. Using a tool designed for elementary school aged children to be able to understand the question such as I practice traffic safety rules when crossing a street” or How confident are you that you can solve traffic safety problems? And How well do you know how to help a student safely cross the street?.” For 2017-2018, 297 student surveys and 94% of schools and the 2018-2019 school years, close to 272 students with 86% of schools responding.  

In 2017-2018, 30 schools of 32 were surveyed and a total of 297 matched, students responded. In 2018-2019, 18 schools of 21 responded with 272 matched, students answering. In both academic years, our goal has been that at least 75% of participating Safety Patrol students reported an increase in life schills and knowledge as a result of the program. Both academic years exceed that goal with 77% in 2017-2018 and 76% in 2018-2019.


In 2017-2018 and the following academic year, 74% of students responsidng to the survey self-report that they are super confident” or pretty confident” in solving traffic safety problems. 80% say they know very well” or pretty well” how to help a student safety cross the street. The following school year, 82% responded very well” or pretty well” on how to help a student safetly cross the street.

Additionally, each partner ensures quality of their programmatic elements between quarterly meetings i.e. Safety Patrol Team and Safety Patrol adult advisors(OPD and ACNS), Safe Routes encouragement team and volunteers (Transform with OUSD Wellness), Wellness Champions (OUSD).


The City of Oakland Police Department's RBA measures are excellent with regards to the recruitment, training and maintenance of school safety patrols. For the 2015-2018 period, 38 of 41 or 93% schools that were outreached to, instituted school Safety Patrols with 900 students participating. 

  • All 38 schools (100%) of schools opting to establish a safety patrol received the oversight and training and maintenance. 

  • 90% of schools that received oversight, training and maintenance remained active for the duration of the school year. 

For 2018-2019, 21 of 28 (75%) schools that were outreached to, instituted school Safety Patrols with XXX students. 

  • All 21 schools (100%) of schools opting to establish a safety patrol received the oversight and training and maintenance. 

  • 86% of schools that received oversight, training and maintenance remained active for the duration of the school year. 

The 2018-2019 academic years was a transitional year with a long-term, key staff member resigning. ACNS onboarded a new staff late in the school year. In spite of this transition, however, a noticeable mark in the increase in the number of Regional AAA awardees was made. One third (7 of 21) of the AAA awardees (of 400 applications) were to the City of Oakland, East Bay area region including the prestigious AAA National Student Patrol Advisor of the Year. Fifth grader, Andres Palencia from Manzanita Community School in Oakland received the National Lifesaving Medal. When he saw a toddler run into a busy intersection, Andres immediately practiced traffic safety technique and blew his whistle loud enough to get a truck driver's attention. Thankfully, the driver came to a screeching halt. His school credits him with preventing what could have been a fatal tragedy.


Traffic Safety Plan(TSP) implementation is also measured. For both cycles, 100% of schools  offered consultation for Traffic Safety Plan Development that included meeting with the principals and interested influencers, 100% use and/or distributtion of the TSP to families, and 100% of traffic and parking enforcement requests are followed up on. Prior to the implementation, any school must conduct a traffic safety audit. These are measures communicated to both the City DOT and the school district's transportation staff.


The Oakland Unified School District has shown steady increase in support. In the 17-18 school year, 30 OUSD Wellness Champions participated attending training and councils. This number increased in the 18-19 school year with 36 designated SR2S Wellness Champions plus volunteer SRTS participated. The 19-20 school year 19-20 is holding steady with the same participation rate. Encouragement and educational activities have also shown a steady hold with the following:

  • 2017-2018: 21 International Walk and Roll to School Day events at elementary schools, 22 Golden Sneaker contests in elementary schools, 17 Bike to School Day events in elementary schools

  • 2018-2019: 22  International Walk and Roll to School Day events at elementary schools plus 3 participating middle schools, 14 Golden sneaker contests in elementary schools and 2 in middle schoold, 14 Bike to School Day events  in elementary schools + 5 in middle schools

  • 2019 -2010: With only half way in to the academic school year, 27 elementary school and 4 middle schools have conducted International Walk and Roll to School Day events plus 9 bike mobiles and/or Bike Rodeos

Anectodally, Safe Routes Champions have reported the following through quarterly reports narrative responses capturing how well we do” as well as a commentary of the school environment

  • I have enjoyed delving into SR2S. I have enjoyed the SR2S meetings/teachings very much.  And the Walk and Roll to School Day was very successful.”

  • I think the safe routes to school is challenging in that it would take a lot more time than I was able to spend on the role hyping things up for families and students since the messaging would need be for our entire school community. The golden sneaker contest was really successful, I think we should do more work with teachers talking about how students are getting to school each day in their morning meetings.”

  • It is difficult to walk or ride our bikes to our school. But, I like when we allow the kids to bring scooters and/or bikes and we provide a time for them to ride on campus.”

  • Continue to invest in programs/events/resources that directly impact students and get them to be active, healthy, and confident. Also, it is really helpful to have equipment that we can used (helmets, bike lights, stickers). All of this we can use for raffles and healthy prizes (for monthly bike to school day). It motivates the students, and a lot of them don't have helmets when they ride bikes and scooters.”

Here is a snapshot of innovative, collaborative partnerships' collecive, impact and accomplishments: 

  • In 2018-2019, 229 of 272 Safety Patrol students reported they know how to help a driving caregiver safely drop off a student. 

  • 486 Safety Patrol students experienced teamwork and gained leadership skills serving as examples to their peers during the 2018-2019 school year. 

  • In 2018-2019, 26 Safe Routes to School Wellness Champions supported and promoted the OUSD wellness policy. 

  • 17 schools hosted Golden Sneaker Contests in the 2018-2019 school year. 13 schools hosted Bike to School Days. 

  • In 2018, over 1000 Safety Patrol students were honored at the 90th Pass In Review ceremony in front of friends, family and community. 

  • In 2017-2018, 34 OUSD schools with OPD created traffic safety plans relaying information such as ADA compliance and the need for crosswalk or curb repainting to City departments. 

  • 27 Adult Advisors were on the front lines with Safety Patrol students in 2017-2018. 

  • From August - December 2017, OUSD Wellness Champions reported 31 activities comprised of helmet/bike giveaways, presentations to students, and hosting Walk and Roll to School Days. 


We are pleased to receive a new cycle of funding maintaining and sustaining the existing collaborative partners from October - September in 2020-21, 2021-22, and 2022-23. One of the funding challenges over the years, however, is that schools cannot receive the same services cycle to cycle. The ATP SRTS collaborative partners have had to collectively continue to innovate, expand services to continue to serve the schools with the greatest need. Partners are committed to continuous quality improvement and finding ways to sustain resources to maintain the program. As a practice, ATP SRTS collaborative partners seek regular feedback from Wellness Champions, Safety Patrol Advisors, student safety patrol leaders on how to best move forward with the ATP SRTS program and practice. As a collaborative partnership, meetings will include other agencies as needed with a focus on program sustainability.


The upcoming cycle prioritizes 18 elementary schools that have not had a combined traditional Safe Routes to School Program plus a Safety Patrol on the school campus. Students will participate in a new, refined Safety Patrol Academy as a 2-3 week intensive program to learn the ins and out of youth leadership and traffic safety. The collaborative partnership in particular with OUSD's nonprofit partners, Transform, will pilot Safe Routes to Home”, and embark on partnering with at least one to two affordable housing units in Oakland.  And we will explore implementing, complementary programming to communities where we may be able to leverage SNAP-Ed dollars to complement active transportation with nutrition education while encouraging physical activity (walking, biking, rolling) to eligible, priority school sites and neighborhoods throughout the County as supported and evidenced by the data and community support and need.


We are challenged with continuing to innovate since active transportation has become a practice at school sites, and in particular, the Safety Patrol as a specialized program. For sustainability, we are looking at other ways to fund walking programs through the Office of Traffic Safety, humanities grants that provide perspective on communities through walking tours, and of course, the departments of transportation.


One of the main ongoing costs would be project coordination and nominal monetary awards for adult advisors at each site. The ACNS ATP funds 2 FTE community staff, 0.25 FTE management oversight, plus financial and administrative staff supporting this effort. It also funds Safety Patrol adult advisors, a portion of staffing for the City of Oakland Police Department, and a specific number of Safe Routes OUSD Wellness Champions, and OUSD's non-profit partner - Transofrm. As the cycles and funding has shifted, school sites have been able to sustain Safety Patrols without the advisor payment, however, some have not. When possible and contingent upon funding guidelines, we support avenues to pay Oakland residents/caregivers and the district wellness champions to support the work. AAA sees the value of the Safety Patrol and awards schools from $1,000 to $1,500 to go towards Safe Routes/Safety Patrol programs which has been ample to support the school Safety Patrol Advisor monetary award. Annually, at least three schools/year have received this award from AAA.


In addition to institutional efforts for sustainability, influencer feedback is an important determinant to the continuation of the ATP SRTS practice after initial development. Fortunately, the Oakland Unified School District has institutionalized the role of Wellness Champions. The Safe Routes OUSD Wellness Champion will exist in perpetuity as long as there is an interested person to hold the role. OUSD is committed to seeking and funding for this role and would consider it volunteer should funding decrease. Traffic Safety and Enforcement continues to be a priority for the City of Oakland as well. This year, the City invested in increasing the number of crossing guards throughout the city and a more school sites. Crossing guards would sustain without ATP grant funding as it is areadly a non-funded, leveraged program through the collaborative partnership.


Safe Routes to Schools education and encouragement activities  are conducted by a non-profit partner, Transform and OUSD, who makes services available to school sites throughout Alameda County. Even without the funding partnership, Transform's menu of services would now change and would still exist to support schools upon request.  Though the level of service would be less hands-on and less intensive, Transform would continue to support schools that opt-in, annuall to traditional Safe Routes to School encouragement activities like International Walk and Roll to School Day, Bike to School Day and Golden Sneaker. 

As an intentional strategy to maintain and sustain and more importantly, engage the community, in the upcoming cycle, the ATP SRTS collaborative partners and participants have designed ways to engage reesidents at affordable housing developments to increase active and safet transporation in neighborhoods near schools with hopes to increase the number of residents who became aware of the ATP program by embarking on "active street" challenge to take walks in the neighborhoods or nearby parks and trails. 

Additionally, we are looking to  develop and increase the number of community members who can receive a monetary award to ambassador Safety Patrol and the SRTS engagement activities. Like the student Safety Patrol is a team, the adult support team will be developed through continued educaiton and promortional activities to get community physically active and engaged along with continuing to engage in feedback for traffic safety and health needs in their respective communities.


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