Among the 4 non-infrastructure grants awarded was a proposal submitted by the Iowa Bicycle Coalition to continue the education and encouragement work which they have been undertaking for the past 6 years. The current award will allow the Coalition to continue it’s community outreach through workshops and classroom education, along with expanding their Safe Routes to School Partnership.
“It is great to get recognition for the work that we do, this grant is instrumental in allowing us to continue our outreach and get more kids riding their bikes or walking to school” said Nick Sobocinski, Safe Routes to School Program Director with the Iowa Bicycle Coalition. “We are really working on growing our partnership network and that wouldn’t be possible without this grant.”
The Safe Routes to School Partnership was launched late in 2011 and strives to bring Safe Routes to School practitioners together for enhanced communication and the sharing of best practices. Coordinated by the Iowa Bicycle Coalition’s Safe Routes to School Program the Partnership program is also able to provide support, assistance, and resources at no cost to schools seeking to grow their Safe Routes program.
Mark Wyatt, executive director of the Iowa Bicycle Coaltion said, “The Safe Routes to School grants have helped the Coalition conduct workshops in over 40 communities, reaching nearly 100 elementary schools, and almost 40,000 students.”
Two other on-going and sustainable programs also received non-infrastructure funding through Safe Routes to School grants. The I-Walk program which saw great success after receiving funding in 2010 will be back and conducting walkability assessments of communities throughout the state with the help of interactive mapping software. Upper Explorerland Regional Planning Commission received funding and will work in conjunction with the current program being faciliated by Northeast Iowa Food and Fitness Initiative. Together these two organizations will continue to grow Safe Routes to School Programs in a 5 county region in NE Iowa.
The final non-infrastructure grant was awarded to the Dubuque Community School District, the school district will expand upon previous non-infrastructure planning grants awarded to the East Central Intergovernmental Association. The school district plans to start walking school bus programs at 5 of their elementary schools.
Nine different infrastructure grants were also awarded to eight different communities, these include; Dow City, Cedar Rapids, Columbus Junction, Waterloo, Kalona, Keokuk, Shenandoah, and Sergeant Bluff. All grant recipients will be able to begin work on their projects as early as October 1, 2012.