Model General Plan Language Supporting Safe Routes to Schools

Communities of all shapes and sizes want to ensure that their children can lead healthy lifestyles. Creating opportunities for kids to incorporate safe, convenient physical activity into daily life is an important step towards that goal.

Safe Routes to School initiatives bring together community members, schools, and local governments to encourage children to walk, bicycle, or roll to and from school. When children’s trips to school involve active transportation, they increase their levels of physical activity, decrease their likelihood of obesity, diabetes, and other chronic health conditions, and arrive at school ready to learn.

ChangeLab Solutions, in collaboration with CA4Health, has developed this document to provide model general plan language that is intended to help health practitioners, transportation advocates, planners, and others to propose and adopt strong policies that support of Safe Routes to School.

We have also developed many other Safe Routes to School resources to help you develop active transportation policies.

CA4Health is the Public Health Institute’s Community Transformation Grant.