Chicago Public Schools to Watch over Kids Traveling to Parks for Summer Programs

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School-park partnerships are popping up all over the country!

In the summer of 2016, the Chicago Park District in Chicago, Ill. (28.9% Latino) provided Chicago Public Schools (CPS) $112,500 to implement a new initiative to watch over children walking and biking to 20 city parks for summer programs.

The program is modeled after CPS’s Safe Passage, which has been around since 2009 to watch kids traveling to and from school in at-risk neighborhoods.

The summer safety program will hire 150 CPS workers and train them in relationship-building skills and de-escalation strategies to be the eyes and ears for children getting to and from park activities.

One of the parents said that the training helped her intervene in an altercation that she would have otherwise probably ignored.

“We want our kids safe,” Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said, when speaking at a rally. “And we want them to enjoy their youth, and we want them to enjoy the parks.”

Ensuring kids have safe routes to schools, parks, and other destinations is critical to increase physical activity and decrease obesity and obesity-related disease, particularly for Latino kids who lack access to safe places to play and walk compared to non-Latino kids.

When safe routes are provided, active modes of transportation are an effective way to help kids and families move more and sit less.

Learn more about the urgency in fighting childhood obesity with walking and physical activity here.

Read about what community members in low-income neighborhood in Denver did to make walking safe for kids and families here.

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