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Organizing a Walk-to-School day can be one great way of keeping kids healthy and active. It can also serve to improve neighborhood safety, and capture the attention of parents, local school officials, and policymakers.
According to a success story from the California Endowment, Latino children in Santa Ana organized a successful walk-to-school day event in 2007. Before the event, students conducted a walking audit of their neighborhood streets to identify sidewalks and intersections that needed improvements.
Then students and teachers presented pictures of the areas that needed repairs to the police department and school board before Walk-to-School day.
Organizers say that by taking something negative and turning it into a positive, like Walk-to-School day, they were able to begin conversations with city planners and traffic engineers which led to some streets improvements.
Through organizing the event and raising awareness of the need for safe streets, health professionals and educators have also developed important relationships with city officials.
In the future they hope to see continued improvements and a Complete Streets policy passed for Santa Ana.
Read the full case study here.
Access the Orange County Walk-to-School Day Toolkit here.
By The Numbers
33
percent
of Latinos live within walking distance (<1 mile) of a park
