Summer 2024

This August, kids will take to the streets, and sidewalks, for the start of a new school year. Every child, and parent and guardian, deserves a community that provides safe places to walk and bike.

The Safe Routes to School initiative is dedicated to creating safe environments around schools for walking and biking, while also encouraging healthy, active behaviors in children. Locally administered by the Clark County School District and currently supported by the Southern Nevada Health District’s Public Health Infrastructure grant, Safe Routes to School works with individual schools to create safe environments around schools for walking and biking while encouraging healthy, active behaviors in children.

Based on a concept rooted in Denmark, Safe Routes to School is an international program based on the Six E’s: Education, Encouragement, Engagement, Engineering, Evaluation, and Equity.

The Health District has partnered with the Clark County School District Safe Routes to School initiative for over 15 years, supporting efforts to expand activities to more schools and reach additional students. Nicole Bungum, health education supervisor for the Health District, said each participating school does so voluntarily and selects the activities it wants to participate in, as well as its level of involvement.

Bungum cites research which shows that comprehensive Safe Routes to School programs are effective in increasing physical activity and reducing injury among children. “This is the reason we support Safe Routes to School programs. We know that kids who walk and bike to and from school are more likely to meet the physical activity guidelines for youth. However, we also know that parents must feel confident that it’s safe for their children to walk or bike to school,” said Bungum.

For more information on Safe Routes to School, go to Safe Routes to School – Get Healthy Clark County.

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