The Kansas Safe Routes to School Team hopes that you and your family had a wonderful holiday season and are starting 2025 on the right foot (or bike wheel...ha!). This year is going to be a great one for the Kansas SRTS Program. We hope that you'll be a part of it.

Read on to learn what's happening now, coming up, and going on around Kansas!

BIG NEWS

We have our first Strategic Action Plan!

As part of its ongoing commitment to active transportation and a renewed commitment to Safe Routes to School, the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) has been steadily growing its Safe Routes to School Program over the past year and a half. This Strategic Action Plan documents the program’s vision and goals, and creates a clear path forward for future years with priority strategies and actions for implementation.

The plan was developed using best practices and a robust stakeholder involvement process that included an online survey, focus groups, and workshops with our Advisory Committee. Thanks to all who helped us create this plan and got us going in the right direction!

The Kansas SRTS Social Media series provides a simple overview of how we design safe streets for kids.

PLANNING AND PROGRAMMING GRANT UPDATES

Help us share the key design principles of SRTS

We’re working with six Planning and Programming (P&P) Grant recipient communities throughout the state —Riverton, Sedan, Wellsville, Silver Lake, Sharon Springs, and Weskan (Wallace County) — to create their first Safe Routes to School Plans. So far, we've done site visits, identified issues, held community meetings, and more.

As we're drafting recommendations, we use four key design principles to make streets safer for kids walking, biking, and rolling to school. Check out our social media videos about why students experience streets differently, why we provide dedicated space for active transportation, how we simplify crossings, ways we increase visibility, and how we design for safe vehicle speeds.

Feel free to share these posts with your community!

There are a variety of funding opportunities and resources throughout Kansas to help communities build successful SRTS programs.

FUNDING RESOURCES AND KNOWLEDGE

Join us at our webinar on Feb 26th to learn more

We're partnering with the Kansas University - Center for Public Partnerships & Research to offer a free grant writing webinar on Wednesday, February 26 at 2:00 pm. This 1-hour Zoom webinar is for nonprofit organizations, state associations or coalitions, school districts, state agencies, and tribal councils in Kansas looking to build grant writing capacity and learn what it takes to prepare a successful proposal.

The Kansas SRTS Program will develop a suite of resources to help communities accross Kansas plan for their Bike the School Day event on May 7, 2025.

SAVE THE DATE: BIKE TO SCHOOL DAY IS MAY 7TH

Join us!

The SRTS Team is hard at work preparing a suite of materials (event planning toolkit, posters, communication templates, banners, etc.) to help communities throughout the state host a great Bike to School Day. We know that biking to school might not be possible for many students and families in Kansas, so our resources will also offer ideas about celebrating and learning about biking in the community.

Be on the lookout for an email in March to register for the event and order (free!) encouragement items to promote bicycling as a way to travel!

Follow Kansas Active Transportation on Facebook!

HAVE YOU SEEN US ON SOCIAL?

We're an excellent virtual friend!

Over the next few months, we'll continue showcasing our P&P projects, introduce our Advisory Committee, and spread a ton of joy on our Facebook page.

Do yourself a favor and head over to facebook.com/KansasATP right now to follow us. We promise we'll be one of the best things to hit your social media feed.

Before you go...

We need your help building the SRTS network and empowering the SRTS movement here in Kansas! Here are a few ways you can help:

Check out our website! saferoutes.ksdot.gov has all sorts of news and information to get you pumped about SRTS.
Join the SRTS email list. If you received this e-newsletter directly, then you're already signed up! If it was forwarded by a friend or colleague, make sure to sign up and tell your friends!
Register your school. Registering your school gives you access to SRTS resources, events, and networks to help promote walking, biking, and rolling to school. To register, fill out this SRTS registration form.

Questions or comments?

Contact Ann Katt, KDOT Safe Routes to School Coordinator, at ann.katt@ks.gov.