Obesity Task Force highlights Safe Routes to School in Recommendations

First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move Campaign has highlighted Safe Routes to School funding in its recommendations for reducing childhood Obesity.  The news comes from this report from The Task Force on Childhood Obesity. 

More from The National Safe Routes to School Partnership:

Recommendation 5.11 in the built environment section proposes continuing and enhancing the federal Safe Routes to School program in several ways:

• Sustaining the federal Safe Routes to School program;
• Increasing opportunities to participate in Safe Routes to School;
• Reducing the administrative burden for managing a Safe Routes to School grant;
• Expanding the program to include high schools; and
• Improving data collection and measurements of the impact of Safe Routes to School.

Overall, the Task Force sets a benchmark to increase by 50% the percentage of children who walk and bicycle to school by the year 2015 - which would bring walking and bicycling to school up to nearly 20% of all children.  Other recommendations in the report emphasize the importance of safe networks of bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, Complete Streets and school siting as means of increasing physical activity for children.