With more federal money coming to states, the Safe Routes to School National Partnership announced two Webinars in June designed to help attendees implement the federal and state programs in low-income schools.

In April, the Federal Highway Administration issued a total of $183 million nationwide in fiscal year 2010 to fund state transportation programs, including Safe Routes to School programs. The Safe Routes to School National Partnership said this means that all 50 states now have new funding available for the programs.

A big push this year has been to set up programs in low-income communities, especially where school children could encounter high-crime areas on their way to and from school. The first event, on June 8, will focus on how to engage parents as volunteers and proponents of Safe Routes to School programs. Featured presenters are Nora Cody, the Safe Routes to School director at TransForm in Alameda County, Calif., and Nikki Trevino, the program coordinator of the Austin Healthy Adolescent Initiative in Texas.

Then, on June 17, a second Webinar will share stories from two communities that set up Safe Routes to School with the help of local government and non-profit funding. Bill Swiatek, a senior planner for the Wilmington (Del.) Area Planning Council, and Christy Filby, a parent at Ridgeway Elementary School in East Moline, Ill., will discuss how to gain access to professional planners and engineers when setting up safe bike and walk routes as well as how to solicit the help of the community.