But first, state departments of transportation must be on board, said Deb Hubsmith, director of the Safe Routes to School National Partnership, which authored the report.

“We need to ensure that state level policies are set up in such a way that they help low-income communities that are most vulnerable to childhood obesity,” she said.

But, while targeting rising rates of childhood obesity remains a key goal, more attention is being turned to keeping children safe from crime on their way to and from school. The goal of the partnership, which launched in 2005 after the federal Safe Routes to School program was implemented as directed by current surface transportation act, SAFETEA-LU, is to help states to develop action plans and policies and allocate federal and matching state Safe Routes funds for assisting local schools in cite planning and school wellness programs. Hubsmith added that the report released on Nov. 10, “Safe Routes to School State Network Project: Final Report, 2007-2009, Making Change Through Partners and Policies,” is designed to help states structure a Safe Routes blueprint that will trickle down to the local level and, in doing so, set a precedence nationwide.

The report was released one day after a study ranked the nation's most dangerous cities for walking. The Safe Routes report, however, highlights State Network and Local School Projects run in California, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, and Virginia over the last two years that used $199 million in federal federal and state funds to encourage walking and biking programs for students. All participating schools had at least 44 percent of its student enrollment qualify for free lunch programs, with Santa Rosa, Calif., leading the way at 98 percent, followed by Belvedere, Ga. (97 percent), Ubana, Ill. (82 percent), Stillwater, Okla. (72 percent) and New Orleans (71 percent).

Teams worked with parents, schools and cities to plan and implement comprehensive Safe Routes programs based on “Engineering, Encouragement, Education, Enforcement and Evaluation.” An evaluation of the Safe Routes to School program at all 10 schools was conducted under the guidance of University of California, Berkeley’s Traffic Safety Center and PPH Partners, a private consultant specializing in connections between policy and public health. A future report funded by Kaiser Permanente and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, due by the end of this year, is expected to detail how the 10 local school programs affected levels of walking and bicycling, minutes of physical activity, air quality, safety and community participation in the program.

Program results showed that states can enhance the success of Safe Routes program by engaging paid local staff, shown by Kaiser Permanente funding of contractors in four areas who provided direct, on-site technical assistance and leadership for about 10 hours a week. The Safe Routes to School law allows for federal funds to be used to hire employees to manage state and local programs. Both Natoma Unified School District near Sacramento, Calif., and the Sonoma County (Calif.) Department of Health have utilized the funds to hire a full-time Safe Routes to School manager, which Hubsmith said could reside within a district’s transportation department.

Safe Routes is also an alternative for schools force to reduce or cut bus routes, especially those within a mile or two of school campuses, due to budget woes. For example, Auburn, Wash., is saving about $240,000 a year on busing costs by using Safe Routes funds for walking and biking campaigns. But, the report cautioned, states and program administrators can’t assume continued program support if school leadership changes. And communities should be creative in overcoming the additional challenges faced by lower-income schools by developing partnership with not only state DOTs and the schools themselves but with local law enforcement.

“The issue of crime is very big, one of the biggest in the low-income communities,” said Hubsmith. “We are hoping to build stronger relationships at the state level to help local communities achieve not only traffic safety but personal safety. law enforcement is critical.”

The Safe Routes to School National Partnership is also targeting inclusion of students with disabilities and earlier this month released another report on how states and local communities can use federal funds to enhance safety infrastructure. One such project called for by the National Association for State Directors of Pupil Transportation is for up to 10 percent of infrastructure funds to be used to create safe routes to bus stops outside the two-mile radius from school, Hubsmith said that provision is not currently in the House version but is contained in the Senate bill.

The current five-year, $611 million federal Safe Routes to School statute is up for reauthorization with the rest of the surface transportation bill. This fall, the current transportation bill deadline was extended to Dec. 18 from Oct. 31 as Congress bought more time to work on national health care reform. Another six-month extension is expected.

In the meantime, the Partnership recently received an additional influx of $1.5 million from the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation to expand these programs to 15 states over the next two years, for which non-profit organizations can apply.