Action Forum Summary:
Make communities more pedestrian-friendly
and increase walkability
July 16th, 2008
Sarasota County School Board
Overview:
This Action Forum was a follow-up to the 2008 Community Health Interactive, and event to encourage creative collaborations to improve community health. The Interactive brought together community members, and representatives from organizations, agencies and government as well as the faith and business community. At the interactive, participants:
§ Generated IDEAS for solutions to community health challenges
§ Identified PRIORITIES by voting for their favorite ideas
§ Offered RESOURCES availablefor working on those Big Ideas
This Action Forum represented an opportunity to continue conversations around the idea of creating a more walkable, pedestrian-friendly Sarasota County. Small group discussions took place around key ideas identified at the beginning of the meeting. A summary of the key ideas, the discussions which took place, and the action steps identified can be found below.
Action Idea #1: Encourage Local Walking School Bus Programs
A walking school bus is a group of children walking to school with one or more adults. If that sounds simple, it is, and that’s part of the beauty of the walking school bus. It can be as informal as two families taking turns walking their children to school to as structured as a route with meeting points, a timetable and a regularly rotated schedule of trained volunteers.
From www.walkingschoolbus.org .
Some Key Information
§ Two existing programs currently exist in Sarasota County that could be used to support this effort: the Safe Kids Coalition and the Community Traffic Safety Team
§ This website- www.walkingschoolbus.org – is a great resource to help get things started. The resource section of this website includes guides, safety tips, and evaluations of walking school bus programs. Other useful sites are http://www.iwalktoschool.org and www.dot.state.fl.us/Safety/ped_bike/ped_bike.htm .
§ October 8th is National Walk to School Day
Action Steps:
Item / Champion§ Identify Schools that could be a good match for a walking school bus. (Some ideas include: Alta Vista, Southside, Gocio, Philippi Shores, Tuttle Elementary, Garden Elementary, Englewood Elementary). School newsletters could serve as an additional conduit for getting information out to parents.
§ Involve individual schools and teachers; teachers could integrate information with math lessons. Some schools already have ‘Fit-N-Fun’ clubs. Draft a letter to schools and PTAs about the possibility of support a walking school bus program. / Jennifer Ourednik & Kari Ellingstad
§ Have homeowners’ associations get involved by determining safe and walkable paths for students using the Walkability Checklist
Action Idea #2: Partner with Business to Promote Walking
Action Steps:
Item / Champion§ Interface with the Alliance for Responsible Transportation and local bicycle clubs. Identify ways to promote what they’re doing and find out how they have worked with businesses already. / Kari Ellingstad
§ Make presentations to local chambers of commerce, sharing information encouraging businesses to promote walking among clients and employees.
Use Chamber newsletters for outreach, use the Mobile Medical Unit as promotion tool (as it goes to some large businesses already)
Encourage business to “adopt” a walking trail or Pathway to Health
Consider developing “healthy business” branding, similar to the green business model. (Do any models already exist?)
Encourage business to offer discounts to merchants that walk or ride bikes
Serve as a resource center for walking-related information and research / Sarasota County Health Department – Division of Health Promotions
Tie in walking information with tobacco-free toolkits which will be distributed to businesses Include a performance measurement tool that businesses could use with employees. / Health Department intern & Crystal Bruce
Identify or develop some materials depicting examples of healthy businesses, to serve as a model locally / Health Department intern
Disseminate similar information to Non-Profits
E.g., the non-profit resource center newsletter / Dennis Stover
§ Get the word out about walking programs at malls
Action #3: Establish Walking Paths in Neighborhoods and Conduct Walkability Inventories in Sarasota County
Some Key Information
§ Pathways to Health is a Health Department sponsored program to designate walking paths at existing businesses, libraries, in neighborhoods, etc.
§ The walkability audit tool distributed at the forum can be found here: http://www.walkableamerica.org/checklist-walkability.pdf
§ Also, Active Living Research -- http://www.activelivingresearch.org – has a variety of walkability inventories available.
Action Steps:
Item / Champion§ Establish an inventory of the walking trails that exist. Work with Neighborhood Services, Cities and County to find out what exists and where there are gaps.
§ Use the Walkability Checklist as a tool to maintain consistency. Encourage community organizations/neighborhood associtions to collect as many checklists as possible as residents walk different routes.
§ Create our own survey based on standardized tool and put it online for individuals to fill out (ie. Suggest age on the tool). This
§ Self-guided maps could be created by neighborhoods
§ Chuck Henry agreed to assist with the development of the assessment tool
§ Dennis Stover agreed to make a connection with non-profits.
§ Jennifer Tucker agreed to take an active role in the effort.
§ Other individuals that could be involved include Andrea Kenzig, Hugh Henkel and Melissa Christensen.
Action Idea #4: Promote the Legacy Trail and other trails and unique walking tours
Action Steps:
There was a clear need to learn more about this topic. Action steps for this group generally focused on gathering information about:
§ The latest on the parking situation and ways to access the legacy trail
§ The efforts (or possibilities) of Sarasota History Alive in promoting walking tours
§ The possibility of including information about trails and parks in newcomer gift packs (if they are still being distributed), at newcomer clubs, and neighborhood associations.
Discussion Group Participants
Idea: Walking School Bus
Name / EmailCrystal Bruce /
Rhonda Herndon /
Jennifer Robertson /
Jennifer Tucker /
Sherri Reynolds /
Katherine Kim /
Mark Narvaez /
Linda Glover /
Chuck Henry /
Carol Conrad /
Jennifer Ourednik /
Linda Spivey /
Idea: Promote Legacy Trails (and others) and Unique Walking Tours
Name / EmailKari Ellingstad /
Crystal Bruce /
Linda Spivey /
Jennifer Ourednik /
Jen Storch /
Mark Narvaez /
Katherine Kim /
Sherri Reynolds /
Dianne Shipley /
Jennifer Robertson /
Idea: Establish Walking Trails in neighborhoods, conduct Walkability inventories
Name / EmailDennis Stover /
Rhonda Herndon /
Susan Calkins /
Karla Pignotti /
Liz Bumpus /
Linda Glover /
Chuck Henry /
Loring Wood /
Carol Conrad /
Idea: Partnering with Businesses
Name / EmailKari Ellingstad /
Dennis Stover /
Loring Wood /
Liz Bumpus /
Dianne Shipley /
Jen Storch /
Susan Calkins /
Karla Pignotti /
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For more information about the Community Health Interactive, visit www.chip4health.org/interactive