New Jersey residents. The work of the program also resulted in New Jersey’s recent national recognition (September 5, 2008) by the League of American Bicyclists as one of the top 10 Bicycle Friendly States in America.

  

In all, the accomplishments and activities of the NJDOT’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Program are key contributors to New Jersey’s efforts to create healthy and active livable communities, reduce our carbon footprint, and plan for sustainability.  Congratulations to NJDOT; we look forward to the continued growth and success of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Program.

 

Garfield Featured in Safe Routes Podcast

In recognition of the outstanding work accomplished by the Garfield Safe Routes to School Team, the community was recently chosen to be the focus of one of the first National Center for Safe Routes to School podcasts. The Safe Routes podcast is a monthly presentation that highlights ways to get kids active on their way to school and features interviews from SRTS programs across the country.  Podcasts are audio (MP3) files that can be aired on your computer or downloaded to an iPod or other portable player. 

 

The Garfield podcast, entitled “Co-Promoting with the Media,” shows how to partner with media outlets to

promote Safe Routes to School, explaining how the Garfield Safe Routes team helped launch a Newspapers in Education (NIE) series. Working with NIE resulted in the publication of the Get Up and Go series of curriculum-based Safe Routes to School (SRTS) activities that teachers can use in their classrooms to teach lessons on physical fitness, traffic safety, student security issues and bicycle and pedestrian safety. 
 
Representatives from the National Center said Garfield was chosen because of its excellent job in partnering with NIE to expose the safe Routes program to a wide audience, approximately 30,000 New Jersey students each day.  The National Center staff was also impressed that the Garfield program drew leadership from the local health department, showing partnership between local agencies and the schools.  For more information about the National Center for Safe Routes to School podcasts, visit:
http://www.saferoutesinfo.org/podcast/

 

Safe Routes to School National Conference: Two steps ahead Learn how Safe Routes to School programs across the country are changing the habits of an entire generation of schoolchildren and putting thousands of families two steps ahead of health and environmental concerns at the 2nd