ST PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota Department of Transportation announced the recipients of the 2023 Safe Routes to School grants.
The $725,000 in funding will go to 23 communities across the state to make it safer for students to walk and bike to school, according to a press release.
The grants will be provided for either planning assistance, to help communities come together and, "understand key issues, prioritize strategies and identify solutions that fit their local need," or to boost already existing local programs. Examples of such programs and initiatives could include installing bike parking or teaching children in the community how to ride a bike.
The following are the recipients of the 2023 awards, by category:
Planning Assistance
- Oak Ridge Elementary, Eagan
- City of Chaska
- Great Oaks Academy, Farmington
- Warroad Community Development, Warroad
- City of Plainview
- Anoka Hennepin School District, Dayton
- Circle of Life Academy, White Earth
- Highland Elementary School - Crookston
- Voyageurs Expeditionary School, Bemidji
- Osakis Public School, District 213, Osakis
- Alexandria Public Schools - District 206, Alexandria
- Mesabi East School District, Aurora
- Saint Cloud Area Planning Organization (APO), St. Cloud
Boost
- Rothsay School District
- Dakota County Public Health
- Minneapolis Public Schools
- Safe Kids Grand Forks
- Richfield Public Schools ISD#280
- Brooklyn Center Community Schools
- Saint Paul Public Schools (SPPS)
- City of La Crescent
- City of Fergus Falls
- Congdon Park Elementary School, Duluth
“Having visible, well-maintained places to park a bike is one important piece of the puzzle of encouraging bicycle riding,” said Will Wlizlo, a Safe Routes to School coordinator with Richfield Public Schools. “This kind of programming really makes other initiatives sing. This can be a city's investments in bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, or it can be other programs such as education or encouragement. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts."
For more information on Safe Routes to School, visit the MnDOT website.
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