Two Maine Schools are Winners of National Safe Routes to School Mini-grants!

Several Maine schools applied for the National Center for Safe Routes to School's Mini-Grant this fall - a highly competitive nationwide process. We are excited to announce that two of those schools, Harrison Middle School in Yarmouth and Ocean Avenue Elementary School in Portland, were chosen to receive one $1,000 award each.

At Harrison Middle School, students will use global positioning system (GPS) devices and OpenStreetMaps (OSM) to create safe route maps that walkers and bicyclists can use to travel to school and around the community. At Ocean Avenue Elementary School, the Parent Teacher Organization will be working with the school and community to implement a multi-faceted safe walk/ride to school program that includes elements of all the 5 Es (evaluation, education, encouragement, enforcement, and engineering).

Both schools have already started their activities, even before the checks have arrived. Yarmouth held a kick-off introduction to mapping session with a local cartographer and support from the local bike-pedestrian committee and school administration. And in Portland, the Ocean Avenue School celebrated it's monthly Walk & Wheel Day in December by inviting the City's new Mayor, the Maine Safe Routes to School Program, and Oakie, the Oakhurst mascot to walk with students and present a poster-sized symbolic check from the National Center to the school's principal. Congratulations to both schools and we look forward to sharing more with you as their projects proceed!

Posted on 12/15/2011 | Back