Dear Congress: I love Safe Routes to School

Coming on the heels of the national Safe Routes to Schools Conference, the Safe Routes to Schools National Partnership is collecting letters to Congress from supporters expressing in personal terms why it is important for children to be able to walk and bicycle to school. They will bundle the letters and send them to Congress.

To show your support for Safe Routes to Schools, follow the instructions below and go to the National Partnership’s Dear Congress Campaign page for more information.

Write a letter, and ask everyone you can think of to write their own Dear Congress letter on SRTS. These should include children (we’d love letters in crayon with drawings!); parents; crossing guards, school principals, nurses and teachers; mayors, city councilmen and county representatives; engineers; health professionals; and SRTS coordinators and volunteers. Basically—anyone you can think of that is involved with Safe Routes to School in some way. You could even do this as part of a class project in your local school to get children to participate.

The salutation of all letters should read “Dear Congress,”. Scroll to the bottom of this message for some very broad bullet points for different audiences for the content of the letter. But, it’s best if these are from the heart letters, in your own words.

Make sure that each of the letters includes a mailing address. If you are sending a group of letters from a school, you can use the school’s mailing address. Letters from individuals should have work or home mailing addresses with zip codes. We will match your letters with the Congressional district so we can share them with your Representative and Senators.

Send your letters to Margo Pedroso with the Safe Routes to School National Partnership by September 24, 2009. You can scan and email electronic versions to [email protected].  Or you can mail letters to: Margo Pedroso, Safe Routes to School National Partnership, P.O. Box 442328, Fort Washington, MD 20749.

Please do not send your letters directly to your Members of Congress.  We want to bundle the letters so they have a greater impact, so it’s important that you send them to the Safe Routes to School National Partnership.

Pass the word to other individuals and organizations you know. Please post this call to action on list-servs, e-newsletters, and bulletin boards. The more letters we get, the bigger impact we can have on Congress and the future of the Safe Routes to School program.

~Darren Flusche, League Policy Analyst