Oshki Ogimaag Charter School receives Safe Routes to School grant

The Oshki Ogimaag Charter School received some excellent news from the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT).

Dave Cowan, the MnDOT Safe Routes to School Coordinator, sent an email to Oshki stating, “We are pleased to inform you that your Safe Routes to School planning assistance grant application for Oshki Ogimaag Charter School/Cook County SRTS was selected for funding through the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s (MnDOT) recent SRTS solicitation.

The Arrowhead Regional Development Commission will contact Oshki after the contracts are in place late this spring to get started and provide planning assistance. The plans will be completed in partnership with your local Safe Routes to School team, which will be the point of contact for local input, information, and the creation of an implementation plan.

The goal of SRTS is to ensure that kids in Minnesota can “safely, confidently, and conveniently walk, bike, and roll to school, and in daily life.”

Safe Routes to Schools programs are used to increase safety, reduce traffic and improve air quality near schools through a multidisciplinary approach that is structured around the six E’s.

Evaluation:

Evaluation helps in understanding the underlying issues that need to be addressed and understanding how the projects and programs can be integrated to make the other five E’s most effective.

Encouragement:

Events and activities that spark interest in both parents and students walking and biking to school. Encouragement programs reward participation, build excitement about walking and biking, and inform children and adults about the personal and community benefits of walking to school.

Equity:

Equity ensures that SRTS initiatives benefit all demographic groups, with additional attention toward addressing barriers and ensuring safe and healthy outcomes for lower-income students, students of color, and others that face significant disparities.

Enforcement:

Strategies to deter unsafe behavior of drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians and to encourage all road users to obey traffic laws and share the road safely around schools.

Engineering:

Infrastructure Improvements (signage, crosswalks, signals, etc.) designed to improve the safety of people walking, bicycling, and driving along school routes.