Register their school and provide evaluation permission. Schools are registered by completing and returning a registration form available on-line at www.saferoutesmichigan.org.

Designate a Safe Routes to School coordinator that will serve as the main contact person for the school’s SR2S program.

Establish a Safe Routes to School team. The members of the team will vary from school to school, but often include: school administrators, teachers, student leaders, parents, local law enforcement officials, and representatives from the local road authority.

Assess attitudes and behaviors related to walking and biking to school. Schools will survey parents and students to assess their behavior, beliefs and attitudes toward walking and biking to school.

Assess the safety of walking and/or biking routes. School teams will assess the physical environment around the school and along routes traveled by students to identify barriers to safe walking and biking.

Develop a SR2S Action Plan. The SR2S team will review findings from the walking audit and information collected through student and parent surveys to develop recommendations to encourage and enable students to walk to school on safe routes. The Action Plan will address education, encouragement, enforcement and/or engineering needs.

All participating schools will receive a SR2S Handbook, which serves as the guide for developing a program. Team leaders are encouraged to attend a one-day training session that features many hands-on exercises to initiate a successful program. Participants will also receive a "Walk to School Day" kit to help with planning efforts and the school will receive a quarterly newsletter informing them of ideas for improving programs.

A federal SR2S program was authorized in 2005 as part of the surface transportation bill. So every state, including Michigan, has dedicated dollars to help with infrastructure improvements (such as sidewalks and traffic calming projects) and non-infrastructure activities to help schools implement their action plans.

Contact your local MDOT office or the WMRPC to find out more about the Safe Routes 2 School program.

Community Programs provide grants to assist in the development of essential community facilities in rural areas and towns of up to 20,000 in population.　 Grants are authorized on a graduated scale.　 Applicants located in small communities with low populations and low incomes will receive a higher percentage of grants. Grants are available to public entities such as municipalities, counties, and special-purpose districts, as well as non-profit corporations and tribal governments. In addition, applicants must have the legal authority necessary for construction, operation, and maintenance of the proposed facility and also be unable to obtain needed funds from commercial sources at reasonable rates and terms.

Grant funds may be used to assist in the development of essential community facilities.　 Grant funds can be used to construct, enlarge, or improve community facilities for health care, public safety, and community and public services.　 This can include the purchase of equipment required for a facility's operation.　 A grant may be made in combination with other CF financial assistance such as a direct or guaranteed loan, applicant contributions, or loans and grants from other sources.

Rural Development also has an Economic Impact Initiative (EII) for communities that have a very high unemployment rate. To qualify, the "non-employed rate" (which is different than the traditional unemployment rate) has to be greater than 19.5 percent. All of Mecosta, Montcalm, and Osceola counties are eligible to apply for these funds, which are a special pool of grant dollars.

In order to share information about EII, the WMRPC facilitated a meeting with representatives from Rural Development and the communities of Reed City, Big Rapids and Greenville, and the coun-ties of Montcalm and Osceola on August 19, 2008.

Applications for Rural Development programs are filed with the Rural Development field offices.　 Contact Paul Bristol, Community Facilities Specialist, at (616) 942-4111 ext 122 for all counties in Region 8 except Osceola. Communities in Osceola County should contact Valarie Handy, Area Specialist, at (800) 944-8119 ext 124.