Last updated: 13th March 2008
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The WSB program will be available at the following schools:
The program provides a safe, consistent system in which children can walk under the supervision of adults - either parents or other adult mentors. It introduces both the children and the adults to an important and easy form of activity. Walking to school is an easy way for children (and adults) to get the 30-60 minutes of daily physical activity recommended by the Centers for Disease Control to maintain a healthy weight and reduce the risk of chronic disease. Other benefits include reduced traffic congestion and air pollution around schools, increased community connections, and improved focus for children in the classroom.
If your child attends one of the schools listed above and you are interested in signing him/her up for the WSB program, contact Margy Tonnies, PedNet's Safe Routes to School Coordinator, at margy@pednet.org or 573-239-9902 to receive a registration form (but there's no need to register again if your child participated last fall). Even if you live far from school, your child may still be able to participate in the program if you can drop him/her off at a pre-arranged "staging post," where the leader will meet the children and walk with them to school.
Columbia’s Walking School Bus program was developed as part of the Active Living by Design (ALbD) project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and has received continued funding from the Missouri Foundation for Health. It is now funded as part of GetAbout Columbia - Columbia's $22m federal pilot program.
Columbia’s ALbD partnership is led by the PedNet Coalition in collaboration with the Columbia/Boone County Health Department. The Columbia WSB program has won city, state and national attention as a model program to help fight the child obesity epidemic.