This is the April issue of the Marin Safe Routes to Schools ENewsletter. This newsletter provides you with monthly updates of the Marin Safe Routes to Schools program, including highlights of the month.

Highlights of the Month
Miller Creek Teens Give Away Bikes
Street Smarts Expands
Kent Middle School Wheels Skills
Spring Contest Promotions
Green Fuel at White Hill
Riding With Youth Classes
Have more Green Fun on Bike to Work Day
Freewheel Film Festival
Get Used Bikes at Trips For Kids
Thanks for the Office Furniture

APRIL'S CALENDAR

SAVE THIS DATE
Spring Team Leader Gathering
Tuesday, June 2, 11:30 a.m.
Location TBA

TASK FORCE MEETINGS

Novato Task Force Meeting
Thursday, April 23, 7 p.m.
Novato School District
1015 7th Street, Novato

Ross Valley Task Force
Friday, April 24, 10 a.m.
Ross Valley School District Office
110 Shaw Drive, San Anselmo

Mill Valley Task Force
Thursday, May 21, 9:15 a.m.
Mill Valley School District
4511 Sycamore Ave., Mill Valley

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Miller Creek Middle School Students
Donate Bikes to Novato Families
The students in the Teens Go Green club at Miller Creek Middle School provided their own version of a stimulus package to families in Novato.  They gave away 60 bikes on Saturday, March 28, at Hamilton School in order to stimulate green modes of transportation.

In an effort to reduce climate change, the Teens Go Green club, a project of the Marin Safe Routes to Schools program, collected and restored used bikes with the aim of redistributing them to children in Marin County who do not own bikes. They chose this project because it not only supports a healthy alternative to vehicle transportation; it also makes bikes available to kids who otherwise might not be able to purchase them.

Family Advocates of the Novato School District, from Hamilton and Loma Verde Schools, assisted in identifying children to receive the bounty  They also received helmets donated by the Novato Police and Managers Associations and locks provided at cost by Mike’s Bikes and paid for by a donation from Claude A. Wyle Esq., of Tam Valley. SR2S taught students safe bicycling for their new bikes with a Bike Rodeo.

Teens Go Green students were supported by Miller Creek science teacher Mike Schulist, and  volunteer parents Kel Harris and Craig Tackabery. To collect the bikes, students promoted the program expecting to receive about 20 donated bikes, but in fact they received 68, in many sizes and colors. “Helping people is as easy as greasing a chain; said TGG club member, Zara Thomspon. “When we asked for help, so many people in the community responded.” 

Helped by a free workshop provided by BikeWalkMarin, the students learned basic bike repair skills. After the workshop, students and adults met several times to clean and repair the bikes with the help of Spokey Godfrey, a professional bike mechanic from Summit Bicycles. Trips for Kids and Performance Bikes donated bike parts such as seats, tires and chains to help with the initiative.

The students enjoyed the whole process, especially helping other kids have the opportunity to get around without a car. “I learned what it feels like to help others who don’t have as much money, said club member Evan Tackabery. “It felt meaningful and purposeful, and made me feel warm inside.” 

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Street Smarts Marin Expands to Eight Communities in Time for Back-to-School
The Street Smarts Marin pilot program received highly favorable feedback in the participating communities of Corte Madera, Larkspur, and Mill Valley from residents, city staff and elected officials. Indeed, the Street Smarts Marin website received numerous requests from other communities for the program, especially around schools.

Streets Smarts is a traffic safety public outreach program from Transportation Authority of Marin (TAM) and local jurisdictions targeting driver, pedestrian and bicyclist behaviors with ten messages in various banner, sign and poster formats:

MESSAGES BY BEHAVIOUR
These STREET SMARTS messages are designed to address the behaviors as follows:

Twenty schools in the pilot jurisdictions participated by posting banners, distributing announcement letters and reminders and the Safe Driving brochure to about 7000 K-12 students.

The TAM Board of Commissioners voted to expand the project to the Ross Valley communities of Fairfax, San Anselmo, Ross, as well as to Tiburon and Belvedere.  It is scheduled to be deployed to these five communities, plus again in Corte Madera, Larkspur and Mill Valley, at the end of August 2009 for back-to-school.  San Rafael, Sausalito, Novato and other areas will receive the program if requested and funding permits. The Street Smarts Coordination team will be introducing a neighborhood outreach program in the next phase, also.

For more information about Street Smarts Marin and to see sample messages, go www.StreetSmartsMarin.org.

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Kent Middle School Wheels Skills
Kent Middle School students are learning Drivers Education using their bikes with an Interactive Game Show called Drive That Bike that teaches the rules of the road.   In the series of three afterschool events, students will practice maneuvers such as making quick stops and turns, hand signaling, and shoulder checks and finally will put their Drivers Ed. knowledge to use with an on-street field trip to a local park and picnic.  These kids will be a PED ahead of the rest of the teens when it comes to learning Driver Ed for autos.

Spring Contest Promotions
The Streets are alive with more kids walking, biking, skipping, jumping, pogo sticking, and ride sharing.  The annual spring contest has begun at many schools in Marin and many more will be underway as spring unfolds.  Students are making colorful posters to promote the contest where they have a chance to win a new bike provided by Marin Bikes with funds donated by Kaiser Permanente.  This year, participants will be collecting walking charms for each time they come to school in a green transportation mode.  Those who complete a card get a pair of colorful shoe laces and get entered into a raffle for the bike.  Supplies are going fast as more and more students step up to reduce their carbon emissions.

Green Fuel at White Hill
White Hill Students “fuel” their competition with action packed incentives and events to promote their Spring Pollution Punchcard Contest.  Middle school students know best what motivates middle school students, and the White Hill club of 20 members determined relevant prizes that best stimulate green transportation at their school.  In addition to the grand prize custom fit Marin Bike, students will raffle off i-Tune gift cards and certificates from local favorite restaurants and businesses.  The club also determined that the classroom with the most number of completed Punch Cards will win a Bike Blender Party and are organizing a walk/bike to school day on Earth Day (April 22nd) with group meeting locations one and two miles away from school. School wide participation will enable the kids to earn points toward a “Day on the Green” complete with DJ and fun activities.  The students are fully involved in all aspects of the Contest from creating the poster advertisements, writing bulletin notices, making announcements in every classroom, and staffing the tables and handing out prizes.

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Riding With Youth Classes
Riding with Youth classes are made possible by a recent $25 million federal grant funding the Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program (NTPP) in Marin County and the collaboration between WalkBikeMarin and the Marin County Bicycle Coalition.

Workshops are held six times per year after school or on a weekend day at various locations throughout Marin County.  The classes are taught by Safe Routes to Schools instructors.

Classes are available:

• Saturday, April 11, 9:30 – 12:00 at Novato Youth Center
  

• Saturday, May 9, 9:30 – 12:00 at Old Mill School, Mill Valley
  

• Saturday, June 13, 9:30 – 12:00 at Tamalpais Community Services District Community Center, Tam Valley

To register go to MCBC www.mcbc.org or WalkBikeMarin www.WalkBikeMarin.org. To lean more or to schedule a Riding With Youth Workshop contact Peggy at 456-3469 ext 8# or email peggy@marinbike.org

Have More Green Fun on Bike to Work Day
Thursday, May 14, is the Bay Area’s 15th Annual Bike to Work Day.  Join thousands in celebrating bicycling as a healthy and fun way to make your local trips – to work, school, the store, library, or movie.  Stop by a Marin Energizer Station in the morning for a bag of goodies.  Enter to win prizes and join the Team Bike Challenge at 511.org.  Join the Marin County Bicycle Coalition to enter the Bike Month Sweepstakes. For more details, visit marinbike.org.

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Freewheel Fim Festival
The Freewheel Film Festival celebrates cycling of all kinds -- trail, commuting, road or just pedaling to the grocery store. Visit rodmilstead.com/freewheel for details on submitting your own bike videos to the Festival contest.  No entry fee required! Selected videos will be shown on Wednesday, May 13th at 5:30 pm at the Drake High School Little Theatre.  Donations welcome.  The Freewheel Film Festival is sponsored by the Drake High School Mountain Bike Team, Communications Academy and GreenRoutes Club.  Contact: Rod Milstead / freewheelfilm@gmail.com.

Trips For Kids Fall Warehouse & Shop Sale
Looking for a used bike for your child? Trips for Kids is opening its San Rafael warehouse to the cycling community. At the same time,they are offering 20-50% discounts on selected items at the Re-Cyclery Bike Thrift Shop in downtown San Rafael.

The Trips for Kids Warehouse is located at 125 Larkspur St. Suite 119, San Rafael. The Re-Cyclery Bike Thrift Shop is at 610 Fourth Street in downtown San Rafael. For more information call (415) 458-2986.

Thanks for the Office Furniture
Safe Routes to Schools has new digs at 737a Center Blvd. in Fairfax.  Thanks to Michael Freeman for donating office chairs, a conference phone and other items for the new office.  Come check us out.

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SAFE ROUTES
TO SCHOOLS
is a program of the
Transportation Authority
of Marin
3501 Civic Center Dr.
San Rafael, CA 94913
www.tam.ca.gov

Project Manager:
David Parisi
415-388-8978
david@
parisi-associates.com

For general
information
on the Safe Routes
program:
Program Director:
Wendi Kallins
415-488-4101
wendi@marinbike.org

For information on
school activities:
Project Coordinator:
Laura Kelly
415-456-3469 ext. 2#
laura@marinbike.org

For information on
school classes:
Project Coordinator
for Logistics:
Peggy Clark
415-456-3469 ext 8#
peggy@marinbike.org

©2009 Safe Routes To Schools Marin
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