Rainbow Injury Prevention Center

Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital has undertaken an innovative new initiative to improve pedestrian safety for children walking to and from school.  The RB&C Safe Routes to School program focuses on four public elementary schools on Cleveland’s near-west side – Clark, Scranton, Paul Dunbar, and Walton.  The primary goal of the project for the coming year is the development of a School Travel Plan (STP) for each of the four target schools which will address both specific concerns around each building while also promoting an integrated approach to improving the overall pedestrian and biking environment in the surrounding neighborhoods.   This planning process starts with organizing and motivating key community stakeholders, school staff and teachers, parents and students, law enforcement, the public health community and other interested organizations and businesses to develop a shared set of goals and priorities in terms of infrastructure improvements, safety education, enforcement and expanded opportunities for fitness and recreation.  

To get as much community and school involvement in the planning process as possible, we have developed several inter-related activities which will encourage widespread participation while providing key information and data gathering for planning and organizing.  We hope to develop a plan that is a true document of the community’s needs and experiences, reflecting the voice and concerns of those who navigate the streets and sidewalks on a daily basis.  To do this we need multiple innovative and exciting opportunities for participation in the planning process.  This will assure that the project will have the full backing of the community and schools as well as buy in from local organizations, businesses and sponsors that can help sustain the project beyond the planning stage.   These planning and information gathering activities will also serve as a demonstration of the types of activities which might form the basis of the educational and health promotion activities included in each school’s STP.  It is hoped the educational and programmatic pieces of the STPs will go well beyond merely establishing an annual walk to school day event or other smaller individual school-based projects and create a basis for planning inter-related projects which will be a resource for all children living in the surrounding neighborhoods.