Our goal is to help children get to and from school safely while motivating children to experience the benefits of walking or biking to school.  The Regional Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Program was started in October of 2009.  Our program focuses on empowering local communities and school districts with the resources and knowledge needed to implement SRTS activities. By working to make it safer and more appealing for students to walk and bike to school, the Regional SRTS Program is continually making strides to improve childhood health, reduce traffic congestion and pollution, and create more livable communities. The program encompasses a seven-county region in northeast Wisconsin including Calumet, Fond du Lac, Menominee, Outagamie, Shawano, Waupaca, and Winnebago counties. Programming is designed around key components put forth by the Safe Routes Partnership, a national organization working to advance safe walking and rolling to and from schools. These components provide an organizing framework and are known as the six E’s. They include Education, Encouragement, Engagement, Equity, Engineering, and Evaluation. Our Safe Routes to School Program provides technical assistance and support to participating schools. Support includes trainings, workshops, resource development, and sharing of local and regional best practices on education, encouragement, and evaluation activities. Projects range from walking and biking audits, to coordinating one day events such as Walk to School Day to educate and encourage students to walk and bicycle to school. East Central SRTS staff, with many years of experience on these and other bicycle and pedestrian-related projects, assist local schools and municipalities to continually improve their SRTS efforts.