This story was reported and written by our media partner the Virginia Mercury.
A state grant program called Safe Routes to Schools, which funds crossing guard training, teaches students how to safely ride a bike and sponsors walk and bike to school days, has gone through a metamorphosis that could put the brakes on those initiatives.
Safe Routes to Schools was created in 2005 under the federal Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act but got an influx of funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which was passed in 2021.
Safe Routes to School funds Fit4Kids, an initiative promoting a healthy lifestyle through nutrition and movement implemented in Central Virginia school districts including in the cities of Richmond, Hopewell and Petersburg, and Chesterfield and Henrico Counties.
“Fit4Kids has been the Safe Routes to School program for the city of Richmond for about 10 years,” said Mary Dunne Stewart, chief executive officer of Greater Richmond Fit4Kids.
Stewart said in that time, they were able to grow it from a small pilot program, to a district-wide one that trains more than 100 crossing guards and teaches 750 students annually in their Learn to Bike program.
In Harrisonburg, project coordinator Andrea Troyer said though their program has been “on and off” for 10 years, and was originally led by a part-time coordinator. But because of a SRTS grant, they were able to hire her as a full-time coordinator back in November. Since then, she’s been trying to restart the bike program.
“One of the big things that’s been a success, is the education around students in their bike units,” she said. I was coming from a school that had started up their bike unit for the first time in six years. And so it’s really exciting to kind of see the excitement from teachers, administrators, students, (and) from parents.”
A major change to how program facilitators request funding and use it has left them unsure if they’ll be able to grow their outreach efforts in the fiscal years of 2027-28.
Stewart said in the beginning, the Fit4Kids program was funded in a certain way.
“It used to be funded by a specific line item at VDOT that was for Safe Routes to School with federal funding. And that funding went away about three years ago,” Stewart said.
According to Jessica Cowardin, assistant director of communications for the Virginia Department of Transportation, when federal funding for the SRTS program was eliminated, the activities under the program became eligible under the Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP).
“Because dedicated SRTS funding has not been federally reestablished, all SRTS projects must be administered in accordance with the federal TAP guidance,” Cowardin said in an email to Virginia Mercury.
Stewart thought the change was “great,” and said the funding stream still allowed localities to apply for various bike, pedestrian and infrastructure projects. But the issue is in the numbers.
How Fit4Kids and other programs get grant funding, and the challenges with the process
Normally when requesting funds, programs such as Fit4Kids work in conjunction with city departments. In Richmond, for example, it’s the Department of Public Works. In turn, DPW piggybacks Fit4Kids requests into their bigger pile of funding requests for infrastructure projects.
In the past, localities could request funding for up to 11 projects. But now, that number has dwindled to five. This means projects under TAP have to compete with the larger, more expensive infrastructure projects cities need money for.
The purpose of the change, some local leaders said, remains unclear.
“We’re trying to figure out, why is this happening? Is this a big picture strategy decision from the governor’s office or from the Secretary of Transportation? Or is this kind of a mid-level decision?” asked Stewart. “The only response we’ve gotten is that they’re trying to incentivize new programs.”
Cowardin of VDOT said they have to administer TAP funding in accordance with federal and state code and in line with policies established by Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB), which were last updated in summer of 2023. She said the change in maximum TAP applications to five per cycle went into effect this year.
This drastic application reduction spurred major concern for Justine Blincoe, policy director of Richmond’s Fit4Kids. She said her organization has had a great relationship with DPW over years but the cap on grant applications they can submit threatens it.
“Because the city of Richmond is kind of earmarking one of the project submissions for us each year, if they were limited to doing five project submissions versus two times that amount, it would really limit their opportunity to be able to apply for other higher cost projects,” she said.
Blincoe said if you compare the cost of a big paving project to how much money Safe Routes to School needs to operate, for example, it’s possible the youth biking programs will be left out.
“It just really kind of puts into perspective that they could be losing out on opportunities to apply for something that’s higher cost. And it really kind of disincentivizes localities to partner with a Safe Routes to School program to be able to do this,” Blincoe said.
Because of the uncertainty of being left out of funding, Stewart met with representatives from Richmond Public Schools on May 13.
“I’m meeting with RPS to ask them to be the applicant instead of DPW,” she said to Virginia Mercury in an email ahead of the discussion. “I feel very uneasy asking DPW to forgo a much more expensive project for a VERY low reimbursement rate for SRTS.”
The day after that meeting, Stewart said RPS agreed to be the lead applicant in future applications.
