Education Grant Recipient Program Information
ODOT SRTS Education (Non-Infrastructure) Project Summaries 2025-2026
Tier 1 Funding Pathway- Education Plus Grant- Beginner
Bend-La Pine Schools
Budget-$150,000 grant + $50,000 Consultation Services paid for by ODOT
This grant funded position will enhance active transportation options and safety for students traveling to school. The district aims to cultivate a culture within schools and families that values walking and biking to school while ensuring safety through infrastructure improvements in collaboration with the city and addressing parental perceptions. This grant will fund an Active Transportation Specialist (ATS). The ATS will be responsible for communicating walking routes to families, reviewing routes for safety, supporting walking school buses, approving mini-grants for school incentives, and assisting in the development of a Safe Routes to School (SRTS) action plan focused on safety, equity, and well-being. Additionally, the ATS will help collect data on parent drop-offs and support the work of the local SRTS coordinator, expanding outreach to more families. The creation of this new position is expected to increase support from schools, students, and parents for active transportation options. The ATS will also serve as a liaison between BLS and the SRTS Coordinator with Commute Options, enhancing the relationship and extending the reach of the current SRTS Coordinator efforts.
Centennial School District 28J
Budget- $150,000 grant + $50,000 Consultation Services paid for by ODOT
Proposed Program:
Hire a SRTS coordinator that will:
1. Work with students, teachers and families to develop comprehensive materials (flyers, videos, maps, training) that educate, inform, and support safety traveling to and from Centennial Schools and the broader Centennial Community.
2.Provide lessons to educate students on how to safely walk and bike.
3.Support Walk and Roll to School days throughout the year.
4.Collaborate with partners including the Cities of Portland and Gresham, Multnomah County and regional partners.
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR)
Budget- $137,401 grant + $50,000 Consultation Services paid for by ODOT
The proposed program will place a high emphasis on recruiting a trusted local community member who can conduct in-class and out of class educational activities focused on increasing knowledge and access to safe active transportation. Ideally this program will be led by a trusted local community member who can host activities that include chaperoned walk to school days, as many Tribal community safety concerns center on the experience of Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls. Our Safe Walking & Biking efforts will be better attended if staff is present to oversee them. The program will focus on developing community connections, finding training opportunities for themselves and school staff to improve active transportation safety resources in the community, and sharing bike/ped safety education at community events. This coordinator will develop a program that considers the needs of both on reservation youth and off- reservation nearby schools with high CTUIR Tribal Member student attendance.
Harrisburg School District
Budget- $150,000 grant + $50,000 Consultation Services paid for by ODOT
1. Community Engagement and Education: Engage the community through workshops, seminars, and outreach programs to raise awareness. Implement educational initiatives in schools, teaching children and parents about traffic safety, route planning, and the benefits of walking or biking.
2. Crossing Guards and Safety Personnel: Recruit and train crossing guards to assist children at critical intersections. Collaborate with local volunteers or law enforcement to monitor and manage traffic during peak hours.
3. Implementation of Technology Solutions: Develop a mobile application or online platform
that allows parents and children to plan safe routes to school, incorporating real-time traffic and weather updates.
Tier 2 Funding Pathway- Education Grant- Ready to Succeed Intermediate
Bikeworks by Pear
Budget – $150,000
The project plan is to provide transportation health in East Multnomah County in partnership with Multnomah County, the City of Gresham, and Portland Bureau of Transportation’s SRTS programs with a full time SRTS coordinator. This will further the progress the East County SRTS team has made in relationship building within the 3 school districts (Centennial, Reynolds, and Gresham-Barlow), as well as strengthen our ties to those communities. Our goal is to educate and provide resources on pedestrian and bicycle safety in East County as we build trust. Continue to expand transportation safety at a comfortable pace. Ask input from these schools and communities to determine what will work best for their transportation safety needs, and build a plan based upon those needs. bike works will continue to support the current need for transportation safety in these schools and give the underserved communities the transportation knowledge that they wouldn’t otherwise have access to without this funding. With ongoing support, we want school staff and the community to have the tools and confidence needed to do Safe Routes work on their own.
Community Cycling Center
Budget- $149,786
The Community Cycling Center’s (CCC) SRTS program mitigates barriers for children walking and rolling to school by providing a variety of opportunities to engage families in safety education. CCC’s afterschool Bike Clubs, summer Bike Camps, and Walk n Roll to School Day events connect youth and families with low-traffic, safe routes to access schools and other desirable destinations by navigating public right of way via walking or rolling. CCC’s Learn to Ride workshops further mitigate barriers by equipping participants with the foundation needed to independently ride a two-wheel bicycle. One main objective is to appoint a dedicated bilingual SRTS Coordinator to CCC’s team, which would be partially but not fully funded through CCC’s current contracts. The SRTS coordinator will diversify programmatic reach by engaging Spanish-speaking families who attend Title IA schools in Portland. Their primary aim will be to foster a culture of active transportation within the schools they work with, achieved through consistent SRTS engagement. Through these efforts, CCC’s SRTS program will enable more children and families to safely access the benefits of walking and rolling to school.
Hood River School District
Budget- $150,000
In only 3 years, over $11 million in funds have been raised for infrastructure and programming by Safe Routes to School coalition members in the City and County of Hood River. We want to build on this momentum by continuing the education grant for another two years and provide a business case for funding a full time SRTS coordinator locally. To address the safe routes to school infrastructure gap, the Hood River County School District and Hood River County is applying for the Planning grant to engage the families at 5 schools. The City of Hood River completed a SRTS Plan in 2022 and Parkdale Elementary completed a quick SRTS plan in 2023 and both provide right of way agencies with a funding strategy. The Education grant will not only fund the agency coordination for long term infrastructure funding strategy, but more importantly, will provide current solutions to the barriers including in-school education, programming, demonstrations, free bikes for families in need and family engagement. By funding a full-time coordinator for another two years, the District will have stories and data to build the case for local funding and help normalize a walking and rolling to school culture.
Mid-Willamette Valley Council of Governments
Budget- $149,149
To be a part of a multimodal change, our program needs funds to amplify our community outreach. We are prioritizing teaching pedestrian and bike safety education, planning and hosting monthly walking buses, growing local partnerships, and engagement through social media. We believe that supporting PE teachers to teach both pedestrian and bicycle safety in PE during school day instruction is a priority. As an example, we have been fortunate to have had Washington Elementary School commit to a year of walking buses. These monthly events have been a great avenue to build community relationships. Partnerships have been a catalyst for growth in our program. Thanks to our connections with community leaders and online engagement, we are able to reach more people. These are aspects of our program that we believe will empower students’ independence. Added staff support will help us to plan community engagement with attention to detail and be present with students, families, and the community. To change the school’s multimodal culture, we must empower the students and their families first.
North Wasco County School District
Budget-$150,000
The School District has completed a SRTS Master Plan (2022) and a SRTS Implementation Strategy (2023) and has hired a full time energetic, bilingual SRTS Coordinator who has already engaged students, families, and volunteers in SRTS activities. The Coordinator is supported by an active Coalition of community organizations. Program goals include strengthening existing partnerships and building new partnerships to support program sustainability and resource sharing; educating stakeholders; inspiring a true community-led commitment to walking and biking; addressing student and parent needs, which may include different physical abilities, household income, languages, and cultural barriers; leading SRTS student activities and events, mitigating traffic concerns by securing safety along school routes and within school sites; working with the City to coordinate with and provide outreach for infrastructure projects; developing strategies for incorporating biking/walking curriculum into PE classes; and collecting data for program performance analysis and improvement. Program sustainability is a priority and is a work in progress supported by the District and Coalition partners.
Portland Public Schools
Budget- $150,00
PPS strives to be a champion of a district-wide SRTS program, creating a community that is safer, healthier, happier, and better connected not only for our students, but for all community members. Tier I Education Grant funding allowed PPS to enlist a full-time dedicated SRTS Coordinator. Tier II of the Education Grant supports PPS in retaining this position to further ingrain SRTS programming within the district’s operations and culture through promoting Walk and Roll events, assessing school traffic circulation and providing creative and collaborative solutions, identifying funding sources for supporting SRTS activities and quick-build opportunities, and creating resources for schools to support students in walking and rolling. Additionally, the SRTS Coordinator serves as an important liaison between district departments, school leaders, families, and PPS partners for communications and navigating internal and external policies and procedures. This position oversees the PPS Safety Patrol program, providing support and guidance to individual school programs that support school communities in safely navigating the commute to school.
Thrive Umpqua
Budget- $145,245
Thrive Umpqua aims to build upon the achievements of the ESD’s successful Safe Routes to School initiative, which has benefited 15 K-12 schools and engaged 46 classes over the past four years. The SRTS Program Staff will expand the program by using a comprehensive approach to assist children in Douglas County in overcoming the obstacles and risks associated with walking and cycling to school as a pillar of our school wellness initiative and built environment policy efforts. The SRTS Program will work to increase active transportation (bike, scooter, skateboard, bus, and carpool) to school and decrease single passenger trips. The objective is to increase safety for students as they travel to and from school, increase the opportunity for students to confidently choose to use active transportation modes, and ultimately, increase the safety and health of the entire community through the reduction of traffic and resulting congestion. The education, events, and community engagement proposed will benefit the entire County while direct service will focus primarily on fifteen schools serving student populations with > 40% low income, and those schools facing the most transportation barriers.
Tier 3 Funding Pathway- Innovation Grant (Advanced)
Beaverton School District
Requested Budget- $50,000
Pedestrian education is fundamental for increasing the safety of students during arrival and departure to school for the following reasons:
1. Students who learn and practice roadway safety will likely utilize these skills when traveling to school.
2. Parents of students who display these skills will feel more confident and comfortable allowing their child to choose active transportation.
3. An increase in active travel to school will decrease the volume of traffic, making neighborhood routes safer for all community members.
We will fund a part time Education Coordinator to build upon our existing education program. They will ensure that our pedestrian education program is taught to every elementary student at all 34 district schools. They will collaborate with the PE department to ensure the program is streamlined to include essential pedestrian and bicycle safety skills in an active and engaging way. The overall goal is a sustainable district-wide pedestrian and bicycle safety program embedded within the PE department.
City of Hillsboro
Budget $49,584
This funding will provide support for the advancement of the robust Safe Routes to School program in and around Hillsboro schools, working to advance historically marginalized community and student participation, increase safety education and partnership opportunities for grades K-12, and further opportunities for school community to engage with and learn about safe design and behavior. These efforts will include increased training opportunities for staff and volunteers, expansion of the safe walking and rolling programming, and building upon
curriculum and engagement efforts in partnerships with our community partners. Activities will include school bike and pedestrian learning (bike repair, helmet and bike fittings, skills stations, safety gardens with instruction), trainings (crossing guard, walking school busses and bike busses, walk audits, school circulation support) and middle and high school program advancement, including development of mentorship program and sustainability integration.
City of Portland, Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT)
Budget -$50,000
The BIKETOWN for All Youth Ambassador program will recruit 2-3 youth from each partnering high school to deliver a BIKETOWN orientation to their peers through a series of classes. The material of these classes consists of e-bike safety info & education, how to use our bike-share system correctly, & how choosing active transportation can help mitigate the effects of climate change & improve their physical & mental health. Ambassadors will then enroll their peers in the program, instantly granting them full access to the system for free. Ambassadors will go through an 8-hour training session led by the SRTS team at PBOT, be responsible for organizing & scheduling their classes & promoting them to their peers. Ambassadors will also have students complete a pre-survey asking them basic questions about their physical & mental health & what modes of transportation they currently use. They will also deliver a post-survey to these students 30 days after their initial enrollment to track initial mode shift. Ambassadors will be compensated as super volunteers for every class they hold. They will also gain valuable experience in peer-to-peer education, leadership, and project management.