Green Action Centre needs you
r help to fund the WOW Program (We Often Walk to school and play). Click here to visit the Keg website and vote!
About the project:
NEED: Children today are not active enough for optimal growth and development. Active transportation is an important way children and youth can meet their daily physical activity requirements and prevent childhood obesity and other chronic disease.
WHOM: This project will help schools promote active transportation through an on-the-ground and easy to track incentive program for students Walking or Wheeling at least Once a Week (WOW!).
GOALS: To get kids more active walking or cycling to school. To adapt the WOW! Program to a local-Manitoba/Winnipeg-based context and distribute materials to up to 100 schools in Manitoba.
STEPS:
1. Secure funding through the Keg Thanks a Million Grants!
2. Adapt WOW! materials to be relevant to Winnipeg and Manitoba schools
3. Promote the campaign through the Active and Safe Routes to School Program using our network of over 700 people, partners and groups.
4. Distribute materials to schools that sign up through our website
5. Secure incentives and prizes that can be distributed to schools and students that have the highest number of active trips too and from school
6. Do a follow-up survey with participating schools to see if they have any suggestions for improvements
TIMELINE: This project can begin in August 2011 and will wrap-up in June 2012. The launch will be with International Walk to School Month in October, and the wrap-up will be Clean Air Day in June.
MONEY: We will use the grant money for the production (graphic design and printing) and distribution of materials to schools who register for the program as well as incentives and prizes for the schools. We will pay a small honorarium ($1000) to Ecology Action Centre for the rights to the WOW! Program, and will use no more than $3750 (15%) to pay for administrative and overhead costs.
Here is a bit more information!
The Green Action Centre Active and Safe Routes to School Program helps kids get active by working with schools and local communities to identify safe routes for children through School Travel Planning and other programming such as walking school buses, cycling and pedestrian education, mapping workshops and neighbourhood walkabouts, traffic counts and walking clubs.
One of the missing links for us is an on-the-ground program that can be used for encouraging students at a school-level to walk or wheel to school.
The WOW! Program (We Often Walk or Wheel) will make it easy for schools to promote regular walking and cycling and motivate children and youth to get moving. The WOW! Program will give them an easy-to-track incentive program so they can receive rewards or recognition from their school and the Active and Safe Routes to School Program. Students keep track of how often they walk using WOW! cards.
The WOW! Program has been developed by the Active and Safe Routes to School in Nova Scotia, and we have permission to tailor the program to Manitoba and adapt materials to a local context.
Thank you for this opportunity!
