The mission of Safe Routes to School (SRTS) is to increase the number of students biking and walking to school through education, encouragement, and safety improvements, helping to create healthy communities by providing safer walking, bicycling, and riding routes.

Goals of the Safe Routes to School program include:

• Educate school-aged children in safe walking and biking practices
• Encourage children to use an active mode of transportation
• Engage with community members and work with existing community organizations in how Safe Routes to School initiatives begin
• Provide engineering safety improvements around crosswalks, signage, and sidewalks
  • Evaluate the effectiveness of the program activities and safety improvements

November 14th is Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day--an annual day of dialogue to commemorate Ruby's historic steps. In 2024, the City of Pittsburgh received the Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day grant from the Safe Routes Partnership.

Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day honors the living legacy of civil rights activist Ruby Bridges. In 1960, at the age of six, Ruby Bridges became the first Black child to integrate an all-white elementary school in New Orleans. Today, her story continues to inspire the next generation of leaders to end racism one step at a time.

The Department of Mobility and Infrastructure's Safe Routes to School Program awarded the grant to three Pittsburgh schools to host a Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day celebration:

• Propel Northside K-8 Charter School
• Pittsburgh Arlington K-8 School
• Pittsburgh Miller K-5 School

Students made signs, read books about Ruby Bridges, wrote essays, and celebrated at their individuals schools in honor of Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day. Each school ended the day with a pizza party.