Later this month, Marin County Safe Routes to School will kick off a new Greenways to School Campaign funded by a grant by the Marin Community Foundation.  The $175,000 program is part of the Marin Community Foundation's five year, $10 million campaign to fight climate change announced last October.

The Greenways to School Campaign will introduce several new strategies to encourage local children to walk and bike to school.   Parents will be invited to join a School Pool program, a tool which will help parents organize carpools, as well as groups of children to walk or bike to school together with adult supervision.  Greenways will organize a competition between local schools and classrooms to challenge students to bike and walk more.  Cash prizes will be awarded, ranging from $100 for classrooms to $2000 for the winning school.

The goal of the program is to get 800 new students biking and walking to school, which will save an estimated 430 metric tons of carbon from being emitted into the atmosphere.  In addition to preventing climate change, the program will also help kids stay healthy by getting regular exercise.

Greenways to School will officially debut on January 21st at 4:00 pm with an event at the Marin Connections Center.  More information about Greenways to School is available in stories from the Marin IJ and the Pacific Sun.  Greenways to School will launch a website in January; check back here in several weeks for a link.