As a parent and an active community member within Richmond, I am concerned about the proposed changes to the Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) grant funding. These changes would impact the City of Richmond’s Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program and its important work. 

For years, Greater Richmond Fit4Kids has been an invaluable resource in supporting the Richmond City SRTS initiative, which has benefited many Richmond Public Schools (RPS) students in our community. This program has made a difference in improving safety for children and families, promoting healthier transportation options, and reducing traffic and speeding around schools. Through initiatives like the crossing guard program, Learn to Bike programs, and special events like Walk to School Day and Bike to School Day, Fit4Kids has helped make walking and biking to school a safer and more accessible choice for students and their families. 

Richmond’s SRTS program, and others across the state, would be negatively impacted, possibly being forced to reduce their work or discontinue without this essential financial support. I am particularly concerned that the newly proposed guidelines would cause Fit4Kids to lose out on funding opportunities that directly benefit RPS students and the community in the following ways: 

First, the state will limit each applicant to five project submissions per funding cycle, and being a non-infrastructure project applicant, the City of Richmond is faced with losing out on opportunities to apply for other higher-cost projects. This puts the Richmond City Safe Routes to School program projects, and other Safe Routes to School programs across the state at a disadvantage, keeping SRTS from being able to secure the necessary funding and support to sustain the program. We have already witnessed other SRTS partners across Virginia being forced to discontinue their programs due to challenges and limitations with funding. 

Second, I am concerned that the newly proposed language limits the percentage of a SRTS program’s budget that can be applied for through a TAP grant. For example, in the final year of the grant, a $100,000 program would only be able to secure $24,000 toward program costs, versus $80,000 which is currently allowable.

Respectfully, I urge you to reconsider these proposed revisions, and how they would impact the safety and wellbeing of students in Richmond, and beyond. Thank you for your time and consideration in preserving funding for Safe Routes to School.