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INTRODUCTION: The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) and the City of Montclair (City) proposes to develop a Safe Routes to School Plan to address seven (7) elementary schools. The City has made a strong commitment to increase active transportation through the longstanding Healthy Montclair Initiative. All of the Elementary schools in Montclair are located in disadvantaged communities according to CalEnviroScreen; five of the seven elementary schools fall within the top 14% with two of those schools falling within the top 5%. Obesity rates are extremely high, six of the seven schools have an obesity rate over 42% with two schools over 61% according to the California Physical Fitness Test 2014-15. Of elementary school children, 58% of 5th grade students do not feel safe walking to school, according to the California Healthy Kids Survey. The City of Montclair covers 5.3 square miles. The city's population has steadily grown with the addition of new residential developments over the past ten years. The 2010 Census reflects a population of 36,664 residents. According to the American Community Survey, 71% of the population in Montclair are Hispanic, 9% are Asian and 4% are African American. In the Ontario-Montclair School District, 85% of the students are eligible for free or reduced priced meals. The City is an ethnically diverse, low-income community. Because of the great diversity in the City, the Safe Routes to School Plan will be culturally sensitive and linguistically appropriate in its development and will be inclusive of all segments of the population. There is an existing network of hundreds of Promotoras, who have participated in Montclair's Por La Vida health education program. This program encourages Latina women to become advocates to create healthy changes in their community and they have already gained much expertise in the areas of health, and the importance of physical activity. This network will be vital in creating a sustainable system for community engagement and development of the proposed Safe Routes to School Plan. Promotoras will participate in community meetings and workshops and in the recruitment of volunteers and parent champions. The City has reached a point of readiness to transform the community, and the Healthy Montclair Initiative, a partnership of public, private, nonprofit and residents that began in 1998 will also be leveraged to address the concerns identified. The City has made a commitment to improving the health of the community, utilizing a framework that includes addressing the social determinants of health and root causes of health issues. The City, through the Healthy Montclair Initiative, intends to develop, implement, and evaluate community based programming and infrastructure projects that will increase physical activity, increase the use of public facilities including bicycle and walking paths, create safer routes to school, and ensure that streets in the City are designed and maintained with all users in mind. Addressing these critical needs in an efficient manner will require the City to create a culturally relevant Safe Routes to School Plan. The City plans to aggressively apply for further funding to begin implementation of the resulting Safe Routes to School Plan. The City will work closely with Caltrans and SCAG to identify potential funding sources. In addition, the City will work with several collaborative partners such as the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health and the San Bernardino County Active Transportation Network to identify future funding sources. Many non-infrastructure elements of the Safe Routes to School Plan will continue regardless of funding through its existing Promotoras network. The Promotoras will help to continue to train future community champions to implement walking school buses and the Safe Routes to School committees. OVERALL PROJECT OBJECTIVES: • Identify, through data gathering, and address mobility deficiencies in the multimodal transportation system through a Safe Routes to School plan. • Encourage stakeholder and community collaboration in the planning stages of the Safe Routes to School Plan. • Involve active public engagement through community engagement meetings and activities. • Develop a Safe Routes to School plan, integrating Smart Mobility 2010 concepts, which will result in programmed system improvements. • Support the implementation of SCAG’s 2016 Regional Transportation Plan and Sustainable Communities Strategy (RTP/SCS).

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