StreetSmarts/511 pitches Walk and Roll at Hidden Valley; city and district to coordinate

Cara DeYoung of StreetSmarts/511 presented the Walk and Roll encouragement program the group runs at Mount Diablo Unified elementary schools and urged Martinez and the district to support a local rollout at Hidden Valley.

"Once you start walking and rolling to school, then you will," DeYoung said, describing the program’s student-centered incentive system: each child receives a tag with a barcode that is scanned at a weekly walk-and-roll station; every fourth active trip earns a collectible charm.

DeYoung said the program uses the app Active4Me to record trips and send parents notifications, and that StreetSmarts supplies startup material and templates. She estimated per-school startup costs at roughly $2,500–$3,000 to cover tags, app subscriptions, signs, cones and volunteer supplies.

Presenter data showed measurable growth at sites that run the program: Pleasant Hill Elementary’s pilot rose from about 120 participants (roughly 19% of the school) in year one to averages above 160 in year two and more than 200 participants in year three. Across participating schools this year, DeYoung said 11 campuses are running Walk and Roll and the initiative recorded more than 2,000 weekly participants at peak rollout. Physical bike-parking counts across participating schools rose from about 120 bikes pre-program to about 237 bikes after program introduction.

DeYoung acknowledged safety is the program’s primary constraint: "The competition with cars is the number one hiccup," she said, and recommended pairing encouragement with route planning and infrastructure improvements. Martinez and district staff agreed to share coordinator contacts and involve parents, school staff and city volunteers in planning Hidden Valley’s start date.