On a chilly winter day in January 13, 2012, 165 students, families, school and community members could be seen walking from Cascade View Community Park through the Tukwila community and ending at Cascade View Elementary School. Community Schools Collaboration worked in partnership with King County Public Health, Tukwila School District, and WA State Bicycle Alliance to implement a Safe Routes to School project in Tukwila. Safe Routes to School, a Washington State Department of Transportation program, provides “technical assistance and resources to cities, counties, schools, school districts and state agencies for improvements that get more children walking and bicycling to school safely, reduce congestion around schools, and improve air quality”(WSDOT website).
There has been a lot of work that lead up to this walk, including evaluation of pedestrian safety, and establishing safer and fully accessible crossings, walkways, trails or bikeways. CSC helped to plan a “walking audit” from several areas surrounding the elementary schools in Tukwila. Schools, families, the city and the district were involved in this walking audit to assess the safety of students if they wish to walk or bike to school. With the support of Feet First, maps were created to plan out 
the safe routes for students to walk and bike to school. These maps were distributed to every elementary school student, and a large map is located in the office of each school. Some of the concerns that were addressed after the walking audit were installing “no parking” signs to increase visibility for students crossing the street and adding road-paint indicating a cross-walk. CSC is currently working with the city to work towards installing flashing lights and a cross-walk at a blind-turn area near an elementary school where students are walking.
Another essential step towards Safe Routes to School was around education and encouragement of students and families to have students walk or bike to school to address childhood obesity and the health benefits of walking to school while also reducing emissions and traffic congestion. In partnership with WA State Bicycle Alliance students were given bicycle safety lessons in all of their Physical Education classes. These layers of preparation all lead up to a successful Walk to School event at Cascade View Elementary School.
Tukwila School District Superintendent Ethelda Burke and Cascade View Principal Jeff 
Baker walked alongside dozens of students and their families, carrying signs and encouraging others to walk with them. A fourth grade student said “This is my best birthday because this is the first time I walked to school”, and several parents spoke about their excitement about being able to walk to school with their children. After the great success at Cascade View, CSC is working not only to implement similar event at the two other elementary schools in the Tukwila School District, but also creating a monthly Safe Routes to School event to continue encouraging students and their families to walk or bike to school while building a vast sense of community.
