Tom Farley hopes a new federal grant program will encourage neighborhood improvements so that more children walk or bicycle to school. Farley is chair of community health sciences at Tulane. (Photo by Paula Burch-Celentano)

Did you have to walk five miles to get to school when you were a kid?

If so, you were lucky, according to Thomas Farley, professor of community health sciences at Tulane University's School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and program adviser for "Safe Routes to School," a federal initiative aimed at encouraging kids to walk or bike to school.

Louisiana received $9.5 million from the federal government to establish "Safe Routes to School" initiatives. According to Farley, local governments, nonprofit organizations, schools and universities can apply for grants of up to $250,000 to pay for neighborhood improvements that will encourage increases in children's activity levels.

The deadline for grant applications is Jan. 16, 2007.

Improvements to neighborhoods that could be covered by the grants might include sidewalk repairs, intersection improvements, bike lanes or educational programs for children and parents, such as "walk to school days."

The percentage of children who walk or bike to school has dropped dramatically in recent years, with only 16 percent walking to school now compared to 42 percent in 1969. One-fourth of trips to school are made on a school bus, and more than half of all children arrive at school in private automobiles, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Encouraging more children to walk to school could help address the growing problem of child obesity and health problems due to inactivity. Currently, only one-third of adolescents get recommended amounts of physical activity each day, and this drop in physical activity means more children than ever have become overweight and are at risk for diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke and even colon cancer.

Obesity is a major concern of the Prevention Research Center. Farley is its director as well as the chair of community health sciences department.

The center initiates projects to address the physical and social environmental factors that influence the obesity epidemic. The center also is working to build a healthy environment in a renewed New Orleans by participating in the citywide planning and trying to incorporate health goals into these plans. Through its research, the center serves as a resource for policymakers, local organizations, and community members on the environment and its impact on health.