VITAL COMMUNITIES
Way To Go! is now focused on getting K–12 schools on board to battle carbon pollution head-on. You’ll get the tools you need to motivate your students, staff, and teachers to bike, walk, carpool or ride the bus to victory!
VTrans is offering $500 grants to municipalities and K-12 schools to assist in building a statewide outreach and advocacy network for the Go! Vermont Program.
Organize Bike, Walk & Roll to School Day
Bike, Walk & Roll to School Day is fun for students, gets them outside and moving, plus it helps build good habits! And, it reduces vehicle exhaust and traffic around the school. Check out our Bike, Walk & Roll to School Day toolkit to help you get started organizing this event at your school.
Event Planning Timeline & Guide
Communication Templates
Sample Bike Route Map for Chaperones
Bike & Walk Safety Guide for Students
Smart Commute for Schools
Smart Commute helps Upper Valley schools improve the way students and staff travel to school. Our goal is to increase the number of students and staff who take the bus, walk, bike, or carpool to school and:
- Promote sustainability within the school
- Lower environmental impacts and conserve resources
- Build good transportation and exercise habits
- Save money
- Minimize traffic in town and around the school
What is Smart Commute?
Smart Commute creates a tailored commuting program designed to meet the goals and interests of your school community. Starting with a short, online survey, we establish baseline data on commuting habits and then develop a sustainable commuting plan and work with you to implement it.
Project Deliverables
- Sustainable Commuting Plan including:
- Free strategies like internal promotions, walk-and-bike to school days, Way to Go! commuter challenge
- Low-cost strategies like bike racks and bike repair kits at school
- More ambitious, long-term options like infrastructure improvements
- Tools to connect carpoolers
- Annual surveys to track savings
- Ways to engage students and parents
Is it Affordable?
Vital Communities offers Smart Commute at no cost thanks to the support of the U.S. Department of Energy, The High Meadows Fund, Canaday Family Foundation, Vermont Agency of Transportation, and our many member organizations and individual donors.
Contact us by email or call Bethany at 802.291.9100 x111 to get your school involved.
Participating Schools
Lebanon School District
Frances C. Richmond Middle School
Marion Cross Elementary School
Hartford Memorial Middle School
Ottauquechee School
Resources
- VERMONT SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL
- Learn how to enroll as a partner school and browse their downloadable toolkits, curriculum materials, and web-based seminars on the Program Resources page
- NEW HAMPSHIRE SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL
- Learn how to enroll as a partner school and apply for startup grants
- BIKE SKILLS AND LOANER PROGRAM FOR SCHOOLS
- Local Motion is a Vermont-based nonprofit that promotes people-powered transportation and recreation
- DISCOUNT BIKE HELMETS FOR SCHOOLS
- Schools are eligible to purchase discounted bike helmets from Safe Kids Vermont. Contact Krissy Keating at 802.847.2291 or by email
- WALK AND BIKE TO SCHOOL DAY
- National Center on Safe Routes to School’s page on how to organize bike and walk to school days
- HOW TO ORGANIZE A BIKE-WALK EVENT
- This resource from Massachusetts Safe Routes to School includes a walkability and bikeability checklist and other resources
- GO! VERMONT
- Vermont’s website to connect commuters with carpools, vanpools, transit information, and bike and walk information
- FEDERAL SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL
- NATIONAL CENTER ON SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL
- SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL NATIONAL PARTNERSHIP
Success Stories
Attention, Vermont Schools: It’s WAY TO GO! Time
This year's statewide Way to Go! School Challenge is September 25 - October 6. It’s a great way for schools to battle carbon pollution head-on!
[...]
More Bus Service for the Bradford Area and I-91
Exciting new bus service improvements from our partner, Stagecoach Transportation Services!
Expanded RIVER ROUTE (Wells River-Newbury-Bradford-Fa [...]
Gear Up for Everyday Bicycling
Do you want to bike more? Ready to take the next step, but not quite sure where to start? Vital Communities can help! In just one short hour, parti [...]
Hartford Middle Schoolers Bike and Walk
Around 150 students participated in Hartford Memorial Middle School’s first Bike & Walk to School Day on May 6. Organized by Vital Communities, [...]
Lebanon School District
In 2013, Smart Commute recognized the Lebanon School District as the small workplace of the year for its Safe Routes to School program, the use of bio [...]
Vital Communities Program News
Eat. Meet. Buy. Flavors of the Valley 2019 Vendors are here!
Check out the hottest new vendors and returning favorites! Samples are listed if the vendor has provided sampling information. Vendors will also have many delicious items for sale! April 7, 11 am - 3 pm at Hartford ...more
April Meet-Up Series for Beginning Farmers
We have an exciting project for new farmers in the White River valley portion of our region! The High Meadows Fund is supporting a series of free peer-to-peer gatherings for beginning farmers to build community and learn. ...more
Have You Seen Our New Logo?
Have You Seen Our New Logo? What do you think?! Vital Communities brings people together to cultivate civic, environmental, and economic vitality in the Upper Valley—and after 25 years, it felt like time to refresh our look ...more
Flavors of the Valley Vendor List
Check out the hottest new vendors and returning favorites! Samples are listed if the vendor has provided sampling information. Vendors will also have many delicious items for sale! All the details on Flavors of the Valley ...more
The Benefit of B Corps
Certified Benefit Corporations are a new kind of business that balances purpose and profit. Society’s most challenging problems cannot be solved by government and nonprofits alone. The B Corp community works toward reduced inequality, lower levels of ...more
Join our team as a Communications Intern this summer!
Are you looking for a summer internship in the Upper Valley? Do you know someone who is? Vital Communities is looking for an intern to assist our Communications team from May through September. The position ...more
Intern with Valley Quest!
Are you passionate about the Upper Valley? Do you feel motivated to share our region’s special places with the community at large? Love working with people of all ages? Vital Communities is looking for a ...more
Apply for a Farm to School Mini-Grant!
We are excited to announce the 2019 mini-grant program from Vital Communities' Upper Valley Farm to School Network! Funding is available to both Vermont and New Hampshire schools. Start dreaming up your farm-to-school projects—we want ...more
Thinking Local First
Shop or Buy Local First is a common call to action. The threat to local businesses with competition from online commerce is real and growing, so it is important to patronize local businesses if we ...more
Local First Members Give Back!
Locally owned businesses are rooted in the Upper Valley and donate time and money to the community every month of the year as they support nonprofits, schools, and communities. Keep your dollars where your heart and support ...more
Seeking Bids from Solar Installers by Nov. 30
Vital Communities is teaming up with Kearsarge Climate Action to launch a Solarize Kearsarge campaign in spring 2019, following on the tails of the upcoming Weatherize Kearsarge campaign launching in January 2019. We are seeking proposals ...more
Thank you, Ben!
This summer we had the privilege of working with Ben Fletcher, pictured second from left. Ben brought an incredibly well suited array of skills to Vital Communities and was a boon to the Valley Quest ...more
Lebanon Area Businesses - Join us on Sept. 27
So many small businesses in the Upper Valley are burdened with high energy costs. And not enough time to do anything about it! We've got some good news for you. A group of Lebanon residents are ...more
Bird and Quest
The Vermont Center for Ecostudies lists 382 species of bird that occur in Vermont, whether year-long resident or migratory visitor. The VCE’s Vermont Atlas of Life citizen science operation has recorded sightings of 332 of ...more
A Lot Lighter with More Hands: Leadership Upper Valley
On the bright, sunny morning of June 13, Cobb Hill was waking up, and the soon-to-be graduating 2018 Leadership Upper Valley class was just arriving for their final meeting. Before the ceremony at Harpoon Brewery, ...more
Longevity & Commitment: Keynote Remarks from Heroes & Leaders 2018
Editor's Note: Many thanks to Kevin Peterson, Director of Economic Development for the New Hampshire Community Development Finance Authority, who offered the keynote speech at our May 3 Heroes & Leaders celebration. Read his complete remarks ...more
Long-Standing Stewards: Heroes & Leaders 2018
Every spring, Leadership Upper Valley, a program of Vital Communities, hosts a Heroes & Leaders celebration to recognize individuals who make significant contributions to the greater Upper Valley region. This year, Heroes & Leaders is ...more
Get Stoked on Automated Wood Heat!
Boiler on its last legs? Looking to opt out of fossil fuels? Come learn about today's self-stoking automated wood heat! Opt out of oil with delivery of local wood pellets and whole home wood heating ...more
