PENNSYLVANIA — WalkWorks, a program of the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) and the Pennsylvania Downtown Center, has awarded nine communities in the Commonwealth with $210,000 in grants. The grants aim to assist the development of Active Transportation Plans and increase physical activity by connecting local destinations through improved pedestrian, bicycle, and transit networks.
his year’s grant recipients are:
Allegheny County —
- Bethel Park Township: $25,000
- Churchill Borough: $19,375
- South Fayette Township: $11,250
Cambria County —
- Southmont Borough: $24,375
Lehigh County —
- South Whitehall Township: $20,000
Luzerne County —
- City of Pittston: $35,000
Northampton County —
- City of Easton: $35,000
- Palmer Township: $20,000
Westmoreland County —
- City of Greensburg: $20,000
Over the next year, the grant recipients will collaborate with transportation and community planners to collect data, assess current conditions and aspirations, and incorporate public input to shape their Active Transportation Plans. The program is bolstered by its partnership with the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), which is funding two of the grant recipients.
Acting Secretary of Health Dr. Debra Bogen emphasized the importance of physical activity in improving overall health and preventing diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure. She stated, “WalkWorks supports healthy communities by enabling more people to have the option of walking or biking to places they go every day.”
DCNR Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn further highlighted the benefits of creating improved walking and bicycling roadmaps for communities, including cleaner air, less noise and traffic congestion, and improved health and quality of life for residents.
The integration of safe, beautiful, functional, and accessible public spaces and streets in communities allows residents to use activity-friendly routes to reach key destinations. This not only increases physical activity and reduces obesity and chronic disease but also improves individual health, expands economic vitality, and reduces health care costs.
This year’s WalkWorks grants underscore the vital connections and necessary coordination between transportation policy and public health.
Samantha Pearson, Healthy Communities Program Manager at the Pennsylvania Downtown Center and coordinator of the WalkWorks Program, expressed the program’s goal: “We are making strides in adjusting our surroundings to make them pro-access, pro-activity, and pro-health. Our collaboration can lead to healthier people, more resilient communities, safer streets and roads, and stronger local economies.”
The grant recipients were selected from a pool of high-quality applicants by a multidisciplinary review team, which included representatives from the Department of Health, the Pennsylvania Downtown Center, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and the Department of Community and Economic Development.
The funding for these grants is provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under the Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant program, with additional funding from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources for two of the awardees.
For more information about WalkWorks, visit the PA WalkWorks website.
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