Scholarships encourage rural cycling, walking in Arkansas
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Two Bentonville nonprofits are trying to help small Arkansas towns expand access to "active transportation" like cycling through a new scholarship program for rural leaders and professionals.
Driving the news: LaneShift and Trailblazers have teamed up to help participants from towns with fewer than 30,000 people in NWA and the Delta region attend a professional-development program that fosters active transportation.
- Scholarship recipients must work in fields like traffic planning or parks and recreation.
Why it matters: Rural areas often don't have the money, resources or established organizations of larger cities to develop active transportation.
- Rural residents, particularly in the South, are less likely than urban residents to walk or cycle, according to a 2023 Health Promotion Practice journal article.
Meanwhile: NWA's four largest cities, plus Bella Vista, have the top five bike networks in the state, according to People for Bikes.
- The Razorback Greenway walking and biking trail runs through them all.
Details: LaneShift started the Active Transportation Academy five years ago. The new scholarships will help rural decision makers find funding sources and learn about different infrastructure options that might work for their areas, the group's CEO, Ryan Hale, tells Axios.
- He explained that building trails and bike lanes isn't enough as rural communities begin to rethink transportation in their neighborhoods.
- They also have to consider public engagement and programming that welcomes new users, he said.
Of note: The program consists of both classroom time and some low-key cycling where participants can experience biking in other cities for themselves, Hale said.
What they're saying: Investing in these professionals will equip them "to forge a future where alternative transportation options contribute to improved well-being and greater equity within the communities they serve," Paxton Roberts, managing director at Trailblazers, said in a news release.
By the numbers: Twenty scholarships covering the $2,850 program will be available in the first year, thanks to funding from the Walton Family Foundation.