WalkWorks

If you have been looking for an easy, fun, and free way to increase your physical activity, seize the opportunity! Walking is a great way to improve your health and have fun with your family and friends of all ages.

What is WalkWorks?

To increase opportunities for physical activity, the Pennsylvania Department of Health has partnered with the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health Center for Public Health Practice to create a network of fun, fact-filled, community-based walking routes and walking groups. WalkWorks:         

• Identifies and promotes safe walking routes;
• Offers social support through guided, community-based walking groups;
  
• Helps schools develop walk-to-school programs; and
  
• Addresses local policies to increase safe walking routes.
  

So, start walking today! Find a local walking route and walking group near you in one of the following areas:

1. Allegheny County
2. Beaver County
   
3. Blair County
4. Cameron County
5. Chester County
6. Dauphin County-Capitol Complex
7. Delaware County
8. Fayette County
9. Indiana County
   
10. Lancaster County
11. McKean County
12. Monroe County
13. Northampton County
14. Philadelphia County
15. Schuylkill County
    
16. Tioga County
17. York County
    

Four Active Transportation Plans Funded and Adopted!

In August 2018, Walk Works announced the availability of funding to assist municipal entities with the development of active transportation plans and related polices. The first-time funding effort was another step in the program's efforts to increase opportunities for physical activity with the long-term goal of improving the health of the population. The announcement advised that WalkWorks was seeking to award mini-grants to communities interested in enhancing the built environment, thereby increasing walking and biking and, if/where appropriate, public transit.

Planning healthy, compact, complete communities is necessary to support active transportation. Further, the collaborative planning process, one of the expectations of WalkWorks, and the final plans are documentation that community design is no longer the domain of land use and transportation planners, alone. This shift that must be achieved in relation to how we plan and design communities to increase walking, cycling and public transit for a healthier population.

From numerous competitive applications, the four communities that best met the criteria for selection and received funding were Elizabethtown Borough, Lancaster County; Jersey Shore Borough, Lycoming County; Borough of Oakmont, Allegheny County; and West Earl Township, Lancaster County. With the assistance of experts and stakeholders, plus public input, we are pleased to share that the governing bodies of all four communities adopted plans by June 30, 2018. The plans include priorities as well as corresponding schedules and estimated costs. These communities have demonstrated their commitment to encourage physical activity by prioritizing active transportation and, thus, WalkWorks deems its initial funding an important achievement toward a healthier population.
For more information, please contact: pawalkworks@pitt.edu.

Funding is provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Health through the Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.