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Now closed: 2025-26 WalkWorks Active Transportation Planning Grant Round
Walking, biking, using a wheelchair, and accessing public transit are independent, reliable, and resilient transportation modes that are healthy for our bodies, minds, finances, communities, and the environment. The WalkWorks motto is “mobility options for all.” The WalkWorks Program looks forward to a time when everyone in Pennsylvania has a full range of transportation options available to them.
WalkWorks is pleased to announce its ninth round of funding for the development of Active Transportation Plans. Grants and technical assistance will be offered to a limited number of municipalities and planning organizations to assist with the development of Active Transportation Plans during the period of July 2025 through June 2026. These plans are essential to efforts to establish activity-friendly routes that connect people to everyday destinations, thereby expanding opportunities for physical activity and improving public health.
In the context of this Funding Opportunity, active transportation includes walking, biking, using a wheelchair, and accessing public transit. Eligible applicants include municipalities, Metropolitan and Rural Planning Organizations (MPOs/RPOs), and other governmental entities, such as counties, with the capacity to complete the proposed project and adopt the resulting plans.
The full WalkWorks Active Transportation Planning Program Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is linked within the righthand menu on this screen and is available as a Word document so the file can be used to complete the application (Appendix B). It is additionally available as a PDF, though not fillable in that format. Alternatively, the option to apply electronically through an online submission platform is provided within the FOA. An informational webinar reviewing the FOA will take place on Wednesday, February 4, at 12:00 PM. Register for the webinar.
Important Dates
As detailed throughout the Funding Opportunity Announcement, below are dates pertinent to this grant cycle:
Milestone | Date |
|---|---|
FOA release | January 15, 2025 |
FOA Intro Webinar. A nonmandatory webinar to review the FOA and provide an opportunity for questions. Registration is linked above (as well as in the FOA). | February 4, 2025 at 12:00 PM |
Deadline for Submitting Questions. Questions should be submitted to pawalkworks@padowntown.org by the date/time indicated. Questions may also be submitted sooner. | March 7, 2025 by 5:00 PM |
Answers Distributed. Responses to questions received and not answered during the webinar will be emailed by this date to webinar attendees, registrants, and submitters of questions. | March 14, 2025 |
Application Submission Deadline. Applications must be received by the date/time indicated or they will not be considered. | March 21, 2025 by 5:00 PM |
Application Review Team Meeting | April/May 2025 |
Awardees Notified. Grant recipients will be notified by this date; those not being awarded funding in this cycle will receive notice shortly thereafter. | June 16, 2025 |
Plans Adopted. Grant recipients will develop and adopt their funded Active Transportation Plans by this date. | June 30, 2026 |
Would developing an Active Transportation Plan make sense for your community? Depending on your role in the community, next steps may vary:
- If you are a municipal official, please talk to your staff and other leadership about putting together an application. Consider whether adjacent municipalities should be involved in your community’s application process in some way, whether as co-applicants for a multi-municipal effort or as sources for Letters of Support.
- If you are with a local non-profit, please encourage municipal leaders (or county or MPO/RPO leaders) to apply.
- If you are an interested resident, please approach your elected officials. No matter your role, if you haven’t already, start talking to local elected officials and/or the decision-making body of your community about the potential and rationale for taking part.
Consider whether your community will apply next year!
Coming soon: 2025-26 WalkWorks Capacity-Building Pre-Planning Assistance Grant Round!
The Department of Health is working to increase equity and ensure that communities most in need are able to pursue WalkWorks planning funds.
WalkWorks is pleased to announce its third round of technical assistance to support low-capacity, high interest municipalities with the pre-planning steps they must undertake to be ready to apply for funding to develop Active Transportation Plans in 2026. Pre-planning assistance will be available to selected municipal applicants. Eligible municipalities must either be in a State Physical Activity and Nutrition target county identified by the Department of Health or achieve a threshold rating as an Environmental Justice area on the Department of Environmental Protection assessment map. Those areas include 10 counties (Clearfield, Erie, Fayette, Greene, Lawrence, Luzerne, Lycoming, Mercer, Northumberland, and Philadelphia) and any community with an overall rating above 60% in the Department of Environmental Protection PennEnviroScreen Tool.
In addition, applicants should have an interest in applying for funding to develop an Active Transportation Plan but lack the knowledge, professional support, or resources needed to assemble an application. Barriers may include a lack of clarity among elected officials about the goals/results of developing a plan, a lack of understanding among the public of the relevance of such a plan for their community, and/or an inability to establish a reasonable scope and budget for the plan.
Structured assistance will be offered to a limited number of municipalities between August of 2025 and April of 2026. The long-term goal is to prepare additional communities to apply to develop active transportation plans, which is necessary for the establishment of activity-friendly routes that connect people to everyday destinations, expanding opportunities for physical activity and improving public health.
The Program Guidelines and application will be released in early April 2025. WalkWorks looks forward to supporting your community!
2025-26 WalkWorks Funding Opportunity Announcements
Active Transportation Planning Program (Word – fillable application)
Active Transportation Planning Program (PDF – read-only)
Active Transportation Planning Program FOA Informational Webinar