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Get involved with the Be Active! Be Green! Bench Initiative

Warmer weather means more time outside. Whether you need a rest from enjoying your local trail, or just want to sit and enjoy the changing seasons, benches make up an important part of our outdoor spaces.

Active Living Ramsey Communities, in partnership with the Environmental Health division of Saint Paul – Ramsey County Public Health, is working to create bench corridors throughout the county to make it safe and easy for everyone to integrate physical activity into their daily routine. These routes help connect people to places they want to go and increase accessibility to the outdoors for people of all abilities.   

The goal of the Be Active! Be Green! Bench Initiative is to provide enough benches in outdoor community spaces so that a person can see the next bench while already sitting on one or knows one will be available again soon. These resting spots can be particularly helpful for seniors, people with disabilities, and small children. The initiative helps encourage physical activity by providing “pathways to health” for people of various ages and abilities.  

The initiative also helps promote recycling. All the benches are made from recycled plastic. You can find these benches throughout Ramsey County along trails and corridors 

Want to get involved?  

Now through July 9, public entities can apply for a grant to add benches along a route in their community. Talk to your city or township about adding benches to your community.   

Join the teams 

You can also support this work by joining the Active Living Ramsey Communities Coalition or the Biking and Walking Team. 

• The Active Living Ramsey Communities Coalition creates and promotes environments that make it safe and easy for everyone to integrate physical activity into their daily routine. They meet quarterly. 
• The Walking and Biking Team helps create a multi-modal, all-abilities transportation system that provides safe, efficient, and accessible facilities for pedestrians, bicyclists and transit users. 
• You can keep up on active living and walking and biking happenings in Ramsey County by signing up for these groups’ email lists.  

For more information about the Be Active! Be Green! Bench Initiative contact: 

Active Living Ramsey Communities
Ramsey County Public Works 
651-266-7181
Connie Bernardy

This article is featured in Green Ramsey, an environmental health newsletter from Ramsey County.   
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