Advocacy Round-up: Building Capacity Across the Country

It’s a really exciting time to be in bike advocacy. With the states working on implementing MAP-21 and kids returning to walking and biking to school we’ve been hearing about successes large and small.

With that in mind, here are some of the great successes that have come out of Advocacy Advance grants. These stories and resources are great for inspiration and new ideas for your community.

• The Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition (LACBC) received a $15,000 matching grant in 2011 to bolster their bilingual education and outreach program to empower Spanish-speaking residents who lack access to bike safety and advocacy tools. This included a PSA video and poster, the 7th Street bike lane through an economically and culturally diverse neighborhood, and active involvement in the LA Bike Plan through workshops and rides. LACBC has leveraged this grant to raise an additional $50,000 and continues to build political power for improved bicycling in L.A. by better including populations of color.

[vimeo 37971012 Credit: LACBC]

• The Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota (BikeMN) used a Rapid Response Grant to win creation of a state Safe Routes to School program. The Minnesota Legislature created the program within the Department of Transportation, including K-12 to ensure all students can participate in SRTS. Although no funding was appropriated this year, a SRTS request is on route to be included in the Governor’s budget proposal. With the state program in place, BikeMN proposes millions of dollars for infrastructure and non-infrastructure grants in 2013.
• Bike Delaware received a $10,000 matching grant in 2011 for their Walkable, Bikeable Delaware campaign to create a national model to increase state bicycle and pedestrian funding in Delaware. Success! On June 30, the Delaware General Assembly passed its FY2013 campaign budget, which included a $13.25 million state authorization for walking and bicycling. Additionally, Bike Delaware has helped to drastically reprogram the state’s Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program (CMAQ) funding. After 20 years of nothing, almost 70% of 2012 funds will be spent on biking and walking.

Since 2009, Advocacy Advance – a partnership of the Alliance for Biking & Walking and the League of American Bicyclists – has awarded $780,000 in direct grants to over 40 state and local advocacy organizations that have used those dollars to achieve powerful improvements for biking and walking in their communities. To learn more about available grants, visit advocacyadvance.org.

Got news from your community or organization? Let me know at [email protected].