Blog
We often divide the world of bicycling into three realms: the sport of racing, the business of the bike industry and the multi-faceted fronts of bicycle advocacy. With a pedal in all three areas, Karen Bliss is a leader with truly unique perspective. And we couldn’t be more excited to hear from her at the 2015 National Forum on Women & Bicycling on March 10. A former U.S. professional cyclist, Bliss earned the title “Winningest Cyclist in North America” during her career — and has continued to push for gender equity as a member of the USA Cycling and UCI women’s committees. A veteran of the bike industry, she’s currently the Vice President of Marketing for Advanced Sports International and sits on the board of the Outdoor Industries Women’s Coalition. And, as the chair of the new Philadelphia Bicycle Advocacy Board, she’s catalyzing efforts to make biking better in the City of Brotherly Love.
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If we know anything about bicycling advocates, it’s that they’re an innovative bunch. At the National Bike Summit this year we are putting the spotlight on exciting new ideas for advocacy – our theme is Big Ideas. One of the ways we doing that is by collaborating with our partners at the crowdfunding platform ioby. ioby is a nation-wide, nonprofit crowdfunding platform that helps local leaders raise cash, in-kind donations, and volunteer power from their own communities.
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In our September-October 2014 issue of American Bicyclist, we heard from the Cascade Bicycle Club on their innovative Advocacy Leadership Institute. Cascade will be presenting on the ALI in March at the 2015 National Bike Summit. Read more about their efforts below, and be sure to register for the Summit today!
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In late 2013, the League teamed up with the Alliance for Biking & Walking to host a series of webinars focused on harnessing social media for bike advocacy. We talked over the basics of the most-used platforms (Facebook, Twitter, etc) and about how to use these social media tools to build an audience and capture media attention. Below are the links to each of these presentations’ recaps, including video and descriptions. If you have any additional questions, please email [email protected].
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Over the past three years, the League has been privileged to play a pivotal, leadership role in the National Bike Challenge, uniting bicyclists of all abilities and interests to collectively log nearly 100 million miles. The Challenge has shown us the valuable role the League can play in catalyzing a great idea and the immense power in using our national reach to make a difference at the local level. We’re excited to see how the Challenge continues to evolve, as the League shifts to its new strategic plan and new challenges in 2015.
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If you need a healthy helping of bicycle and pedestrian policy insight to get through the holiday season, you’ve come to the right place. Advocacy Advance, our partnership with the League of American Bicyclists, released a series of reports and webinars this year to help advocates and public officials in the U.S. maximize investment in bicycling and walking. Missed a few sessions or reports? We’ve got you covered. Here’s the full list of reports and sessions from 2014.
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We’re ending 2014 with a big win for bicycling: a national goal to reduce bicyclist and pedestrian fatalities — an effort we’ve been championing for two years. Success in Washington is rarely immediate, as evidenced in this most recent development. It’s best measured in small milestones, as well as in the big wins. With that in mind, there are a number of milestones that we hope to build on in the 114th Congress.
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We’ve talked a lot about the increase in bicycling and pedestrian fatalities over the last year, but we’ve never really had an answer as to why. Rep. Rick Larsen of Washington State wants to know what the causes are, and what current transportation design and policy practices might be contributing. And when Members of Congress have a question like that, they turn to the Government Accounting Office to answer it. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress. Often called the “congressional watchdog,” GAO studies are considered non-partisan and thorough. Congress often uses these reports as a basis for legislative and policy change.
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The Atlanta Bicycle Coalition (ABC) is a model for organizations working in cities that are not traditionally known as bikeable or bike-friendly and are working to kick-start a cultural shift in order to effect city-wide transportation system change. “Our approach has been to make latent demand visible to agencies and elected officials through community-building, inclusive events like open streets, beginner-friendly rides and classes, and socials,” says Rebecca Serna, Executive Director of the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition. “As our numbers for these have grown, we’ve continued to emphasize that participation demonstrates demand for shift in infrastructure priorities towards more bikeable, walkable projects and communities.”
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“We need a mayor like that!” That’s the sentiment heard from many people after Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto concluded his remarks at the 2014 National Bike Summit. Moments earlier, Mayor Peduto had announced to the 800 bicycling advocates in attendance that he was appointing Bike Pittsburgh (BikePGH) Executive Director Scott Bricker to his region’s Metropolitan Planning Organization. (You can see the video here at minute 5:30.) That appointment means that bicyclists have a seat at the table for important regional transportation planning and funding decisions.
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