Equity
Last week, Advocacy Advance released a new resource, “Active Transportation Equity: A Scan of Existing Master Plans.” While the report is not a comprehensive list, it cites 38 examples of active transportation master plans that include definitions of equity, equity goals, and — in some cases — performance measures for equity. But why this equity resource? What’s its purpose?
Sometimes, in the rush to spread proven strategies, we overlook the brilliance of inventions born of necessity. Not James Rojas; he lives in the space between intentional design and the happenstance of the everyday, and he wants us to join him there. Each of us carries a lifetime of days spent in many kinds of streets and neighborhoods.
How do we ensure traditional advocacy organizations value and genuinely incorporate the perspectives of new community leaders — even when it exposes our blindspots or runs counter to our experiences? Dr. Adonia Lugo examines this critical question in “Who Participates in What Processes: From groupthink to democracy in bicycle policy advocacy” — a new report based on Lugo’s academic expertise, personal experience and participation in the 2015 Youth Bike Summit.
Two weeks ago, I had the honor and privilege of being a panelist at the National Bike Summit in Washington, D.C. The Summit is an annual bike advocacy event that unites bicyclists from across the nation to build a bicycle-friendly America for everyone. I joined the panel, “People and Policies Successfully Addressing the Root Causes of Inequity” to talk about equity, specifically racial equity, and why it matters for the bike movement.
Walking advocate Vanessa Garrison is taking on the crisis of inactivity. “Everything we do is around a broader discussion about black community— household stability, health, women with chronic diseases, and the crisis of inactivity,” Garrison, the founder of GirlTrek, said of her work. It’s not about walking, per se, but about how people walking more and creating environments where people walk can impact our society. Sound familiar? It should. It’s the shift that’s happening in bicycling advocacy right now, too.
Big ideas are a lot like children. They’re unpredictable. Challenging. A little scary. Each one has the potential to change the world. And like children, big ideas grow and grow and grow. Members of the U.S. bicycling community have been asking themselves lots of hard questions lately. Who are we really serving? Who’s been included — and who’s been left out? And most importantly: how can we do better? We have just scratched the surface in examining how our work can better reflect the communities we serve.
Ahead of the 2015 National Bike Summit, we’ve been holding Twitter chats with presenters to hear more about their work and ideas. Today we chatted with Rue Mapp, CEO and Founder of Outdoor Afro.
Mapp is the closing keynote speaker at the 2015 National Forum on Women & Bicycling. We put together a recap of Friday’s discussion below. We hope to see you next Tuesday, March 10, for the Forum! Onsite registration is still available!
Ahead of the 2015 National Bike Summit, we’ve been holding Twitter chats with presenters to hear more about their work and ideas. Last Friday, we chatted with Naomi Doerner, of the Alliance for Biking & Walking, and Simran Noor, of the Center for Social Inclusion, about transportation inequity.
Their conversation at the Summit is focused on the people and policies successfully addressing the root causes of inequity. In addition to Doerner and Noor, Dara Baldwin of the National Disability Rights Network will discussing the topic during the Summit. If you aren’t already registered, click here!
Many people get involved in bike advocacy because they want to promote bicycling and increase safety, yet we all know that not everyone who rides has the time or inclination to become an advocate. Sometimes the people who don’t get involved actually have the most need for better streets in their neighborhoods. How can we ensure that bike advocacy agendas are designed to meet those communities’ needs? Multicultural Communities for Mobility (MCM) in Los Angeles has been experimenting with this question since its early days as a bike light giveaway program housed at the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition in 2008. Today, MCM is leading the nation in innovating ways to transform community-engaged bike advocacy from a good idea into action.
We’re excited to announce the featured speaker at the opening plenary of the 2015 National Bike Summit: Maya Rockeymoore, the President of Center for Global Policy Solutions and director of Leadership for Healthy Communities, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Rockeymoore is an expert in equity in policy, specifically in health care. As a part of her responsibilities as director of Leadership for Healthy Communities, Rockeymoore is dedicated to helping state and local elected and appointed officials advance policies that support healthy eating, active living, and childhood obesity prevention. At the Summit, Rockeymoore will be discussing targeted universalism in policy and how that relates to transportation equity.