About the Leadership Institute

The priorities of the Leadership Institute are:

STRENGTHENING GROUPS

We strengthen local groups by addressing the top organizational capacity challenges identified by local groups, like:

• Building funding sources
• Stretching staff too thin
• Engaging the board
• Trying to cover too large a geographic area
• Recruiting, managing and retaining volunteers
• Getting media attention

 Learn about state and local advocacy groups in the State of the Movement Report.

SUPPORTING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

We conduct trainings and develop resources for staff to become more effective in key skills, such as:

• Hiring, managing and retaining talented staff
• Strategic planning
• Fundraising
• Program management and delivery
• Constituent relationship management 

ADVANCING EQUITY DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

We recruit and develop new leaders by advancing equity, diversity and inclusion through the promotion of:

• Strategies local groups have used to advance equity, diversity and inclusion in staffing
• Organizational assessment tools local groups have used successfully

BUILDING A STATE BY STATE STRATEGY

The Bicycle Friendly State ranking and report cards show wide differences in how supportive state DOTs are in creating great biking and walking communities. The effectiveness and capacity of state advocacy groups also varies widely — 19 states have no paid advocates working on statewide issues while only three statewide groups have 10 staff or more.

Our state strategy will:

• Create a national campaign to address the top obstacles at state DOTs
• Increase funding for biking and walking by fostering partnerships of bicyclists, walkers, and health partners with traditional transportation funding coalitions
• Strengthen state advocacy by conducting trainings specifically for statewide advocates, developing fundraising resources that make the case for state advocacy and exploring campaign partnerships with the Bike League and America Walks

TELLING PERSUASIVE STORIES

We want to learn how to tell great stories about active transportation. We speak the language of policy well. But there is more to the story: the joy of a bike ride or a walk through the neighborhood, the boost that biking and walking can give to making communities great.

Susie Stephens, a founder of the Alliance for Biking and Walking, was a charming and persuasive storyteller. We honor her spirit every year by awarding the Susie Stephens Joyful Enthusiasm Award.