League of American Bicyclists’ Community Spark Grants Program Launches

Over the past two years, America has seen a boom in biking. This can be seen on your neighborhood streets, your regional trails, and at the community level. The League of American Bicyclists is thrilled to be able to help build on this moment by launching the League of American Bicyclists’ Community Spark Grants. These spark grants are meant to be a catalyst for empowering your community through bike-related projects that create more Bicycle Friendly Communities. What ideas do you have for your community?

As record numbers of people have been getting out to take bicycle rides, streets have been converted to “slow streets” and other solutions have been used to accommodate safer, slower speeds for people biking, walking and rolling to get around. Advocates have been reimagining how to transform their streets and communities and we are excited to invite you to join in these transformations. 

The League will award 10 grants of up to $1,500 to organizations seeking to improve their communities through biking. To be eligible to apply, organizations must be based in the United States and be a non-profit (501c3, 501c4 and 501c6) and/or a public or government agency/organization. Other types of organizations will be considered on a case-by-case basis. The funding for these grants comes from the generous support of GM and from the Active People, Healthy NationSM Initiative, an effort by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity to help 27 million Americans become more physically active by 2027.

Through these grants, the League is looking to fund the next generation of innovative and creative safe streets projects and we highly encourage organizations and partnerships led by or primarily serving people from ethnic or racial minority groups to apply. We hope this seed funding can be the spark that puts your next idea into action. The deadline to apply for the Community Spark Grant is July 15, 2022 at 11:59 pm PT. For more information about the grant check out the application page below. We look forward to receiving your application!

Check out these examples of projects that might give you some ideas of things your community could do:

• Tactical Urbanism Guide 
• AARP The Pop-Up Placemaking Tool Kit
• Discover Traffic Gardens
• #RedCupProject demonstration for protected bike lanes
• The Takoma Park Equity Walk
• Dance Mob Pop Up demonstration for dangerous intersections
• Strategies to Increase Physical Activity from the CDC