Summit 2015

2015 National Bike Summit
Thank you to everyone who participated in the 2015 National Bike Summit! The event united the voices of more than 650 bicyclists on Capitol Hill to advance bike safety, funding and more.
The 2015 Summit and National Forum on Women & Bicycling looked at changing the equation for bike advocacy, with the theme of Bikes+. We talked about how to build a more equitable bike movement, the importance of the suburbs, how to partner with other industries and movements and much, much more. Read through some of the event's resources below, and watch the recap video from Streetfilms.
View the program as a PDF here. | Stay tuned for links to presentation files!
National Forum on Women and Bicycling
Opening Plenary
A Case Study in Leadership: How Mentorship and Bold Leadership is growing the mission of Tulsa Hub | Download PPT
- Ren Barger, Tulsa Hub CEO
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Barbara Bannon,
Tulsa Hub Board Immediate Past President, President of Human Resource Investments
Join Tulsa Hub CEO and Past President Ren Barger and Barbara Bannon as they share how they built a successful nonprofit and bicycle advocacy organization from the ground up. Tulsa Hub is a bicycle co-op that provides transportation to Tulsa, Oklahoma citizens most in need. In addition to the co-op they provide bicycle education to area schools and lead the city’s bicycle advocacy efforts. Barger and Bannon will share their methods and models for cultivating leadership, creating organizational change, and relating to power and strong leaders without destructive competition. They will also share about their own mentoring relationship and how it has helped to strengthen the efforts of Tulsa Hub. Their insights will inspire your future efforts!
Workshops
Discovering Heart Leadership
Nuu-Muu adventurers Ashley Fullenwider and Laura Todd invite you to a leadership session designed to engage our core motivations for doing the work that keeps us bright. How can we be courageous in our work? How can we inspire creativity in ourselves and others? Nuu-Muu embodies our core values of empowering girls and women, conscious environmental stewardship, supporting our national economy and giving back to our community. Join Ashley and Laura to uncover your personal leadership style, connect with trail-blazers and cultivate the world we want to live in.
- Ashley Fullenwider, Nuu-Muu Choreagrapher
- Laura Todd, Nuu-Muu Explorer
Building Powerful Networks to Advance Your Career
Learn about strategies for building up powerful networks to support one another in advancing your careers. This session we will hear from women working to construct networks that focus on powerbrokering, mentoring, and recognition.
- Helen Ho, Director of Queens Office of the Mayor, New York City, Community Affairs Unit, Co-Founder Roberta Moses Happy Hour
- Inbar Kishoni, City Planner, Bicycle Program-NY DOT, Co-Founder Roberta Moses Happy Hour
The Future of the Women’s Market: Product and Marketing Plans from the Industry
How is the bike industry responding to the call to get more women on bikes? Hear from women leading the industry in the development of women’s product and developing the marketing plans that will entice more women to participate in bicycling.
- Elysa Walk, Giant Bicycle Inc.
- Lauren Smith, Specialized
- Maria Bousted, Po Campo
- Jody Koch, SRAM
Lunchtime Panel Discussion
Women Ride: New Numbers
A new national survey provides insight into riding by women: how many ride, how often, types of riding and some top concerns. Commissioned by PeopleForBikes to set a national baseline on biking participation, the information deepens our understanding of our challenges and opportunities, and will help us tell better stories.
- Martha Roskowski, People for Bikes | Download
Advocacy Through A Gender Lens
When we advocate for bicycling through a gender lens, does it lead to big ideas or does it limit our thinking? Hear from women working to get more women on bikes on how and when to use gender to amplify your advocacy efforts.
- Barb Chamberlain, Washington Bikes
- Laura Kling, Greaserag
- Rio-Jill Contreras, Multicultural Communities for Mobility
- Maryann Aguirre, Ovarian Psyco-Cycles
- Odessa Phillip, Women's Transportation Seminar Board Member; Assedo Consulting, President; Howard University Instructor
Workshops
We’re All Advocates: Stories of Change from Inside the Peloton
Hear from women at all levels of professional racing about their experience with gender equity issues in racing. They will share their advocacy work in the racing world, and how it carries over into their communities.
- Nicole Freedman, Director of Bicycle Programs-City of Boston, Olympic Cyclist | Download
- Lisa Nutter, President, Philadelphia Academies, Inc., and a track cyclist
- Michelle Faurot, Team Captain and Co-Founder, Bike Like a Girl, training for Ride Across America 2015 | Download
Difference between Input and Decision Making: Empowering New Voices to Lead the Movement | Download | Video
Volunteer Grassroots advocates from Multicultural Communities for Mobility (LA) will share their organizing tactics (and awesome video) on their most recent project to activate citizens in Boyle Heights. They will highlight their innovative community engagement strategies that empower new voices to lead in bicycle advocacy.
- Rio Contreras, MCM
- Maryann Aguirre, MCM
- Miguel Ramos, MCM
- Erick Huerta, MCM
Building the Movement: Constructing a plan for Women Bike Advocacy in Your Community
How do we increase women ridership? Women working in women specific encouragement initiatives from across the nation will share lessons learned, and how to design effective encouragement initiatives driven by results.
- Kim Foltz, City of Boston
- Nelle Pierson, Washington Area Bicyclist Association
- Amy George, Women & Bicycles Richmond
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Lesly Jones, Black Women Bike D.C
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Tyler Frisbee, San Francisco Bicycle Coalition | Women Bike SF
Casey Ashenhurst, WE Bike NYC
Closing Keynote
Our Biking Connections
Outdoor Afro is a social community that reconnects African-Americans with natural spaces and one another through recreational activities such as camping, hiking, biking, birding, fishing, gardening, skiing — and more! Join CEO and Founder Rue Mapp as she shares her own experience biking, African American historical perspectives, and the many ways and existing opportunities we have today to get more people involved in leading the bicycle movement.
- Rue Mapp, Outdoor Afro | Download
Opening Summit Dinner
Andy Clarke, President, League of American Bicyclists, presents:
- Saris Poster Contest winner presentation
- Mick Cornett, Mayor Oklahoma City, OK
- Maya Rockeymoore, President, Center for Global Policy Solutions: Rockeymoore is an expert in equity in policy, specifically in health care. At the Summit, Rockeymoore will be discuss targeted universalism in policy and how that relates to transportation equity. | Download
Policy Makers Plenary
The Outlook for Bicycling in the 114th Congress
Join Members of Congress and government officials to hear about the reinvigorated Congressional Bike Caucus and the State of play on transportation issues in Washington D.C.
- Deputy Secretary of Transportation Victor Mendez
- R.T. Rybak, former Mayor of Minneapolis, MN
- Tim Blumenthal, President of People for Bikes | Download
- Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) | Watch video
Skills-Building Sessions
Advocacy Leadership Institute
How do you empower passionate volunteers to effectively organize in their communities and advocate for better bike plans, effective policies and safer infrastructure? In 2011, the Cascade Bicycle Club created its Advocacy Leadership Institute (ALI), a program that has given graduates the tools to start new bicycling organizations, be featured in national news outlets, serve on bike advisory boards and even manage Puget Sound Cycle Share. In this presentation, participants willl earn:
- How to structure a 10-week training session to teach volunteers the skills to develop successful campaigns — and use those skills to dive into weekly workshops and class assignments based on the region’s priority infrastructure projects.
- Understanding staff resources and best practices necessary for developing and maintaining a strong volunteer advocacy base.
Presenter: Brock Howell, Cascade Bicycle Club | Download
Get Out the Vote (GOTV) Best Practices
How do you mobilize voters to get to the polls when it matters for bicycling? In this workshop, the Analyst Institute will share field-tested best practices for voter turnout, testing advocacy campaign performance and effective volunteer recruitment tactics. Walk away from this session with concrete examples of how using social pressure in the campaign field work and communications, including messaging, timing and volume of contacts; tested volunteer recruitment techniques; and the latest best practices in testing advocacy campaign tactics.
- Presenters: Kathryn Poindexter, Analyst Institute. The Analyst Institute is a clearinghouse for evidence-based best practices in voter contact.
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Cynthia Armour, Bike East Bay
Building a Candidate Pipeline
How can you connect leadership development and electoral work to community organizing and advocacy to build long-term political power in your community? This session will share:
- The major components, process and best practices for developing an effective candidate recruitment and leadership pipeline program for your local organization.
- How to target races and identify opportunities
- Identify strong potential candidates
- Make an effective recruitment ask
- Assess your organizational capacity for candidate development and support
Presenter: Kara Hollingsworth, Wellstone Action. Wellstone Action has trained over 55,000 individuals and 300 organizations in political leadership development.
How to Talk with an Engineer… and be Persuasive
To win better bike infrastructure, bicycle advocates have to understand traffic engineering vocabulary and technical considerations, and become effective contributors to the dialogue that shapes our streets. In this workshops, participants will learn:
- The key methods, regulations, and considerations that guide traffic engineering and street design
- Understand how bicyclists (and pedestrians) are included (or overlooked) in the typical traffic engineering process
- Help bicycle advocates collaborate effectively with engineers for better street and multi-modal design
Presenters: Rock Miller, Stantec; Samantha Ollinger, BikeSD; and Bill Schultheiss, Toole Design Group
Making the Bicycle Retailer and Supplier Voice Count
This session will focus a discussion on helping bike advocates understand the realities of being in the bike industry, and therefore how to make a successful pitch to engage retailers and suppliers in advocacy in the most effective way. In this session you will learn:
- What makes for a successful relationship between an industry supplier and an advocacy group or fundraising event -- for both parties;
- What keeps bike retailers up at night and how that affects your relationship with them; the perfect roles for advocates, suppliers and retailers to play in making our communities more bicycle-friendly.
Presenters:
- Fred Clements, National Bicycle Dealers Association | Download
- Dave Edwards, CEO, Primal Wear Inc. | Download
- Nicole Preston, Managing Director, National Campaign Development, American Diabetes Association | Download
- Jeff Koenig, Big Poppi Bicycle Company | Download
Fundraising for Local Advocacy
Local advocacy is changing the national landscape. If you’re staff, board, or a volunteer, from beginner to advanced fundraiser, this session with share fundraising strategies that will help you build organizational capacity. We’ll explore the importance of diversifying funding streams, with deeper conversations on topics like:
- Developing a pipeline from members, to donors, to major donors
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Grants and foundation giving
- Generating income from rides and events
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Other strategies, like planned giving, health conversation foundations, or consulting contracts
Presenters:
- Brighid O’Keane, Alliance for Biking & Walking
- Lili Afkhami, League of American Bicyclists
- Lara Kalwinski, Council on Foundations
- Laura Ling, Bike New York
- Michael Craft, New Belgium Brewing Co.
Big Idea Sessions
Pecha Kucha: Local Innovations
Come hear fast-paced presentations -- 20 slides, 20 seconds each -- from big thinkers about their Big Ideas, including:
- Protected Bike Lanes in the Suburbs (Lisa Frank, Bicycle Transportation Alliance)
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The Advocacy Power of Laughter (Bekka Wright, Bikeyface)
- A Successful University-based Funding Campaign (Grace Kyung, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign)
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Bikes + Books = Going Places (Laura Silver, Transportation Alternatives)
- A Tool that Demystifies Advocacy and Creates a Powerful Human Network (Mychal Tetteh and Lillian Karabaic, Community Cycling Center)
- New National Numbers (Martha Roskowski, PeopleForBikes)
Innovations in Advocacy and Planning
This session will showcase some of the best emerging ideas in a advocacy and planning, including:
- Re-thinking the Public Participation Process (Fionnuala Quinn, community advocate and civil engineer)
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Advocacy Storytelling: Video "Storybook" (Nancy Tibbett, Bicycle Indiana, Inc.)
- Starting at the Local Level and "Leveraging Up" (Dave Cieslewicz, Wisconsin Bike Fed)
- Advocating for Low-stress Networks (Tim Blagden, Bike-Walk Alliance of NH)
- Increase bicycle ridership through the lens of equity and community engagement (Josh Sidis, Office of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio)
Bringing Bike Advocacy to the People
This session brings together big thinkers who are bringing bicycling advocacy to the people where they are and incorporating it into our everyday lives: in public libraries, bike shops, and our daily errands.
- Paid Advocacy at Bike Shops (Chris Clark, Trek Bike Store of Mt. Pleasant) | Download
- B
ike to Shop Day” (Janet Lafleur, Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition) | Download
- Bikes + Public Libraries (Emily Weak, Mountain View Public Library) | Download
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Bike Shops as Bicycling Infrastructure (Fred Clements, NBDA) | Download
Crowdfunding for Bike Advocacy with ioby
With our partners at ioby, this session will cover real-life case studies of successfully crowd-funded local biking projects, and the ‘seven habits’ of highly successful crowdfunding campaigns. Come learn how crowdfunding can be both a powerful community engagement and fundraising tool for your work.
Presenters:
- Ethany Uttech, ioby Partnerships Manager
- Delbert Ferguson, ioby Leader Action Strategist
- Local bike advocates will also share their first-hand crowdfunding experiences.
Lunch Plenary: Bikes+
This plenary will focus on the relationship of biking to public health, to the environment and placemaking. We’ll hear from appointed and elected officials from local governments on the connections between biking and today’s big issues.
Moderator: RT Rybak, former Mayor of Minneapolis
Dr. Aletha Maybank, Director of the NYC’s Department of Health, Center for Health Equity | Download
Mayor Meghan Sahli-Wells, Culver City, CA
Thought Leaders
What is Vision Zero and How Do We Get There?
Cities and towns across the United States face common challenges and shared trends — growing populations that are increasingly diverse, governments that need to do more with less and a growing public interest in and support for bicycle-friendly and walkable neighborhoods. In 2014, The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition launched a Vision Zero Campaign, calling for a reduction of all traffic deaths to zero in 10 years. In this session, Leah Shahum, will lead a discussion on Vision Zero as an ambitious concept that isn’t just about policy, but also a dramatic shift in our mindset about mobility, design and our public spaces. Read our full interview with Shahum.
- Presenter: Leah Shahum
Retrofitting Suburbia
As bikeable and walkable communities and urban living become more popular, suburbs are losing out- poverty is rising, housing prices are dropping and suburban populations are finding themselves without accessible transportation to jobs. In this session, Dr. Ellen Dunham- Jones will give the movement a glimpse into the suburban renaissance and help us brainstorm how bicycles can play a part. Dunham-Jones is one of the nation's leading experts on "Retrofitting Suburbia" -- in fact, she wrote the book on the topic. But she thinks outside the (big) box (stores). She's become a leader in reimagining the auto-centric suburbs, a chronicler of innovative reuses and champion for design solutions that revitalize our postwar communities. Read our full interview with Dunham-Jones.
- Presenter: Ellen Dunham-Jones, Georgia Tech and author of Retrofitting Suburbia | Download
People and Policies Successfully Addressing the Root Causes of Inequity
Equity is intentionally created through grassroots action and policies at the local, national, and global level that address the “root causes” of inequity—the fundamental structures of power and the socially determined conditions in which people grow, live, work, and age. During this hour, an expert panel will discuss their theory of change for addressing these root causes through policy, citing specific examples from their experience. They will also provide recommendations on policy actions that the transportation community can take to make positive social change.
Presenters:
- Naomi Doerner, Alliance for Biking & Walking
- Simran Noor, Center for Social Inclusion
- Dara Baldwin, National Disability Rights Network
- Ren Barger and Barbara Bannon, Tulsa Hub
- Forum Lunch Discussion: New National Numbers and Advocacy Through a Gender Lens Panel
- Rue Mapp, CEO and Founder of Outdoor Afro
- Maya Rockeymoore, President of Center for Global Policy Solutions, and Mick Cornett, Mayor of Oklahoma City
- Victor Mendez, U.S. Department of Transportation Deputy Secretary; R.T. Rybak, former Mayor of Minneapolis; Tim Blumenthal, President of People for Bikes
- Dr. Aletha Maybank, Director of NYC's Department of Health, Center for Health Equity; Meghan Sahli-Wells, Mayor of Culver City, CA; R.T. Rybank, former Mayor of Minneapolis
Feel free to use and distribute these images, but they must credited as follows: Courtesy of the League of American Bicyclists. Photos by Brian Palmer.
- National Forum on Women & Bicycling
- National Bike Summit
- National Bike Summit Lobby Day
- National Bike Summit Jim Oberstar Memorial Ride
- National Bike Summit Photo Booth (Photos should be credited to Erika Nizborski)
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- Lobby Day Congressional Visit Survey
- Summit Attendee Feedback Survey: Help us make next year's event even better!
- #NBS15 recap
- #womenbike recap
- National Bike Summit Begins!
- #NBS15 Chat: Outdoor Afro
- Summit: Legislative Asks
- Crowdfunding Big Ideas at the Summit
- #NBS15 Chat: Vision Zero
- #NBS15 Recap: Transportation Equity
- Help us Set the Record Straight
- Bikes + Mayors = Conversation with R.T. Rybak
- Big Idea: $1 to Save Bicycling on Campus
- Big Idea: Start Local then Leverage Up
- Forum Spotlight: Lisa Nutter
- Forum Keynote: Rue Mapp, Outdoor Afro
- Summit Big Idea: Next Evolution of Public Participation
- Forum Pop Up Shop Vendors Announced
- Summit Big Idea: Bikes + Books
- Summit Big Idea: Bike To Shop Day
- Summit + Forum Agenda Announced
- Summit: What to Know Before You Go
- Summit Big Idea: Low-Stress Bicycling Networks
- Summit Big Idea: Protected Bikeways in the Burbs
- Forum Preview: Discover Your Authentic Leadership
- Summit Bid Idea: Digital Advocacy Network
- Summit Preview: Vision Zero
- Summit Preview: Retrofitting the Suburbs
- Fighting Inequality Through Policy: Maya Rockeymoore
- Big Idea: Laughter
- Forum Spotlight: Karen Bliss
- Crowdfunding Big Ideas
- Power of the People: Cascade Bicycle Club's Advocacy Leadership Institute
- 2014 Summit Victory -- and Why You Need to Join Us in 2015!
- Accepting Proposals: Forum Pop-up Shop
- Recruiting & Grooming Candidates
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