Equity: The Superior Growth Model

The a-ha! moments abounded earlier this week at the Equity and the Future of the American Economy conference, hosted by PolicyLink and SEIU.

The event, held at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., was packed with impressive panelists and speakers like Ben Jealous, president of the NAACP; Heather McGhee, Vice President of Policy and Outreach at Demos; and Jacob Hacker, a professor of political science at Yale University. They discussed how equity plays a vital part in building a healthier and sustainable economy.

I was joined by League colleague Darren Flusche, our Policy Director, and two words stuck out to us as we listened at the event: sustained growth.

Darren and I were busy scribbling notes as we made the connections to words like ‘equitable economy,’ ‘diverse constituencies’ and ‘principled conflicts.’

Here is some of what we heard and asked courtesy of Twitter and my really bad handwriting:

(Click here to read more tweets.)

• We have to illustrate just how economically beneficial bikes have become and continue to be to local economies. In case you haven’t noticed, Bicycling Mean Business, especially in many hard-hit communities recovering from difficult economic times. They are taking advantage of bicycle tourism and increased foot and bike traffic to foster growth.

• We have to make sure we have a “no-drop” mentality or we risk losing our movement. Think of the communities not currently served by safe cycling as new markets. If you don’t identify and work with new markets, no industry in the world will be able to sustain growth. Our cycling movement has to ensure that we don’t drop communities already stifled by a lack of viable transportation options.

These themes also bring us to our ongoing campaign on Razoo to help raise  money to fund registration costs to the 2013 National Bike Summit for youth, activists and advocates from communities that we don’t usually see at the bike advocacy table.

You could say we were inspired by the old saying “Either you’re at the table or you’re on the menu.” Click HERE to find out more and to donate.