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Alliance Advances Bicycle Advocacy

Posted: 12/12/2002

Prescott, AZ - December 5, 2002 - The Alliance, a national coalition of state and local bicycle advocacy organizations, announced today the National Center for Bicycling & Walking (NCBW) will provide $15,000 to help underwrite the expense of strategic training sessions in the southeast and the southwest, two regions in dire need of strong bicycle advocacy. “In some southeastern areas, bicycles are considered toys relegated to sidewalks,” said Sue Knaup, Alliance’s Executive Director, “and in the southwest, many engineers use pioneer laws to sidestep bicycle accommodation as if roads were still wagon trails with no need for bikeways.”

According to Bill Wilkinson, NCBW’s Executive Director, “We need to expand the scope of organized efforts to advocate for bicycling. Bicycling needs strong voices at the local and state levels. Without them, our call for action will not be heard or heeded. The Alliance training sessions are a great opportunity to build this kind of capacity. We are pleased to be a cooperating sponsor of these meetings.”

As part of the NCBW’s sponsorship agreement, Alliance will raise at least another $5,000 in regional funds, setting a precedent for support of future trainings and regional capacity building. Gayle Cummins, Secretary of Alliance, said, “I hope that we can take this beyond the trainings. I’m challenging the bike industry in the southern half of the nation to provide, through Alliance, the resources to ignite the advocacy that can make bicycling what it should be in the southeast and southwest.”

The trainings, planned for April 5 in Santa Fe, New Mexico and April 26 in New Orleans, will draw Alliance members and other dedicated regional advocates to share resources for starting new organizations, strengthening existing organizations and to use their collective experience to develop a tailored, regional bicycle advocacy strategy.