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Entries tagged: Connecticut Bike Summit

A couple weeks ago, I wrote about my field trip to Vienna, Virginia, to help the Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling launch their Guide to Public Road Design and Bicycling Accommodations. It’s an incredibly useful resource for advocate across the country; it demystifies the complicated road design process for folks who don’t have an advanced degree in engineering.

But it’s also a great example of the impact of Advocacy Advance — a partnership between the Alliance and the League of American Bicyclists. As I mentioned in the post, the folks at FABB were among the first recipients of an Advocacy Advance Grant, and they turned a small nugget of money into advocacy gold.

Well, just a few days after my trip to Vienna, another Advocacy Advance recipient marked a major milestone, too.

Established in 2000, the Central Connecticut Bicycle Alliance quickly built a winning foundation. In less than a decade, they created and grew the Discover Hartford Bicycling and Walking Tour into an annual event that draws 1,000 participants. They cultivated local Bike to Work events and successfully advocated for a three-foot passing law at the Connecticut state legislature. By 2009, they were ready to take the next step. They were ready to go statewide.

To assist that transition, the Alliance awarded the CCBA a $15,000 Advocacy Advance Startup/Capacity Building Grant in November 2009. In just one year, they’ve made tremendous progress.

On April 2, the CCBA took on a new name: Bike Walk Connecticut. With that title change, they also came up with a vibrant, colorful and creative new logo. This summer, they launched their search for an executive director and started gathering furniture to set up a formal office. Then, just this month, they hosted their first statewide summit — with great success. According to BWC’s latest newsletter:

On November 13th, 150 people who want a bike- and walk-friendly Connecticut gathered at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain to attend Bike Walk Connecticut’s first statewide summit… Speakers included state legislators, a DOT bureau chief, doctors, lawyers, planners and law-enforcement officials… Mary Collins, award-winning author of ‘American Idle: A Journey through our Sedentary Culture’ opened the summit recounting why she wrote the book and what she learned about the causes and effects of inactivity on individuals and society as a whole. Tim Blumenthal, president of the Bikes Belong Coalition, closed the event explaining what’s happening on the federal level and why it’s so important that all of us who care about a bike- and walk-friendly Connecticut let our local, state and federal elected officials know what we want.”

Way to go, Bike Walk Connecticut!

Check out pictures here.