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Entries tagged: Equity

This summer, the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, Oregon’s statewide advocacy organization, received a $3,000 Advocacy Advance Rapid Response grant to assist in its advocacy efforts to bring bike share to Portland.

Last month, the bike share program won its final stages of approval — a unanimous vote of the Metropolitan Planning Organization followed by a final allocation decision by the Metro Council — thanks, in large part, to the BTA.

The bike share program will have 740 bikes located at 74 bike stations throughout downtown Portland, encouraging thousands of new riders in the central business district and enhancing safety associated with increased ridership. The $2 million capital investment in bike share is on the list of regional transportation projects approved for federal “flexible funds” by the Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation (JPACT).

This decision reflects earlier campaign success, when the Portland City council voted in support of the $2 million in Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program (MTIP) money for a capital investment in bike sharing.

Concerns raised at the JPACT meeting will bolster BTA’s equity commitment in the region and emphasized the importance of ensuring that the program will meet the needs of all users equitably and affordably.

Advocacy Advance is a partnership of the Alliance and League of American Bicyclists aimed at boosting federal funding for biking and walking projects and programs on the state and local level. Thanks to the support of the SRAM Cycling Fund, Advocacy Advance has $13,000 remaining to fund organizations met with urgent and unexpected opportunities to win, increase, or preserve funding for biking and walking. Visit the Advocacy Advance Grants page or e-mail Brighid O’Keane for more information on our grant program.

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the fourth national Equity Summit in Detroit. Hosted by PolicyLink, the four-day event brought together nearly 3,000 leaders of the movement to share their visions and advance a policy agenda to address equity in our communities. Among those present were advocates, elected officials, agency staff and foundations working on sustainable and equitable transportation.

Nearly every breakout session included a piece on public transportation with some reference to the role of biking and walking in addressing equity issues. What are the benefits of our transportation systems? Who benefits? Who is making these decisions? These are some of the questions that were asked and that inspired the vision coming out of the week.

Detroit is a city challenged with the task of overcoming an industrial fall-out. The car-pride of Michigan still carries strong, and partially as a result the transit system is in disrepair and there’s a serious lack of bike lanes.

A special Thursday-morning session featured Peter Rogoff, administrator for the Federal Transit Administration, who addressed the need to repair our nation’s crumbling transit systems but there is also a need to ensure safe connections to bus and rail lines that are cut short or close early. The failure to provide pedestrian walkways and bike lanes that are accessible to people of all communities and provide key corridors to school, job, and opportunities is an equity issue that must be addressed.

In a country where traffic injuries and fatalities are at $200 billion, 11 percent of motor vehicle access deaths are pedestrians and bicyclists, and the societal costs of obesity is $117 billion, we must take a complete approach to transforming our transportation systems and it begins with the work of local advocates.

Many Alliance organizations, like the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition and the Community Cycling Center, are leading the way in making sure all residents are at the table for these important discussions about the future of our streets and our communities. Thanks, in part, to an Advocacy Advance grant, the LACBC has hired a bilingual bicycle safety instructor. In Portland, the Community Cycling Center has helped establish bicycle committees at local public housing developments and committed to a “collaborative advocacy” model in its programming.

Moving forward, the Alliance will is certainly committed to raising up these best practices, compiling the best research on transportation equity, acting as an active partner in the Equity Caucus, and incorporating these issues into our 2012 programming, including Mutual Aid Calls and discussions at our Leadership Retreat.

In the meantime, we’re beginning to build an Equity section in our Resources Library. If you have items to share, please send them to Carolyn@PeoplePoweredMovement.org.

The Alliance held its most recent Winning Campaigns Training in Los Angeles last week, hosted by the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition (LACBC). Thirty biking and walking advocates from 18 organizations, two states, and two countries came together to participate and propel their campaigns toward success.

Most of the participants were local members of the LACBC Regional Partnership and have been working together for months and years to build a cooperative network of L.A. bike-ped advocacy. Additional participants from Sacramento, Idaho, and Mexico added diverse perspectives that led to rich discussion and enthusiasm. Ron Milam, an organizational consultant and the founding Executive Director of LACBC, joined me in facilitating the workshop.

The Alliance’s signature training uses proven curriculum, targeted specifically to the unique needs and experience of bicycle and pedestrian advocates. They are intended for any potential campaign leader who would benefit from gaining the tools to craft and manage powerful advocacy campaigns. Manuel Zavala, of the Montebello Bicycle Coalition, summed it up well: “This training gave me the confidence to conduct a proper campaign!”

“I have been absolutely changed, empowered and inspired by this training to become a more effective campaign manager,” added Andy Rodriguez, LACBC’s Bilingual Bicycle Safety Coordinator.

“Every Alliance-facilitated training or retreat I’ve attended has been inspiring, but this training has been my favorite,” said Carol Feucht, Membership and Online Media Manager for the LACBC. “Seeing so many groups, particularly LA county’s fledging regional groups, at this training signifies how far the regional bike-ped movement has come.”

The weekend included a walking tour of the area and through the site of Occupy L.A., and a bicycling tour that highlighted a recent campaign win for the LACBC: the 7th Street Bike Lane. Supported by an Advocacy Advance Capacity Building Grant, LACBC will continue its bilingual education and outreach to build a larger and more equitable network of bike lanes and bicycle-friendly streets in South, Northeast, and Central Los Angeles.

The workshop was a great preparation for the California Bike Summit, held in L.A. November 4-6 and hosted by the California Bicycle Coalition. Los Angeles County is also the location of the 2012 Pro Walk / Pro Bike Conference and Alliance Leadership Retreat, both held in September in Long Beach.

This affordable training wouldn’t be possible without the generous support of our sponsors: Planet Bike, VBT Bicycling and Walking Vacations, SRAM, Bikes Belong, AARP, Alta Planning + Design, Clif Bar, Team Estrogen, Sun Bicycles and Specialized. Additional support from Kaiser Permanente allowed the Alliance to offer 15 scholarships to the LA training.

Register now for the Alliance’s next Winning Campaigns Training, hosted by Palmetto Cycling Coalition, in Columbia, SC from November 4-6.

With more than $8,000 in prizes for the winning entries, the Alliance invites all members of the public to submit their best images of biking and walking to the 2011 People Powered Movement Photo Contest.

The contest aims to both celebrate the beauty and energy of active transportation and continue to build an online library of high-quality images that can be used by bicycle and pedestrian advocacy organizations across North America.

In 2009, more than 2,000 photographs were submitted in the first Alliance photo contest. Today marks the launch of the 2011 contest. Once again, categories include biking, walking, and advocates in action. New in 2011, the People Powered Movement Photo Contest invites photos in additional categories, including:

• Women
• Equity / Building an Inclusive Movement
• Open Streets (Ciclovias)

From August 1st to September 30th, individuals can submit up to 20 photo entries via the contest website. From October 1st to 31st, public voting will determine the finalists in each category. A panel of expert and advocate judges from across the continent will then determine the winners, to be announced in March 2012.

The overall grand prize is an all-expenses-paid, 10-day bike trip to Tuscany, Italy, from VBT Bicycling and Walking Vacations. Additional prizes include:

• A new bicycle from PUBLIC Bikes
• Bags from Ortlieb
• Lights from Planet Bike
• Gear from Fyxation
• Helmets from Bern
• Socks and subscriptions from Bicycle Times

All winning photos also will be featured in the March 2012 issue of Momentum magazine.

To learn more or enter, visit PeoplePoweredMovement.org/PhotoContest