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Inquiry proposals for Advocacy Advance’s Capacity Building Grants are due this Friday, March 9.

This year, $25,000 in grants will be awarded to support the development and professionalization of state and local advocacy organizations to increase rates of biking and walking. These matching grants, funded by Planet Bike, can be used for campaigns that will support organizational development, hire staff, increase membership, and other tools to foster a sustainable advocacy organization.

Refer to the Advocacy Advance Grants FAQs document for a summary of the common questions, as well as additional information on the grants and application process.

Advocacy Advance is pleased to offer an additional $35,000 in Rapid Response Grants in 2012 to help state and local organizations take advantage of unexpected opportunities to win, increase, or preserve funding for biking and walking.

Advocacy Advance — a partnership of the League of American Bicyclists and the Alliance for Biking & Walking, funded by SRAM — has awarded more than $600,000 in grants and scholarships to member organizations since 2009. In addition to grants, the Advocacy Advance team provides resources, technical assistance, coaching, and training to bike/ped advocacy organizations around the country.

If you have any questions, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or call her at 202-621-5442.

This month, Transportation Alternatives embarks on the fourth year of Summer Streets, a program that gives bike enthusiasts and new cyclists alike the opportunity to test-ride select streets of New York City free from motor vehicle traffic. According to the latest StreetBeat, this trial period has proved successful in bringing new people onboard with T.A.’s mission.

In conjunction with this year’s Summer Streets, advocates at T.A. are extending the trial concept to its membership by launching its newest membership level: the T.A. campaign friend.

For just $10, those who fear the commitment of full membership can test out what it’s like to be part of T.A. and receive discounts at T.A.-hosted events, access to the PDF version of Reclaim (T.A.’s quarterly magazine), and e-mail updates on the group’s ongoing campaign work.

These new members join the tight-knit T.A. family by signing on as friends of one of T.A.’s two most prominent campaigns: Biking Rules, a campaign for safe and civic cycling in NYC, and Rider Rebellion, which unites transit riders in support of affordable fares, better service and the end of service cuts.

“We’re trying to reach New Yorkers outside of our already-involved, already-committed pool of prospects,” Elena Santogade, Director of Membership for T.A., explains. “The pitch is a little harder to make for folks who aren’t yet aware of T.A.’s work, so a $10 price point and association to one of our more visible campaigns seemed like a good way to bring those people into the membership.”

Street teams will pitch this newest membership level as they receive signatures for various petitions and pledges for campaigns. “Our goal is to make 10 percent of those signers become Friends,” Santogade says.

And while T.A. just unveiled this new membership level last week, it’s likely something that will stick around. “As long as we have on-street advocacy teams interacting with the public, I think this will be a permanent fixture,” Santogade says. “It’s not something that we’re going to heavily promote to other prospects. It will be focused toward the people who sign petitions [and] write letters in association with our on-street campaigns.”

Just $10 sure sounds like a foolproof way to introduce bike-ped newbies to advocacy. Want to learn more about this new membership level? Check out Transportation Alternatives on the web and be sure to subscribe to StreetBeat for all the latest news.

MCBC is well on its way to reaching its goal of 2,009 members by the end of the year. MCBC hit the 1,500 member mark by recruiting a whopping 97 people in 15 days to help increase membership. Such growth enables MCBC to take strides toward pushing the completion of the North/South Greenway, as well as the completion of the SMART bike path. Congratulations on this tremendous achievement!

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