| Congratulations to the 2013 Awards Winners | On Monday, March 4, advocates from across the continent gathered for the fifth annual Alliance Advocacy Awards reception to shine a spotlight on the progress and victories of the state and local bicycle and pedestrian advocacy movement. In a bustling room full of excited advocates fresh out of the opening plenary of the 2013 National Bike Summit, we awarded beautiful hand-crafted trophies made of recycled bicycle parts (courtesy of Bicas in Tulsa) to the year's most successful campaign, dedicated advocates and supportive business. Congratulations to this year's winners: - Advocacy Organization of the Year: Bike Walk Mississippi
- Advocate of the Year: Rebecca Serna, Atlanta Bicycle Coalition
- Business Advocate of the Year: Primal Wear
- Lifetime Achievement Award: Barb Culp
- Winning Campaign of the Year: Georgia Bikes! for Georgia's Complete Streets Policy
- Susie Stephens Joyful Enthusiasm Award: Renee Rivera, East Bay Bicycle Coalition
- Innovation Award: Local Spokes, a project of Transportation Alternatives and Recycle-A-Bicycle
Special thanks to SRAM, Planet Bike, Bikes Belong, Transportation Alternatives, Breezer, and Bike Pittsbugh for sponsoring the reception.
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| Tulsa Plans Biking & Walking Improvements As Part of "Fix Our Streets" Program | |
But should the city rebuild its streets to 1960's standards with a focus on automobile design, or should it rebuild streets to meet 2013 standards for accomodating walking and biking?
The Advocacy Advance team recently traveled to Tulsa to facilitate a Navigating MAP-21 Workshop. Over 80 agency staff, advocates and elected officials learned how to fund bicycle and pedestrian projects in the region using federal dollars from the new federal transportation law. City councilmembers and agency staff agreed that walkability and bikeability would be important for a vibrant, business-friendly Tulsa. Decisionmakers left the training well equipped to utilize federal funding opportunities for active transportation.
In a separate educational session, advocates honed a strategy to push for walking and biking improvements. With public meetings starting the week after the workshop, advocates crafted their campaign pitch, set goals, identified the key decision makers, and set next steps for their campaign.
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| Cleveland Advocates Plan Winning Campaigns | | Last month, the Alliance traveled to Cleveland, Ohio to train advocates from all around the Midwest on how to design and win great biking and walking campaigns. With facilitation by consultant Ron Milam and Alliance Member Services & Open Streets Coordinator Mike Samuelson, advocates learned how to strategically choose, refine, design and budget campaigns to improve biking and walking in their communities. |
| Support Active Transportation on the 2013 Climate Ride Want to take a massive bicycle adventure while supporting safer neighborhood streets across the continent? Join the Climate Ride and fundraise for active transportation organizations, including the Alliance!  The Climate Ride is an amazing multi-day bike trip with two route options - from the soaring Redwoods to San Francisco May 19 - 23 or from the heart of New York City to the Capitol steps in Washington, DC September 21 - 25. Each rider gets to choose which organizations their contributions support, so you can designate the Alliance and several Alliance member organizations as beneficiaries. Learn more and register today! |
| Lessons from a Mutual Aid Call: How Businesses Can Benefit from Open Streets Initiative | As part of our Open Streets Project, the Alliance held a Mutual Aid Call on engaging businesses for Open Streets featuring successes from Atlanta, Berkeley and Minneapolis. With thousands of potential customers traveling at a people-powered pace along streets normally filled with cars, local storefronts serve as giant advertisements and testing grounds for their own businesses. Plus, organizers of Open Streets initiatives have lots to gain from the support of local businesses located on or near the route. Support from local businesses can garner in-kind donations, publicity, increased participation and even funding.
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| Surgeon General Encourages Walking | To kick off National Public Health Week, U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin has announced the start of her new Every Body Walk! campaign. The Alliance is collaborating with America Walks and our partners in the Every Body Walk! Collaborative to promote the Surgeon General's call to action. Advocates and neighbors can work together to improve street safety and accessibility to bring public health back into everyday transportation.
Health experts agree that adults should engage in 30 minutes of physical activity each day to maximize everyday health - and walking is a great way to meet those recommendations.
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| National Walking Summit Dates Announced | America Walks and the Every Body Walk! collaborative have announced that the 2013 National Walking Summit will be held in Washington, DC on October 1 - 3. The summit will bring together nonprofit, civic and business leaders and allies to develop strategies, build capacity, increase momentum, and showcase best practices in walking and walkability. Attendees can look forward to roundtables with key leaders, inspiring keynote addresses, advocacy trainings and congressional briefings - plus plenty of walking meetings. Learn more. |
| Low-Cost Traffic Counter Could Democratize Street Measurements | Data from car and bicycle counts can be notoriously spotty and difficult to obtain, and a new low-cost traffic counter called TrafficCOM seeks to change that. 
TrafficCOM's $200 portable device could make it easy for advocates and community leaders to make data-based arguments to improve street safety. TrafficCOM isn't in production yet - its inventors have launched a Kickstarter campaign to distribute beta versions. Start-up funding will help the inventors finance beta versions of the device to meet demands from departments of transportation and advocates. Check out how this new device works. |
| Upcoming Mutual Aid Calls and Advocacy Advance Webinars
| Our Mutual Aid conference calls are a great forum to gain insight from your Alliance peers on the specific issues and topics that are important to your organization. Additionally, Advocacy Advance has been hosting a series of calls to help you direct funding sources toward investments in biking and walking.
All calls begin at 2 PM eastern time. This month: -
- Bicycle tourism has a singificant impact on both the U.S. economy and local economies. According to a recent Advocacy Advance report, the state of Maine generates an estimated $66 million per year in bicycle tourism; North Carolina's Outer Banks alone generates $60 million annually in economic activity from bicycle tourism. Join us on this call to learn how advocates can highlight the economic benefits of bicycle tourism in order to win investments in bicycling infrastructure and facilities.
Panelists will include: - Ginny Sullivan, Adventure Cycling Association
- Russ Roca and Laura Crawford, Path Less Pedaled
- Gary Helfrich, Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition
- April 24, 2:00 - 3:30 PM eastern: Social Media as an Advocacy Tool
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Social media is a crucial advocacy tool, especially to help reach new people, groups and partners from diverse demographics. On this webinar, a panel of savvy social media experts will explore current trends and do's and don'ts and how social networking can be used to promote bicycling and bicycling advocacy. This webinar is a follow-up to a popular National Bike Summit session and is presented as a partnership between the Alliance and the League of American Bicyclists. Join along with the conversation on Twitter using #BikeSM. Panelists will include: - Mathilde Piard, Cox Media Group
- Liz Murphy, League of American Bicyclists
May calls: - May 8: Making the Health Argument to Boost Walkability
- May 14: Understanding and Shaping Transportation Performance Measures, Part II: Current Data Collection Methods and Exploring What's Possible
This past month: | What would you like to discuss on a Mutual Aid Call? Does your organization have expertise to share with peer organizations and other advocates? Email Mary Lauran with your ideas! |
| | BikeTexas Releases State-Specific Benchmarking Report A new BikeTexas study modeled after the Alliance for Biking & Walking's national Benchmarking Report sets baselines for walking and biking policies, infrastructure and programs in the Lone Star State's largest cities. Advocates are using the study to engage elected officials and agency staff, and hope to encourage competition for better active transportation in Texas cities. Check out the BikeTexas Benchmarking Study »
How Biking and Walking Won the Super Bowl Leading up to the 2013 Super Bowl, the city of New Orleans planned major transportation investments in the city's downtown hospitality zone. Leaders at Bike Easy, New Orleans' walking and biking advocacy organization, used the opportunity to score major touchdowns for walkability and bikeability. Read the story of how Bike Easy scored big »
Georgia Advocates & Mayors Ride to State Capitol for Complete Streets Despite unseasonably chilly weather and a few southern flurries, the 8th annual Georgia Rides to the Capitol drew local officials and citizen cyclists from the metro Atlanta area to rally for implementation of the state's new Complete Streets policy. Over 20 local mayors, commissioners and councilmembers led advocates to a the state capitol steps in a massive show of support for active transportation. Read more » WABA Launches Women & Bicycles Program The Washington Area Bicyclist Association launched its new Women and Bicycles program, an intiative that will engage and provide resources to women in the D.C. area. Learn more » The 5 Best Biking & Walking April Fool's Day Pranks Transportation is serious work, but advocates still know how to have a little fun. Check out our 5 favorite biking and walking related jokes from April Fool's Day, including gems from Capital City Cyclists, The Bike House, and MassBike. They're too good to miss » |
New Women Bike Grants, Survey and Webinar To celebrate the launch of the new Women Bike program, the League of American Bicyclists will award $5,000 in mini-grants to seed initiatives that will get more women on bikes. As part of the program, the League is also collecting input about women and equity through a survey and holding a webinar on encourgaing moms and families to bike. Learn more »
Bring Fire Up Your Feet to Your State or Region Increased physical activity can make a big difference for kids, especially when it comes to obesity and related health problems. The Safe Routes to School National Partnership recently launched Fire Up Your Feet, a new program that will help schools create new opportunities for physical activity to, from, and at school. Here's how to bring the program to your community » Every Body Walk! Collaborative Publishes "Walking Revolution" Report A new report from the Every Body Walk! Collaborative - an educational campaign led by a dozen organizations including the Alliance and coordinated by America Walks - highlights the importance of walking and walkability for health, business, and communities. Learn more » Advocates Flood Washington at the National Bike Summit |
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