With the help of the Alliance, advocates in California and Vermont launched an impressive 27 campaigns aimed at improving biking, walking and even transit in their communities last month.

With 2010 winding down, the Alliance kicked it into high gear with two Winning Campaigns Trainings in October. This unique three-day boot camp gives advocates the tools they need to advance biking and walking in their communities. With guidance from bike-ped experts, advocates zero in on a specific campaign and walk out with a tangible Blueprint charting their steps to victory.

Thanks to Dave Snyder and Ron Milam, our expert facilitators, and our local hosts, Walk Oakland Bike Oakland and Local Motion, new energy and knowledge is now flowing into local infrastructure efforts, campaigns for bicycle access and a dozen other initiatives that make streets safer for cyclists and pedestrians.

They each worked on different issues, but the participants agreed on one thing: Each and every one of the 50 advocates who attended the trainings in Oakland (pictured above) and Burlington said they would recommend the workshop to others.

Participants also told us:

 

- This is the most worthwhile expenditure of time and resources for a bike-ped group in the process of moving forward.

- This training really helped me bring focus to a particular project, but what I learned here will help me with many aspects of my job.

- This will change how I do my work and enable me to take my advocacy to the next level.

There's still one more chance in 2010 to take advantage of this unique workshop. With the help of an upstart coalition of advocates, the Alliance is bringing a Winning Campaigns Training to Asheville, North Carolina from November 5-7. Sign up here.

Stay tuned for our upcoming announcement of 2011 trainings!

 

If the Alliance Leadership Retreat is any indication, bicycle and pedestrian advocates wear their hearts on their sleeves. Or, more specifically, wear their passion on their t-shirts.

During the gathering of more than 100 leaders, our talented volunteer photographer took dozens of snapshots of advocates showing off their bike-ped threads.

Well, now Alliance members can get their fashion fix for less - and help a bike-friendly, small business.

Meet Brett Novick (pictured), the founder of the Pedal Pushers Club, a lifestyle apparel company for people who like bikes. Novick got into printing t-shirts three years ago and built a clientele of diverse businesses and nonprofits. But last year, he created a brand that caters specifically to cyclists, like him. He dreams up the imagery - like the big fish of bikes devouring a tiny automobile - and gets professional graphic designers to put the idea in print.

Inspired by your work as advocates, Novick is offering a 15 percent discount to Alliance members for anything on the Pedal Pushers website. (Click here to access the code from our Resource Library.)

"Clothing is a natural expression of a person's identity, and more and more people are interested in identifying themselves as cyclists even when they are not actually on their bike," Novick says. "Pedal Pushers is about being able to show off that you're into riding bikes as a lifestyle and a culture, not just as a means of fitness or transportation."

Click here to check out the Club's offerings.

 

Another friend of the Alliance is offering a special deal to members. The folks at Visual Marketing Products - makers of promotional flags, banners and other products that brand your organization at events - is running an end-of-the-year special on canopies.

 

Click here for the details on our Discounts page.

Last week, nearly advocates from across the country joined the Alliance for a lively, informative and inspiring discussion about how to work with the media. We welcomed Tanya Snyder, the new Streetsblog Capitol Hill editor to provide tips of the trade from the perspective of a transportation journalist. Rachael Kefalos, the executive director of the Palmetto Cycling Coalition, shared her insight on her many successes garnering positive coverage for bike-ped advocacy in South Carolina.

If you're an Alliance member, don't miss the opportunity to take part in our Mutual Aid Calls. These calls make it quick and easy to engage with advocate peers across North America and learn new ideas from a panel of experts.

So mark your calendars for these calls in November:

• November 4 (4 p.m. EST): Membership Plans to Grow your Organization. Membership is critical to growing your organization's income, volunteer base and political power. Any successful membership program starts with a plan. What are your goals for membership and how will you achieve them? This call will discuss how you can tweak your membership plan so it will grow your base of supporters, increase their contributions and increase your overall impact. Register here!
  

• November 11 (4:30 p.m. EST): Integrating Pedestrian Advocacy into Bike Organizations. While some of the needs of bicyclists and pedestrians are different, including pedestrians in our advocacy efforts reaps many benefits for the movement as a whole. This call will discuss some of the benefits of reaching out to include pedestrians, how to better prepare and engage pedestrians in our work and some of the challenges faced when taking this step. Panelists will include Molly O'Reilly, president of the Idaho Pedestrian and Bicycle Alliance; Kassie Rohrbach, executive director of Walk Oakland Bike Oakland; and Brent Hugh, executive director of the Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Federation. Register here!
  

Mutual Aid Calls are easy to fit into your schedule: They're just one hour! Register by 1 p.m. Eastern the DAY OF the call to make sure you get all the call-in information. Then dial the number at the appointed time to add your expertise, experience and ideas to the discussion.

The 2010 Midterm Election means big changes in Congress - changes that will have major implications for transportation policy and other important legislation. Make sense of it all and share YOUR insight during the Alliance's next Federal Policy Call on November 18 at 1 p.m. EST.

We'll host America Bikes and other national partners to discuss the election results, how to engage newly elected officials and what it all means for the next transportation bill. Bring your news and ideas to the call, too. This is a two-way discussion about how advocates across the nation can coordinate to make an impact in Washington, DC.

Remember to register for the call here, so you'll receive the briefing memo with helpful information that will guide the discussion.

The Alliance is excited to welcome Andrea Milne as our new Research Assistant.

Andrea joined us in September 2010 to assist with the Alliance's Benchmarking Project. Over the next year, she will help prepare the 2012 Benchmarking Report, using her research and data analysis skills to illustrate the current status of biking and walking across the United States.

Andrea has a Masters degree in Urban Planning and longtime involvement in transportation-related projects. As a graduate student at University of Michigan, she produced numerous reports and presentations focused on transportation issues. These included mapping and developing a plan for designated bicycle and walking paths throughout a 90-block area in Detroit; a GIS analysis of nighttime public transit options in Ann Arbor; and a design critique of several Ann Arbor pedestrian crosswalks.

Prior to graduate school, she volunteered with the Richmond Metropolitan Development Department to research and discuss the city's preparedness for a Safe Routes to School grant application.

Andrea comes with a passion for building safe, healthy communities. She looks forward to connecting with many of you in the months ahead!  Contact her at benchmarking@PeoplePoweredMovement.org.

By Jeffrey Miller, Alliance President/CEO   

We're filling up the desks here at the Alliance for Biking & Walking and didn't get a chance in last month's newsletter to introduce our latest intern. Please join us in welcoming Mike Samuelson.
 
Mike grew up in Bethesda, Maryland. He spent four years at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he majored in Geography and Urban Studies, before returning to Washington DC in 2009. He has become an enthusiastic supporter of increased pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure and safety while studying U.S. contemporary urban form in school and spending the past year living and commuting car-free. As our fall Member Services Intern, Mike will assist us with data collection, year-end appeals and follow-up on Winning Campaigns launched at Alliance trainings.

Be sure to check out what Alliance members have been up to in the right column of this e-newsletter and on our People Powered Blog.