With more than $8,000 in prizes for the winning entries, the Alliance invites professional, amateur and advocate photographers 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. This week marks the launch of the 2011 contest. Categories include: 

• Biking  
• Walking
• Advocates in Action
• Women (NEW category!) 
• Equity / Building an Inclusive Movement (NEW!) 
• Open Streets / Ciclovias (NEW!) 

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 

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

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

Successful Training Gives Leaders the Tools to Grow their Membership 

Thirty-eight Alliance leaders learned powerful strategies to grow their memberships at the July 20-22 training

Recently, one of our member organizations told us they didn't just want to match the more than 12,000 members of San Francisco Bicycle Coalition -- they wanted to exceed it. 

What better way to do that than send their membership coordinator to learn tactics and methods from Kate McCarthy, the respected Membership Director of SF Bicycle Coalition, and Ellis Robinson, a leading guru in membership development.

In all, 38 bicycle and pedestrian advocates -- representing three countries, 24 states and provinces, and 30 Alliance member organizations -- attended the second Alliance Membership Development Training, July 20-22.  

Hosted with special support from the Active Transportation Alliance in Chicago, the training offered two-and-a-half days of instruction, sharing of best practices, small group break-outs, and, of course, outside-the-training networking time for Alliance leaders to connect with each other and build those long-lasting and supportive peer relationships. It also set out an ambitious goal for the bike-ped movement: The Alliance challenged the attendees to double their organization's membership within three years. With the skills they learned at the event, Alliance leaders are ready and willing to take on that mission.

"I appreciated this training so much," Elizabeth Stampe of Walk San Francisco said. "I can't wait to implement the terrific ideas I got from my colleagues and the trainers to double our membership!"

Sue Prant from Community Cycles in Boulder, CO, echoed that sentiment: "This training gave us tools to help us refine our membership program, as well as giving us tips and ideas for new activities to engage and recruit new members."

Tom Rousculp, from the Bicycle Transportation Alliance in Portland, OR, added: "The Alliance training has given me the skills and tools to take our membership program to the next level in a thoughtful and professional way."

In addition to the training itself:

• SRAM hosted a "Welcome to Chicago" social on Wednesday
• Participants got to observe a pit stop -- Active Transportation Alliance's adaptation of the SF Bicycle Coalition's Service Station
• Attendees gained first-hand knowledge of the city's infrastructure with both a bike ride and walking tour
• The entire group ended Thursday with a gathering in Millennium Park

Whether participants were from a small local organization or a large statewide group, each participant walked away with new and powerful knowledge. Find all the resources and training materials in the Alliance Resources Library here. Click here to see pictures from the event. 

This training would not have been possible without the generous support of our sponsors:

How can you enjoy the experience of a lifetime while supporting the Alliance? Sign up for the Climate Ride -- the nation's largest environmental cycling event and "green conference on wheels" this October 2-6 from Eureka to San Francisco.

Anyone who signs up for the ride gets to choose which organization they will raise money for - and you can choose the Alliance! Registrants can direct their fundraising toward multiple beneficiaries, too. That means, you can ride for, say, the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, Transportation Alternatives or other great Alliance member organizations - and still direct a portion of your dollars to support the Alliance. 

Climate Ride is a 5-day, fully-supported bicycle ride from Fortuna to San Francisco under towering redwoods, through the Russian River Wine Country, and along the Pacific Coast Bicycle Route - one of the most scenic coastlines in the world. The ride also features nightly speakers who focus on bicycle advocacy, sustainability, and renewable energy.

The organizers have opened up the beneficiary choices so now you can choose to support the Alliance specifically with your fundraising dollars. If you select us as your beneficiary when you register, we will be the sole recipient of the funds you raise. Sign up for $75 (which includes a great jersey) and then raise at least $2,400 to participate in this all-inclusive 5-day bicycle tour.    

Please visit our team link to sign up or make a donation: http://climateride.donordrive.com/participant/peoplepoweredmovement 

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Wisconsin Advocates Preserve $2 Million in Bike-Ped Funding 

Silicon Valley Advocates Win Grant to Boost SRTS

LACBC Maps Crash Hot Spots in Low-Income Communities 

Earlier this year, the Alliance recognized the work of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition with one of our national Advocacy Awards. The LACBC took home the Best Practices plaque, in part, because of the advocates' work to elevate the voices and call attention to the needs of low-income cyclists in underserved communities. Last month, the organization took another innovative step by creating new maps that highlight bicycle crash hotspots. Using data extrapolated from the TIMS database, LACBC intern Jimmy Nghe created a series of downloadable maps that show how crash fatalities are unevenly distributed in areas of higher density and lower income neighborhoods in the City of Los Angeles. The visuals drive home a critical point: Transportation planners and policy-makers have generally failed to address many of the problems of dangerous streets where the highest need lies. "We see large discrepancies in where higher rates of crashes and bicyclist injuries/fatalities lie: in marginalized, low-income areas of Central and South LA," Allison Mannos, LACBC's Urban Strategy Director, explains. "We created these maps to start a nationwide conversation with other advocates, planners, and members of the public."  Click here to read more.

WA Advocates Expand SRTS to Adults, College Students 

Thanks to a two-year grant from the Federal Highway Administration, the Bicycle Alliance of Washington is launching Go By Bike - an initiative that will enhance its SRTS programming by targeting adult bicycle education at community colleges and elementary schools. According to the latest issue of the Bicycle Alliance newsletter, The Advocate, the program will: Add 10 to 20 hours of bike safety and maintenance curriculum to existing physical education and health courses taught at community colleges in Central Puget Sound; offer parent-education course at elementary schools; and provide a Web-based forum to augment both curricula. "In one of the programs, I'll work directly with parents of students at two elementary schools to teach them safe bicycling, encourage bicycling and encourage them to bicycle with their children," Josh Miller, an urban planning specialist who was hired to lead the program, explained. "In the other program, I'll be working with four colleges to help them develop safe cycling courses. This will include collaborative curriculum development, assisting with institutionalizing bicycle education programs at each college and mentoring the teachers who will teach the courses." Click here to read more about the Go By Bike initiative.

WABA Boosts Biking in Underserved Areas of Nation's Capital  

In March, Camie Rodan wrote a post that looked at the Washington Area Bicyclist Association's efforts in the District's underserved Wards 7 and 8. Back then, the "East of the Anacostia" initiative was in its infancy, a proposal with a list of objectives that aimed to encourage residents to realize the positive benefits of biking. Much has changed since that last post. In just four months, the "East of the Anacostia" program has made amazing headway. In its first phase, the initiative focused on increasing the number of bikes on the road in this area by running free classes for beginner cyclists, providing free bike repair and maintenance, and hosting a "Get on a Bike Contest" in which residents wrote in to describe how a bicycle would affect their lives. Last month, WABA announced the winners of the contest and provided five Ward 7 and 8 residents with brand new Jamis commuter bikes, helmets and locks. Another 50 residents received free Capital Bikeshare memberships. Applicant responses varied from saying a bicycle would lead to increased physical activity and improved personal well being, to stating that a new bike would give the gentle nudge needed to begin bike commuting. Read more here. 

MassBike Boosts Safety of Bike Share with Free Classes 

Last month, Boston joined the ranks of cities like Denver, Minneapolis, Chicago and Washington DC when it rolled out a new citywide bike sharing program called Hubway Bikeshare. As more U.S. cities consider these popular programs and the number of bike users on the streets increases, one of the biggest concerns in city officials' minds is safety. As voiced in a recent Boston Globe article, concern is particularly high in Boston, due to the city's skinny lanes, cobblestone roads, and unpredictable drivers. Lucky for Boston, MassBike is on top of this concern. As part of the Hubway Bikeshare program, advocates at MassBike are ramping up bicycle safety efforts, teaming with the City of Boston to offer free bike safety classes for all Hubway users. The idea behind this new initiative is to quickly get Hubway riders up to speed on all aspects of bike commuting. Click here to read more.

St. Louis Advocates Raise Awareness with Eco Justice Ride

"It's a textbook environmental justice issue," Phil Valko says. In St. Louis, some of the poorest residents are saddled with the worst environmental conditions. The sources of toxic waste, dirty air and hazardous conditions are located just outside the doors of predominantly low-income, African American neighborhoods. The advocates at Trailnet aren't willing to let that trend go unnoticed - or unchallenged. Despite the staggering heat, the St. Louis bicycle and pedestrian advocates drew a big crowd for an event to shed light on the issue this weekend. Last month, Trailnet hosted its third Environmental Justice Ride and nearly three dozen people came out to witness firsthand the clear and tragic inequality. Phil Valko, Trailnet's Active Living Program Manager, says the ride was the organic result of a partnership with the residents in the affected communities. "The ride highlights the high concentration of dirty businesses and the adjacent low-income, predominantly black neighborhoods," Valko says. "The air quality within the district is among the worst in the entire state. As the rides moves through the area, it becomes clear why: There are waste incinerators; scrap metal yards that shred toxic metals and spew dust; exposed piles of salt that leave trails of saline dust on windy days; radioactive hotspots that the Army Corps and EPA are finally remediating after 60 years of contamination; and more. And all of this is adjacent to one of the poorest areas in the region. Read more here. 

Cascade Effort Helps Preserve Bike-Ped Funding in WA

You may remember earlier this month when the Alliance and League of American Bicyclists raised the alarm about states having to send a collective $2.5 billion in unspent federal transportation fund back to Washington, DC. In the past, many state Departments of Transportation have balanced these tough cuts on the backs of bike-ped programs, disproportionately raiding the pots of money that fund bicycle and pedestrian projects. Well, the advocates at Cascade Bicycle Club rallied their members to call for fair and proportional cuts. Clearly, the more than 1,000 e-mails sent to Washington Governor Chris Gregoire and to WSDOT Secretary Paula Hammond made quite an impression. "Almost immediately after we started the campaign, we heard from WSDOT," John Mauro wrote on the Cascade blog this week. "It's hard to say exactly what we accomplished, because we don't have a precise picture of what kind of send-backs they were planning before they heard from us. But in comparison to their August 2010 rescissions, non-motorized transportation fared far better." Read more.. 

Four Alliance Member Orgs Benefit from Bikes Belong Grants  

Last month, the Bikes Belong Coalition announced its latest grant recipients and four Alliance member organizations are on the list. Since Bikes Belong's Grants Program began in 1999, the coalition has awarded 231 grants in 46 states and the District of Columbia, providing more than $1.8 million in cash and  leveraging close to $655 million in federal, state, and private funding. This summer, more than $25,000 will help Alliance member organizations advance bikeways campaigns, assess the economic impact of bicycling, study the impact of road diets and launch an Open Streets initiative. In Colorado, a $2,500 grant will boost a new open streets initiative. Piep Van Heuven, BikeDenver's executive director, says her organization approached LiveWell Colorado in November about partnering on what is hoped to be the first of many car-free streets events in the Mile High City. Elsewhere around the country, Walk Oakland Bike Oakland will receive $10,000 to advance their Oakland Bikeways Campaign. The Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition will use an $8,000 grant to compare economic activity between two halves of a transportation corridor: one with car lanes reduced by half and bike lanes added, one unchanged. And a $6,000 grant will help the Iowa Bicycle Coalition, in partnership with the University of Northern Iowa Sustainable Tourism and Environment Program, study the statewide economic impact of bicycling by looking at retail sales, tourism, and bicycling-related events. Find the full story here.

Job Openings at Alliance Member Organizations