Bicycle Friendly America Summer 2017 - 13

tion, "outreach without infrastructure is
frustrating," and "infrastructure without
outreach is confusing." Nedra presented
about their community engagement
strategies and something that stood out
to me was how Georgia Bikes addresses
the "whole person" and their relationship
to bicycling, including intersections of
race, gender, class, citizenship status, affordability, as well as sensitivity toward
vulnerable communities. Nedra's presentation can be accessed here. Nancy talked
about their Community Spokes program
(presentation here), which has elements
of the Alliance's Winning Campaigns
Training-something we use in the Bike
Walk RVA Academy religiously.
The strategies different groups use
to recruit new riders, or advocates for
that matter, vary to great degrees. Some
groups focus on education, some on equity, and others hone in on basic advocacy and community engagement skills.
Our experience has taught Bike Walk
RVA that local residents are a much
more powerful voice than the regional
bike/ped advocacy group. Hence, my
presentation (here) was solely focused
on how we empower people to advocate
for more bike infrastructure in their
own communities.
Regardless of your goals in recruiting
(more riders, more advocates, stronger

Bicyclists and Advocates:

unity Spokes Program

community, increased roadway safety), I
think it's important to remember something Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said
about building a movement: "If you want
to move people, it has to be toward a vision that's positive for them, that taps
important values, that gets them something they desire, and it has to be presented in a compelling way that they feel
inspired to follow" (emphasis added).

As bike advocates, I think we can agree
that for us, that vision is a Bicycle Friendly America. We just have to decide how
we best inspire people to pursue it. And
sharing that inspiration with each other
at meetups like the National Bike Summit is a big step in the right direction.
Max Hepp-Buchanan is Director of Bike
Walk RVA

DC BIKE AMBASSADORS

Daniel
Hoagland

Programs
Director,
Washington Area
Bicyclist
Association

RECRUITING
BIKE
ADVOCATES

ncy Grant, Execu/ve Director
nal Bike Summit - March 7, 2017
SUMMER 2017

BICYCLE FRIENDLY AMERICA 13

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/0B6PxuOHBMQh_MDF3Q2ctaXRZQkE http://www.waba.org/programs/d-c-bike-ambassador/ https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/0B6PxuOHBMQh_MDF3Q2ctaXRZQkE https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/0B6PxuOHBMQh_MDF3Q2ctaXRZQkE https://www.sportsbackers.org/program/bike-walk-rva/ http://www.bikemaine.org/

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Bicycle Friendly America Summer 2017