THE NEW MOVEMENT BIKE EQUITY TODAY » » » » » » THE EQUITABLE BIKE MOVEMENT | A | » » CONTENT » BACKGROUND 2 » » INTRODUCTION 3 » » GROWING AN EQUITABLE MOVEMENT MAP 5 » PROGRAMS AND PROFILES 7 » PHOTO GALLERIES 61 » NETWORKS 62 » REFLECTIONS & ORAL HISTORIES 65 » CONCLUSION 66 REPORT AUTHORS ADONIA LUGO has worked since 2008 to bring cross-cultural understanding into bicycle advocacy, plan- ning, and research — and became the Equity Initiative Manager at the League in November 2013. She earned her doctorate in cultural anthropology from the University of California, Irvine, where her disser- tation research focused on the social networks and cultural norms that shape how we use streets. ELIZABETH MURPHY assists with the League’s communications, including the American Bicyclist magazine, the e-newsletter and the blog. Before joining the League as Communications Manager in January 2013, she worked as a reporter covering the Justice Department. Liz has journalism and women’s studies de- grees from Penn State University. CAROLYN SZCZEPANSKI is the League’s Director of Communications. Carolyn joined the League staff in March 2012, after nearly 10 years as a print reporter and two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. She has a degree in journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. COVER PHOTO CREDITS: (Top row, from left) Biking Public Project, Cycles for Change; (Middle row, from left) Danny Gamboa, Maria Sip- in; (Bottom row, from left) Biking Public Project, Maggie Smith, Dmitry Gudkov THE EQUITABLE BIKE MOVEMENT | 1 | » BACKGROUND The New Movement: Bike Equity Today is the culmination of several years of efforts within the League to elevate community voices to the national advocacy stage and show the existing » diversity in the bike movement. For this publication, we have interviewed dozens of individuals and organizations, as well as tapped previous blog posts, magazine articles, reports and more. We’d like to thank everyone who contributed their time to this project, including the volun- teers, staff, and community members who co-created the programs and rides featured here. The stories contained in this report were reported or compiled by League Communications Director Carolyn Szczepanski and Communications Manager Elizabeth Murphy. Adonia Lugo, the League’s Equity Initiative Manager, created the supporting material to draw out the themes living in the stories shared here. We would also like to thank those who have worked on projects that influenced or grew from those named here, and those who continue to innovate beyond the range of our vision. If you’re familiar with the community bike movement, you know that what we included here is just the tip of the iceberg. PLEASE SHARE YOUR EFFORTS WITH US BY FILLING OUT THIS BRIEF SURVEY. The League’s Equity Initiative is made possible by a generous grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Find more, including the reports below, at bikeleague.org/equity. EQUITY INITIATIVE REPORTS THE NEW MAJORITY PEDALING TOWARDS EQUITY WOMEN ON A ROLL Benchmarking women’s bicycling in ENGAGING YOUTH IN INTEGRATING EQUITY the United States — and five keys to UNITED SPOKES: TOGETHER get more women on wheels BICYCLE ADVOCACY IN AMERICAN STREETS IN BIKE ADVOCACY A case study on why youth ride and Understanding our shared history of bikes An interim report on the internal 10 rules for adults working effectively and American society equity assessment at the League of with teens American Bicyclists THE LEAGUE OF AMERICAN BICYCLISTS REPORT OF CURRENT DATA BY DEVLYNN CHEN BY ADONIA LUGO BY ADONIA LUGO CAROLYN SZCZEPANSKI LEAGUE OF AMERICAN BICYCLISTS League of American Bicyclists LEAGUE OF AMERICAN BICYCLISTS 2013-2014 EQUITY ADVISORY COUNCIL NAOMI DOERNER EQUITY INITIATIVE MANAGER AUGUST 6, 2013 KidsWalk Coalition, Tulane Prevention Research Center PRESENTED BY NOVEMBER 2013 JUNE 2014 MARCH 2014 LEAGUE OF AMERICAN BICYCLISTS LEAGUE OF AMERICAN BICYCLISTS LEAGUE OF AMERICAN BICYCLISTS BIKELEAGUE.ORG/EQUITY | 2 | INTRODUCTION » IN THIS REPORT WE » SHOWCASE THE GROWING DIVERSITY IN WHO IS ADVOCATING FOR BIKES The terms “invisible rider” and “invisible cyclist” have been in “DIVERSITY” REFERS TO A MIX: A MIX OF PEOPLE, A MIX OF EXPE- circulation for nearly 10 years. In the bike world, we use them RIENCES. BUT DIVERSITY, ON ITS OWN, DOES NOT GUARANTEE THAT to refer politely to the individuals out there riding who have not A MIX OF PERSPECTIVES WILL BE INCLUDED IN A FINAL PRODUCT. made their way into policy-oriented bike advocacy. These terms COLLABORATION IS AN INTENTIONAL PROJECT. have given us a way to talk about low-income cyclists, immigrant populations, or other groups that bike advocates have found hard For many bike advocates, the product we have in mind is streets. to reach. The spaces where we ride bicycles get produced through design, planning, and engineering; they are also shaped by the people who HAVE THE TERMS DISTRACTED US FROM THE VITAL IMPORTANCE OF use them every day. MAKING EVERY PERSON WHO RIDES A BIKE VISIBLE? Through our Women Bike program and the Equity Initiative, Bike advocates who are people of color, women, and youth often we’ve been focusing on the role that bike shops, clubs, and com- hear people who look like us called invisible or scarce even when munity rides play as the social infrastructure for biking. In this we are in the room. We are not indicator species to be monitored; report we share many examples to illustrate that “invisible riders” we are enthusiastic supporters of bicycling who have a lot of ideas are only invisible to us if we choose to draw our bike movement about what bikes can do for our communities. If we stay hidden, boundaries in a way that makes those riders and their experiences so will the new paths we are creating. irrelevant to creating bicycle-friendly streets. As the League found in its 2013 report The New Majority: THE GREAT NEWS IS THAT WE HAVE THE POWER TO REDRAW THOSE Pedaling Toward Equity, diversity in cycling already exists, and BOUNDARIES. THE PROGRAMS AND ORGANIZATIONS IN THIS REPORT the number of people of color biking continues to grow. What we HAVE STARTED TO ERASE THOSE ARBITRARY LINES AND ARE TAKING showcase in this companion report is the growing diversity in who ACTION. is advocating for bikes. PHOTO CREDITS: (from left) Allison Mannos, Stephen Zavastoski THE EQUITABLE BIKE MOVEMENT | 3 | » HOW DO WE BRIDGE FROM DIVERSITY IN BIKE » USERS TO EQUITABLE BIKE ADVOCACY? There is a diverse bike movement in America. When diversity IF WE WANT BICYCLING TO BECOME A NORMAL PART OF TRANSPORTA- becomes a valued part of decisionmaking in bike planning and de- TION IN THE UNITED STATES, WE NEED TO INCLUDE THIS COUNTRY’S sign, we will have moved closer to bike equity. If you want to build DIVERSITY IN OUR ADVOCACY STRATEGIES. bike equity, consider the following questions as a starting point: This report is not a policy manual or a design guide; instead of » Who designed the bike projects you want people to advocating for particular technical interventions, it illustrates what support? it takes to start building the human infrastructure that will lead to policies and designs supporting bike users of all kinds. » Whose visions do you include in your advocacy work? As the advocacy leaders who were interviewed for this report » Does the mix of people planning and advocating for shared, no one has all the answers. Our change processes are ongo- bicycling represent the diversity of your town? ing and messy. The beauty of the project to end invisibility is that we no longer have to avoid anybody’s truth. We can shed the light » Are there people biking in your town today who you of multicultural sight on our shared future. see out on the sidewalks or streets — but never at a bike planning meeting? HOW DO WE BRIDGE FROM DIVERSITY IN BIKE USERS TO EQUITABLE BIKE ADVOCACY? » Are diverse perspectives considered indispensable to the bike lobbying where we advocate for spending public You might be one of the many people around the country who is dollars on particular bike projects? already experimenting to see what works. Keep reading to learn more about the emerging equitable bike movement and join us in The questions this shift raises are difficult and often uncomfort- making every cyclist visible. able. That’s okay. If we want to get beyond this elephant in the room, we need to push beyond our comfort zones, and that might seem new and unfamiliar. PHOTO CREDITS: (from left) Maggie Smith, Momentum magazine BIKELEAGUE.ORG/EQUITY | 4 | GROWING AN EQUITABLE BIKE MOVEMENT 26, 43 9 21, 25, 28, 43, 61, 62, 65 22, 35 NATIONWIDE: 53 15, 24, 28, 57, 58 43 11, 14, 17, 23, 55, 56, 59 46 41 54 28 63 PAGE 9 COMMUNITY CYCLING CENTER p11 MULTICULTURAL COMMUNITIES FOR MOBILITY p14 PROFILE: ALLISON MANNOS p15 RED, BIKE AND GREEN p17 EAST SIDE RIDERS p18 PROFILE: KAREN OVERTON p19 PROFILE: NAOMI DOERNER p20 NOLA WOMEN ON BIKES p26 PROFILE: ED EWING p21 NATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF CYCLISTS p27 PROFILE: MELODY MOODY p22 PROFILE: ANTHONY TAYLOR p28 SCRAPER BIKES, LOWRIDERS, TALL BIKES p23 OVARIAN PSYCOS p29 PROGRAM TO EDUCATE ALL CYCLISTS p24 PROFILE: CHEMA HERNANDEZ-GIL p32 WE BIKE NYC p25 KIDICAL MASS p34 CYCLE TORONTO | CULTURELINK SETTLEMENT SERVICES THE EQUITABLE BIKE MOVEMENT | 5 | This map does NOT represent all bike equity efforts nation- THEME TAGS wide. Let us know about your work in this short survey! Many of the included projects integrate multiple themes, so we have tagged them in the following profiles ACCESS ALLYSHIP CIVIC ENGAGEMENT COMMUNITY