Other Advocacy Programs

Great Bicycling-based Charities

| One happy recipient of a bike via the World Bicycle Relief. Pat Flinn, volunteer for Back Alley Bikes of Detroit, working with a budding bike mechanic. Some of the 20,000 bikes given away by Elves & More in the Houston, TX area.

If you're looking for a pro-bike charity, consider the World Bicycle Relief. They've delivered over 26,000 bikes and raised close to $3 mil. Their moto: "The Power of Bicycles - Empowering Individuals"

** Closer to home, the Back Alley Bikes program in Detroit has been doing wonderful things via teaching bike mechanics and providing bikes to low income children and adults in the heart of Detroit. More info. here...

** Elves & More is an institution bringing hope to at least 25,000 impoverished children each year in the Houston, TX area, and more in the rest of the nation thru new bike donations. A group of cyclists in the Grand Rapids area, the Elves & More of W. Michigan, has recently delivered 1,000 new bikes to needy kids; read about this wonderful project here.

More Great Bike Organizations:

• The Midtown Greenway Coalition of Minneapolis, helps promote "The Greenway" which is a 5.1 mile trail, accross South Minneapolis in an old, mostly below or above grade railroad corridor. It's plowed in the winter, and still well used (saw 5 other bikers on it on my commute home yesterday durring a snow storm). In the summer it sees about 2,500 users daily, and even sees a bicycle rush hour. It's basically a bicyle freeway, off and away form the streets and vehicular traffice, as well as it connects with 6 other existing commuter and recreation trails in Minneapolis. A former MSU student and intern for the League of Michigan Bicyclists, Nate Kerr, is working there now, and working on creating a new bike center which will be funded by the City of Minneapolis as a partnership with a local bike shop.


• Detroit Bikes! is a grassroots advocacy group aimed at promoting cycling within the city, specifically the "Motor City". They've done monthly tours of Detroit in warmer weather, and are planning to create the groundwork for Detroit Bikes! to Work Day on 05.19.2006. Check out their site or email if you'd like more information.

• Bicitekas organization (from the Chicago Tribune article, Pedal Pushers: Mexico City Cyclists hit the busy streets to lobby for better bike regulations, cleaner gutters and a little respect) Although it's all in Spanish, it's a pretty cool web site. Looks like they're pretty serious about agitating against the 'second floor' (a.k.a. 'segundo piso') freeway mentioned in the Trib article; at the top of their home page is a poster with the caption 'menos coches/no mas pisos' (less cars/no more floors)....

• Community Bicycle Network, Toronto, CA, runs the BikeShare project plus a bunch of other great bike-related projects and services like Wenches with Wrenches, ToolWorks (community bike repair facilities/ service), and others.

• Community Cycling Center, Portland, OR, founded in 1994 with a mission of building skills and fostering the personal growth of youth through community-oriented recreational and educational bicycle programs and services.   Opened a facility in Vancouver, CA, recently.

• BikePortland.org "To Inform and inspire"
Portland, Oregon's pro-bicycling site/ blog. Wealth of info. and brilliantly designed.

• European Mobility Week - International Car Free Day
From 16th to 22nd September European citizens will again have the opportunity to enjoy a full week of events dedicated to sustainable mobility. The Car Free Day on Wednesday 22nd of September will be the highlight of the whole Week, with the challenge of organising "In town without my car!" on a working day! See Europe's Car-Laden Cities Ban Cars for Day on ABCNews web site.

• Chicagoland Bicycle Federation's site is packed with inspirational bike commuting info. from one of the premier bike organizations in the USA.

• Thunderhead Alliance is the national coalition of state and local bicycle advocacy organizations working in unison to break down the barriers to safe bicycling in American communities. We bring leaders of our member organizations together to help each other grow their organizations and become more effective. They have 96 member organizations in 45 states. Member organizations' cumulative budgets top $10 million, they employ more than 130 full-time staff and boast a combined membership of 81,000 plus.

• Rails-to-Trails Conservancy - needs little introduction, but for the record: The purpose of Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) is to enrich America's communities and countryside by creating a nationwide network of public trails from former rail lines and connecting corridors.

• National Center for Bicycling & Walking creates bicycle-friendly and walkable communities. This site tells you how to help create neighbor-hoods and communities where people walk and bicycle. This doesn't just mean sidewalks, bikelanes and trails. Creating active community environments means taking a look at the broader scope of where there are and aren't opportunities to walk and bicycle safely, easily, and conveniently.

• Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals promotes excellence in the emerging professional discipline of pedestrian and bicycle transportation. Our members include leaders in the engineering, planning, landscape architecture, safety and promotion fields who specialize in improving conditions for bicycling and walking.

• Bikes Belong is the bicycle industry’s trade association dedicated to putting more people on bikes more often. Founded, supported and led by the industry’s leading companies, Bikes Belong creates new places to ride, promotes cycling to the national media, and is politically effective on behalf of the industry.

• America Bikes - America Bikes is a collaborative effort of leaders of the bicycle community to advocate for positive outcomes for bicycling in the next federal transportation funding bill.

• tea3.org - Partner to the Surface Transportation Policy Project (below), their motto is "Renewing the Nation's Surface Transportation Law, TEA-21".

• Surface Transportation Policy Project - a diverse, nationwide coalition working to ensure safer communities and smarter transportation choices that enhance the economy, improve public health, promote social equity, and protect the environment.

• Transportation Alternatives is New York City's leading advocacy group for pedestrians, cyclists and environmentally sensible transportation policies.

• Chicago Bicycling Ambassadors: Mayor Daley's Bicycling Ambassadors promote bicycling safety to all road users--bike riders, motorists, and pedestrians--and help all Chicagoans use bikes more.

• Critical Mass is not an organization, it's an unorganized coincidence. It's a movement ... of bicycles, in the streets (Lansing chapter)

• Sites dedicated to Bike to Work Month: www.bikemonth.com,
www.bike-to-work.com, www.bikeleague.org/educenter/bikemonth.htm

• Bike to Work Week - Ann Arbor

• Ugly Bikes - A Better Alternative to Cars? (article re: radio interview with MSU Bike Project volunteers)

• CommunityBike.org

• Sustainable Enterprises

• the International Bicycle Fund's list of community bike programs in the USA

• An article about various programs in the US

• An article about a program in Amsterdam