Bikes Belong's 2008 Plan

Bikes Belong is cranking.

• Our bike industry membership has grown.
• In the last three years, we’ve doubled our budget.
• We’ve forged new alliances outside the industry.
• Our professional staff is more capable than ever.
• We’re making big things happen for bicycling.

Here’s our strategy for this year.

Federal Policy & Funding:

1. Expand our campaign to maximize funding for bicycling in the next federal transportation bill, due in 2009.
2. Provide the primary funding for America Bikes, a unified lobbying effort led by eight national bicycle advocacy groups.
3. Retain our Washington, D.C., lobbying firm—Tongour Simpson Holsclaw—to strengthen our connections on Capitol Hill.
4. Support IMBA’s government affairs work in D.C.
5. Raise money through BikesPAC, our political action committee, to contribute to the re-election campaigns of the members of Congress who support our key initiatives.

National Partnerships:

1. Broaden our support of the Bicycle Friendly Communities program, run by the League of American Bicyclists, to motivate more cities to improve their bicycling facilities and programs.
2. Provide funding for Thunderhead Alliance as it works to create better resources for state and city advocacy groups.
3. Continue our investment in the National Complete Streets Coalition’s campaign to establish complete streets policies in more cities and states.

Community Grants:

1. Award $190,000 in cash grants to important community bike projects through the Bikes Belong Grants Program.
2. Administer a $100,000 Bicycle Friendly Communities grants program using funding provided by REI.
3. Team with Interbike to support a bike project in Las Vegas.

Bicycling Promotion:

1. Continue distributing our nationwide ad campaign, “Remember Me,” to motivate more Americans to ride bikes.
2. Create a booklet highlighting model, federally funded bicycling projects.

Research & Statistics:

1. Support and publicize research that assembles available bicycling data and evaluates the benefits of bicycling for health, business, congestion reduction, and quality of life.

Bikes Belong Foundation:

1. Encourage more kids to ride bikes by increasing our support for the Safe Routes to School National Partnership.
2. Expand our efforts to improve bicycle safety.

Event Sponsorship:

1. Serve as title sponsor of the National Bike Summit in Washington, D.C.
2. Sponsor the Bicycle Leadership Conference in San Diego, CA.
3. Sponsor the 2008 IMBA World Summit in Park City, UT.

You can download a PDF one-pager of this plan below.