About the Active Mobility Leadership Lab

Generously funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in support of their Active People, Healthy Nation℠ Initiative, the Active Mobility Leadership Lab is designed to support local government agency staff in emerging and aspiring Bicycle Friendly Communities to build capacity around strategies to promote active mobility and physical activity. Applications are due Friday, February 6, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. E.T. 

During this 16-week training program, the League will work closely with dedicated communities through a new learning curriculum informed and inspired by the Bicycle Friendly Community (BFC) program. Participants will focus on developing an Active Mobility Action Plan based on their community’s goals and needs, and will be given the tools to implement their action plans. 

Learning Outcomes & Expectations for Participants

Through training calls, learning modules, resource libraries, and a customized action planning process, participants will gain knowledge and experience on key topics related to building Bicycle Friendly Communities, such as:

• Evaluating and identifying potential improvements for local infrastructure that supports active mobility, such as on- and off-road bikeways, bikeway level of stress, bikeway network connectivity, and bicycle parking. 
   
• Collecting and leveraging ridership and safety data to inform and/or make the case for local infrastructure improvements.
   
• Identifying local funding and budgeting mechanisms or opportunities to fund potential local infrastructure improvements, ongoing maintenance needs, or similar. 
   
• Tools and resources for building public support and engaging with elected officials around active mobility policy, systems, and environmental improvements.
   
• Establishing a plan of action outlining the specific goals, strategies, tactics, and timeline for the participant to work with their community partners to make meaningful progress toward implementing long-term improvements. 
   
• Building and sustaining local partnerships and coalitions to successfully implement action plans and related long-term improvements. 

Participants will be expected to:

• Attend regular (nearly weekly) hour-long calls between early March and May 2026, which will alternate between participant cohort training calls and local working group action plan calls. (Approximately 10-12 calls total.)
   
• Spend up to 1-2 hours per week on asynchronous learning activities, either individually or as a working group, such as watching videos or webinar recordings, completing worksheets, or implementing action plans. 
   
• Attend the National Bike Summit, either in-person or as an online-only attendee on March 24-26, 2026. (Scholarships may be available for participants.) 
   
• Recruit and maintain a local working group consisting of governmental and non-governmental partners to help develop and implement an Active Mobility Action Plan. (See below.)
   
• Commit to the development and implementation of an Active Mobility Action Plan for their community, which will include at least one actionable goal to be completed before June 15, 2026. 

Active Mobility Action Plan

The League will offer an action planning template to guide each training participant and their local partners through the process of developing a customized Active Mobility Action Plan for their community. Each participant/working group will select 1-3 focus areas for their Action Plan from a menu of options related to the Leadership Lab’s training topics, such as: 

• Conducting a series of bike audits and producing a report from the audit findings 
• Conducting a bike count, data analysis, or high injury network analysis 
• Identifying and applying for new funding for active mobility improvements
• Adopting an Active People, Healthy Nation℠ proclamation
• Engaging with local employers through the Bicycle Friendly Business program
• Formalizing or strengthening a Bicycle Advisory Committee

After the initial 11-week training period, the League will continue to work with participants and their local working groups for an additional 5 weeks to implement their action plans and report on implementation progress. 

Application & Selection Process

To be considered for this program, potential participants must submit an online application for consideration before the deadline, February 6, 2026. A total of 3-5 participants will be selected from different communities around the country, based on the following criteria: 

1. Community needs (as articulated in the application) matching the goals of the training program deliverables;
2. Participant commitment to Training Program and Action Plan process;
3. Existence of potential local working group/committee members identified through application process;
4. Communities that are early in the process of becoming a Bicycle Friendly Community (currently Bronze or lower, or have never applied) and that show evidence of potential growth areas/opportunities for improvement.

Applications are due Friday, February 6, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. E.T.  Selected participants will be informed by the end of February, and the training program will begin in early March. For more information, please see the online application or contact bfa@bikeleague.org.

>> Find our training program FAQs here. 

Apply here!

This training is made possible by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (Cooperative Agreement CDC-RFA-PW-24-0080). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of CDC. These efforts are part of the CDC’s Active People, Healthy Nation℠ Initiative that is working to help 27 million Americans become more physically active by 2027.