2023 Bicycle Friendly America Community Workshop

Overview

The League of American Bicyclists, with generous support from General Motors (GM), is excited to announce its 2023 Bicycle Friendly America (BFA) Community Workshop Program to support local communities in 7 GM regions to become more welcoming for cyclists. The community workshop will bring together local stakeholders to learn about the benefits and actions required to become a League-recognized Bicycle Friendly Community (BFC), conduct a ride audit, and produce a Bicycle Action Plan for the community. 

The BFA Community Workshop Program

We realize that each community is at a different stage of becoming more welcoming and safe for people bicycling and we believe that these workshops will be a catalyst for creating safer and more welcoming places to bike, from the ground up. 

Through this two day workshop, the League will send a BFA staffer to the host city and offer a hands-on needs assessment of the community through the lens of the League’s 5E framework. This program is an interactive presentation that will deep dive into where the community is at, offer concrete solutions to issues, help a community realize their strengths and weaknesses, and provide a holistic view of how to strengthen and grow the community from an equity lens. Each workshop will also conduct a bike ride audit, organized and led by the host city with guidance from the League.  

Additionally, the League will provide:

• Customized presentation for each community
• Workshop Workbooks and Action Planning Toolkit for each workshop participant
• Food: Lunch for the first day and coffee/light snacks for both days
• Specialized technical assistance per the request of the host community. See below for more details
• Community survey and summary results for each community
• National Bike Summit Registration (March 2024): 2 free in-person Summit 2024 registrations and a $250 stipend each as well as 5 free virtual registrations OR 10 free virtual registrations 

Host Community Commitment

We will work with the community partners to engage the largest group of stakeholders possible, including BIPOC-serving organizations locally. These community workshops will include pre-work by the host agency staff and local advocates to plan the workshops. This will include:

• Outreach and communications with the local attendees (Host is responsible for gathering and inviting the local attendees),
• Distributing the pre-workshop community survey link (provided by the League) to participants and the general public,
• Identifying and reserving a location to host the workshop, 
• Planning and organizing the route for the ride audit, 
• Gathering community census information like demographics and land use to inform the workshop presentation, and
• Helping to arrange coffee, snacks and lunch. 

In 2023, we are looking for community partners within the GM regions listed below to apply for this program to host a workshop for their community. We will select seven communities, and work with the respective community partners in the selected communities to gather local leadership and stakeholders who will be willing to come together to create an action plan for their community. These workshops will use the League’s BFC program and 5E framework and local experts to run a comprehensive and engaging program. We will expect communities to use the action plan to help guide their work and be able to engage with local groups.

We invite you to apply today!

Eligibility to Apply:

BFA Community Workshops are open to any organization/community in one of the eligible GM cities listed below. Applying communities/organizations must be able to host a workshop this calendar year, between April-August 2023. The organization/person applying must be willing to work with the League beforehand to identify key community stakeholders to invite to the workshop and be willing to help with logistics mentioned above, before the workshop.

List of Eligible GM Cities:

Workshop Agenda:

Optional Technical Assistance: 

The League is excited to work with your community and we want to offer our assistance to you all while we are in your area. We have the afternoon on the second day of the workshop available to offer technical assistance on a variety of specific topics and will let you decide how you’d like to use this time. We will work with selected communities to fine-tune the technical assistance to meet their needs, but potential focus areas include:

• Advocate/Advocacy Training
• Funding assistance (virtual session)
• Walk audit or second ride audit/assessment
• Site visit to a local community project
• Other as requested
   

Application Deadline and Workshop Timeline:

The deadline to apply is 11:59pm PT on Wednesday, February 8, 2023. We will let recipients know about their application status/review as it is being processed. Awardees will know if they are selected by the end of February. 

Workshops will take place between April and August 2023, and the League will work with selected host communities to find the optimal dates  for each workshop.
 

Technical Note:

This application system allows multiple users to collaborate on an application together. There is a “manage collaborators” button at the top of the online application where applicants can manage who has access to the form and allow for more than one person to fill out answers. We encourage communities and organizations who are applying to host this workshop to work with others in their local community to submit one joint application. For more information about collaborating on the application check out this link.

Questions: If you have questions, please email Anna Tang at anna@bikeleague.org 

We look forward to receiving your application!

Apply Here