Changes in December: New Monthly Biketivist Forum and Local Team model
SVBC is starting a new series combining monthly Biketivist forums on a variety of topics with Local Team meetings that will help you advocate for better biking in your community! The goal of this program is to create collaboration among all of SVBC’s members and give you an opportunity to meet and connect with you neighbors to organize around better biking. There is so much work to do across 35 cities and towns and we HAVE to rely on you, the people. We can't be successful without teams of people working to make change in each community and fight against the status quo. The monthly online Biketivist forum will be free and open to anyone. The format will be:
First half with one or more speakers and sharing info on the policy agenda, advocacy training, how to recruit your friends and neighbors, and learning from city staff and elected officials, as well as among your peers from other cities.
Second half will be devoted to Local Team meetings through breakout groups designated by city. These breakout groups will give attendees a chance to discuss the information from the speaker and apply it to their city’s context as well as regular monthly business.
Will you attend the first (and subsequent) monthly Biketivist Forums? The meetings will be held on the third Wednesday of the month from 6-8 pm. First, take this survey so we can learn more about you.
First meeting is Wednesday, December 16 at 6 pm: Share policy agenda and Local Team Toolkit - teams set up workplans for 2021
Background SVBC started its Local Teams in 2012 with four teams (San Jose, Mountain View, Palo Alto, and San Mateo County). Since then, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, North SMC, and Redwood City have been added. SVBC can accomplish so much more through teams of savvy and passionate residents. The overall strategy related to partner groups and Local Teams is laid out in a recent blog post on the website. The goal is to invest in building up your capacity to make change in your community and bring more people to the bicycling cause. SVBC has found that attendance at our Local Team meetings, biking workshops, and other events has increased with online meetings. This year, SVBC started holding forums that shine light on a new or emerging topic related to better biking. If you missed any of the ones so far, check out the videos for:
June forum: Safe Streets for Bicyclists with law enforcement representative and Supervisor Cortese
July forum: San Jose bike issues
September forum: Dr. Kevin Fang, Sonoma State University for a deep dive on pre-covid polling research on Santa Clara County attitudes towards transportation and biking
October forum: SVBC shared information on the Network Priority Tool which is a new tool to rank and prioritize bike projects in your city and is accessible to anyone who wants to use it
November forum: Google's Downtown West Plan
Will you join us? Whether you’re already part of a Local Team, have attended an online forum this year or advocacy/BPAC training in the past, or haven’t had a chance to get involved yet – we want you! Everyone is welcome! These events will help you to engage in your city’s bike planning as well as grown your capacity as a leader in your community.
Can you share the event with 3 friends to attend as well?
Take this survey to tell us your expectations from the local teams