There are a lot of exciting changes going on at SVBC, including that we moved…into a frat house! Yes, it is everything you might imagine a frat house to be, and we’re going to need your help to make it our home. More on that at the end of this blog but for those of you who love reading about the inner workings of your favorite bike advocacy organization, read on.

Staff Changes: First, we’ve brought on some fantastic new team members.

Eleni, Ellen and Diego becoming League Certified Instructors (LCI) in Chicago

Ellen McBriarty, Community Programs Coordinator: A few months back when SVBC started looking to bring on some new program staff, we put feelers out there to those in the bike world saying, “send us your best”. Ann Jasper, former SVBC Program Director, immediately suggested Ellen saying that she has been a committed SJ Bike Party volunteer who excels at organizing people to get things done. As luck would have it, after several years running a nonprofit dedicated to animal rescue, the timing was right and Ellen agreed to join Team SVBC. Ellen is leading the organization’s work to make Peninsula Clean Energy’s ebike rebate program a success through classes and rides. She’ll also be working closely with Eleni to teach kids to ride and to create all sorts of fun, social rides that explore Silicon Valley culture.

Eleni Jacobson, Community Programs Coordinator: After 2.5 years working in transportation demand management (TDM) for an elite nation-wide client base, Eleni decided to make SVBC her professional home and focus full-time on introducing new community members to the joy and ease of bicycling through the Santa Clara Valley. She has been a part-timer on our bike parking team for 3 years, and is now managing that program, along with contributing to adult and youth education, and organizing social group rides to support the goals of partner organizations. She hopes to bring new faces from diverse ages, geographies, and interest groups into the bike movement.

Diego Ortiz, Program Director: Diego comes to SVBC by way of SPUR working at the intersection of policy advocacy and food access. He’s no stranger to SVBC as he has been a VTA BPAC member, a San Jose Local Team leader, the SVBC rep to the Caltrain BAC, and has been a long time member of SVBC’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee. He also loves golf, which we overlooked in the hiring process. Diego will manage the Program Team and the 10 contracts of the organization to coordinate regular social rides, adult bike education, safe routes to schools, and more.

Francisco Colón, Director of Engagement: Cisco joins SVBC after a career managing several bike shops. Most recently you would have run into him at the Trek Store in San Francisco and before that in New York. As the organization looks to appeal to more bike subcultures, Cisco’s experience organizing events and marketing/communications led us to bring him on to help expand the organization’s reach. As the new manager of the Events and Development team, you’ll be seeing his fingerprints on things like the annual fundraising ride, programs to grow SVBC’s supporter base, and growing the power of SVBC through Twitter and other such social media platforms.

These are the incredible new members of the SVBC team! And now we have some sad news. Both Jessica Waite and Emma Shlaes are leaving SVBC. Many of you know Jessica as she’s the one who cheerfully reminds you to renew your membership. After 3.5 years at SVBC, Jessica will be leaving the organization to save the kittens, literally, in a role overseeing the Humane Society’s direct mail program.

And after 8 years at SVBC, Deputy Director, Emma Shlaes, will be starting a new role at Commute.org in San Mateo County as their Transportation Demand Management Program Manager. Emma has handled every challenge thrown her way starting as the San Mateo County Advocate and working her way up the SVBC ladder. She has made herself almost indispensable with her policy expertise, level-headed approach, and a mind for organizational development.

Emma’s departure makes space for SVBC to promote one of its highly talented staff, Sandhya Laddha. Sandhya has been working for SVBC for 3 years as the San Mateo Advocate. She came to SVBC looking to apply her degree in urban-regional planning to community organizing and advocacy. Her curiosity, smarts, and sound judgment have positioned her perfectly to step into Emma’s shoes as the organization’s new Advocacy Director.

We’ve Moved! On top of all this staff change, as noted above, SVBC moved into a frat house! Here’s the story. Knowing that our lease was up in October and with all the uncertainties around office needs and prices, SVBC put the feelers out to our partners in the affordable housing space. Often, affordable housing developers are forced to build ground floor retail that they end up writing off so we thought we might be able to lease some space at below market rates. Luckily, one of the Valley’s best affordable housing developers, First Community Housing (FCH) got back to us right quick. Geoffrey Morgan, the CEO of FCH said, “I have the perfect location for the galactic headquarters of SVBC!” (Yes, if you know Jeff, you know he used the world galactic.) FCH had just bought an old frat house with the intent to tear it down and build supportive housing. While the organization is getting the permits to build, he invited us to move in, free! As an aside, FCH has been one of the affordable housing developers that has partnered with bikey organizations like SVBC to bring bike safety education and fix-it clinics to residents of affordable housing.

The new space is everything you might imagine a frat house to be…complete with the smells of beer, piss, and barf. To celebrate our move and set SVBC on the right path, we want you to come and bring your cleansing rituals, be it sage, cow urine, or just plain bleach. Stay tuned for an invitation to the SVBC member party and open house to help christen the place and make it the home of Silicon Valley’s bike movement.

Strategic Planning: Since all of this is not enough change to manage at once, SVBC is also in the midst of its first professionally guided strategic plan. And, we want your input as we think about some big questions, questions related to the effectiveness of SVBC and the role of a bike coalition in today and tomorrow’s transportation ecosystem. We’ll be sending out a survey soon to seek your feedback.

It’s an inspiring time as we emerge from the pandemic. We’re excited about the future of SVBC, excited about our new home, and look forward to the new team taking SVBC to the next level.