On November 19th, we held our Q2 stakeholder briefing — what a treat to spend time with so many committed advocates — both new and seasoned!

If you weren’t able to attend live, you can watch the full briefing and review the slides:

Recap

We made progress toward growing inclusively and sustainably in Q2 by:

• Introducing four new team members. Please join us in giving a warm welcome to:
  • Rachel Stanley, Senior Development Manager.
  • Margaret Mullins, Communications Coordinator (Part-time).
  • Eugene Rubinchik, Communications Intern.
  • Kiki Pierce, Policy Intern.
• Advancing hiring for our Advocacy Campaigns Manager position.
• Participating in staff-led Mobility Justice training sessions and developing an organizational equity framework, which we will share once available.
• Gaining support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation to contract consultant services for a comprehensive audit of our practices, policies, programs, initiatives, and partnerships through a racial equity and inclusion lens.
• Planning the 2021 annual Blinkies celebration for Summer 2021 — more details to come as we organize the event and continue to monitor the pandemic.

Watch Organizational Updates:

In Q2, we continued working to inspire a behavioral and cultural shift toward sustainable transportation across Atlanta through our programs. A few highlights include:

• Arranged election day bicycle parking — thank you to Sean Fowler, the volunteer who made this possible!
• Bike classes gained momentum thanks to numerous partners! Specifically, we heard directly from three key safe streets champions on their experience with Bike Family at Tuskegee Airmen Global Academy — Wykeisha Howe (community advocate and Bike Family participant), Jimmy Tyler (Bike Family educator), and Michelle Dunbar (co-owner, Aztec Cycles/Clutch). 
• APS school Tuskegee Airmen Global Academy launched new active transportation policies.
• The next Bike Family cohort, made possible through a grant from REI, commences in February at Finch Elementary, where active transportation policies are on the horizon.
• Foster support for Atlanta Department of Transportation’s (ATLDOT) initiative to establish Safe Routes to School programs.

Watch Programs Updates:

As always, we’ve been working hard to achieve safe and complete streets for every Atlantan, with priority on High-Injury Network communities, through the following efforts:

• Developing a Families for Safe Streets (FSS) chapter guide to further establish the group’s presence. The guide will soon be finalized, and we’re seeking additional funding for this program to best support FSS — members are people who have lost loved ones, or have been injured themselves as a result of traffic violence. 
• Launched our Community Advocates for Safe Streets committees for Donald Lee Hollowell Pkwy and Moreland Ave to elevate community members’ lived experiences as primary expertise and equip them with training and resources needed to champion effective safety solutions. Committee members are currently completing Atlanta Bicycle Coalition-led training sessions, and committees are set to start convening to address street specific safety solutions on a monthly basis beginning in January. 
• Carden Wyckoff, a strong mobility advocate for people with disabilities, delivered an update on the many efforts she engages in to build transportation equity and accessibility in Atlanta, and her work as a member of our Community Advocates Network.
• Shared ways for community advocates to get involved with street campaigns, and celebrated the community engagement and advocacy that led to improvements to DeKalb Ave and Cascade Ave — we’ll continue to push for more safety measures on both DeKalb Ave and Cascade Ave as truly complete streets in addition to adding new street campaigns based on our community-led street committees. 
• We’ll be rolling out a new online advocacy action tool in the near future — stay tuned!
• Celebrated Atlanta’s brand new Tactical Urbanism guide, and published a blog post reviewing the permit.
• Debuted Safe Streets for Pedestrians StoryMap a research roundup supporting policy changes to keep pedestrians safe, such as eliminating jaywalking laws (which aren’t proven to protect people walking) and advancing Vision Zero without police enforcement. 

Doug Nagy, Deputy Director of ATLDOT, shared updates on the department’s recent initiatives toward making Atlanta a city where no one dies or becomes seriously injured in traffic including the sidewalk survey and street lighting research.

Watch Advocacy Updates

We wrapped up the evening by sharing a few opportunities to get involved — what can you do right now to make Atlanta a place where everyone moves safely, easily, and sustainably?

• Donate for Giving Tuesday to help us reclaim Atlanta’s streets as safe, inclusive, and thriving spaces for people to walk, ride, and roll. Update: we raised over $20k for Giving Tuesday — thank you to everyone who donated! There’s still time in 2020 to make a difference in Atlanta’s transportation scene by donating today. 

• Share your transportation story with us! Whether you started biking during the pandemic or use MARTA for essential transportation, your story has the power to impact change in Atlanta. We’ll help you develop your story for stories.atlantabike.org — all you have to do is start by completing this form. 

Thank you again for joining this quarter’s briefing and for your continued advocacy for safe, equitable mobility in Atlanta. Please go ahead and mark your calendar for our Q3 briefing on Thursday, February 18th!