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'Better Bicycling Community' Grants Winners Announced on Aug 02, 2012
CHAPEL HILL, NC - (Aug. 1, 2012) - Performance Bicycle, the nation's largest independent cycling retailer, is proud to announce the winners of its $30,000 in "Better Bicycling Community" grants. Ten community organizations from across America were chosen to receive a $3,000 grant to support local efforts in making cycling more accessible.
"It was a tough decision to narrow it down to 10 recipients," said Performance Bicycle Chief Executive Officer David Pruitt. "We want to thank all the terrific organizations dedicated to making cycling more accessible. Each one is a vital part of their community and we appreciate their hard work and commitment."
From rejuvenating a mountain bike trail to raising support for better bike lane infrastructure, each grant will address a critical local cycling need. The grants will be administered in collaboration with the Alliance for Biking & Walking.
"It's been great working with Performance on this initiative," said Alliance for Biking & Walking President / CEO Jeff Miller. "Promoting safe and enjoyable bicycling is one of our top priorities, and to have a company like Performance help advance cycling at this level is fantastic. We are honored to be working with each of the community groups and looking forward to seeing the final results of their efforts."
The ten organizations that will receive a Better Bicycling Community grant are spread across the country. Each will involve the community and will work with their local Performance store to achieve their grant goals. . The funded campaigns are as follows:
Bike Austin (Austin, Texas): North MoPac Bike Highway Commuter Route Campaign
Bike Austin is working to establish a 10-mile shared-use path in the MoPac Expressway corridor. The grant will support direct lobbying of elected officials and government staff and outreach to neighborhood associations, residents and schools along the corridor.
Bike Maryland (Baltimore, Maryland): Bicycle Friendly Maryland Campaign
Bike Maryland is devoted to improving the overall bikeability of Maryland by implementing the guidelines laid out by the League of American Bicyclists' Bicycle Friendly America (BFA) program. Working closely with businesses, universities, and communities throughout the state, they strive to make Maryland a more bicycle friendly place to live, work, and play.
Bike Utah (Salt Lake City, Utah): CiSLClovia - Open Streets Initiative
Bike Utah will work with local partners to develop and implement the 2013 CiSLClovia Open Streets event in Salt Lake City and use the success of this template to help other Utah communities organize similar events. The primary role of the CiSLClovia - Open Streets campaign is to build cycling awareness and to get more people out biking, walking, and partaking in community activities.
Carrboro Bicycle Coalition (Chapel Hill, North Carolina): Chapel Hill - Carrboro Open Streets Initiative
Carrboro Bicycle Coalition will host an Open Streets event in Carrboro, NC to meet the city's public health, social, economic, and environmental goals by allowing residentsthe opportunity to use the street-a public good-in safe, active, and socially engaging ways.
Cascade Bicycle Club Education Foundation (Seattle, Washington): Advocacy Leadership Institute
Cascade's Advocacy Leadership Institute in Seattle will empower community leaders with the tools, knowledge and confidence they need to run and win campaigns of various types and scales. The program will leverage Cascade's resources while also fostering the community buy-in that will lead to improvements to bicycling infrastructure on the ground in Seattle and throughout the Puget Sound region.
Central Ohio Mountain Biking Organization (Westerville, Ohio): Rejuvenation of Alum Creek Phase 1 Campaign
Central Ohio Mountain Biking Organization (COMBO) will use grant funding to update and repair Phase 1 (P1), the oldest mountain bike trail in Central Ohio and make the trail more accessible to intermediate level riders, ensuring their safety while helping to sustain the fragile ecosystem of our wooded areas.
Community Bikes (Charlottesville, Virginia): Charlottesville Open Streets Initiative
Community Bikes will celebrate Charlottesville's bikeable and walkable Jefferson Park Avenue corridor and encourage and support a neighborhood desire to bike and walk to these businesses.
East Bay Bicycle Coalition (Oakland, California): Yes on Measure B Campaign
East Bay Bicycle Coalition's "Yes on Measure B" campaign seeks to ensure voter passage in November 2012 of a ballot reauthorization of the Alameda County Transportation Sales Tax Measure. This ballot measure is a 30-year, $7.8 billion transportation plan for the County that includes over one billion dollars for bike/ped projects, representing a 4-fold increase over current bike/ped funding.
Living Streets Alliance (Tucson, Arizona): Kidical Mass Tucson 2013 Campaign
Living Streets Alliance (LSA) will promote family friendly bicycling in the greater Tucson region through four Kidical Mass events in 2013. Kidical Mass is a group ride that provides a safe, fun, and social setting for families to explore urban bicycling riding, for parents to grow more comfortable riding with small children, and for small children to gain confidence and skills in a loosely supervised group ride.
Santa Monica Spoke (Santa Monica, California): Community Outreach for Better Biking in Santa Monica
To assist in the implementation of Santa Monica's newly adopted Bicycle Action Plan, Santa Monica Spoke will take the lead on grassroots community outreach. Working with community groups, neighborhood associations and merchant groups, they will focus on two key bikeway projects: bicycle boulevards on the Michigan Avenue Neighborhood Greenway, and protected bike lanes on Broadway.
About Performance Bicycle:
Performance Bicycle is the No. 1 specialty bicycle retailer in the U.S. and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Performance Inc. Performance provides a multi-channel cycling retail experience that spans more than 100 stores nationwide, and www.PerformanceBike.com, all catering to both the avid cycling enthusiast and the recreational rider. Performance Inc. is majority owned by North Castle Partners of Greenwich, Conn. For more information about Performance Bicycle, please visit www.PerformanceBike.com.
About the Alliance for Biking & Walking:
The Alliance for Biking & Walking is the coalition of more than 200 state and local bicycle and pedestrian organizations working together to promote bicycling and walking in North American communities. To learn more about the Alliance, visit
www.PeoplePoweredMovement.org.
