BikeWalkKC - new bicycle & pedestrian advocacy organization in Kansas City

BikeWalkKC, a new organization to advocate for bicycling and walking in the great Kansas City metro area, was unveiled last week. Here is BikeWalkKC's first public announcement:

Bike Walk KC

Your voice for walking and bicycling in Greater Kansas City
www.BikeWalkKC.org

Free Class, Sat. March 29:
Maintain Your Ride

Learn some great tricks and tips for keeping your bike running trouble-free.

Clips of Faith
New Belguim's film and beer festival returns for a second installment on May 26th.
www.bikewalkkc.org/clips

Bike Week May 14th-22nd
Bike Week will once again showcase all aspects of the local bicycling community. Mark your calendars, start forming your Car Free Challenge teams, and stay tuned for more details.

Tour de Brew on May 22nd
KC's newest bike ride showcases the city's many historic and modern breweries. tourdebrewkc.com


Bicycle Education


Bicycle Valet Parking

Welcome to BikeWalkKC!

A great city needs great bicycling and walking, and today we are excited to announce the launch of BikeWalkKC - a unified voice for active living, promoting a healthy, safe and accessible outdoor experience for all in a vibrant, engaged community.

Over the next few months BikeWalkKC will be assuming much of the local work of the Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Federation, and working with local partners to take those programs metro-wide. We'll also be listening to pedestrians and bicyclists around the metro area to find out what you need to make your community safer and more livable.

What do you want?  – livable communities – streets for people – neighborhoods – to walk to school – bike lanes – walking paths – bus stops – trails – transportation options – connected neighborhoods – access for all – sidewalks – to bike with family – BikeWalkKC – nature – to bike to work – independent living – clean air – curb ramps – an active lifestyle – to walk the dog – bike lanes – a place to take my family – is your voice for walking and bicycling in greater Kansas City – crosswalks – crossing guards – to get outside – more walking – vibrant communities – walking school bus – bicycle friendly businesses – bike racks – complete streets – bike sharing – better economy – tourism – Join BikeWalkKC and make you voice heard!

Here are some of the great programs and services that BikeWalkKC will be bringing to our communities in 2011.

Bike Week and Car Free Challenge
BikeWalkKC plans to take this annual event to new heights. Right now we are hard at work planning events with partners across the metro area. Bike week starts May 16th, please check back for details. In the mean time, keep logging trips in the Car Free Challenge for monthly prizes - http://carfreekc.com.

Smart Cycling Bike Skills and Safety Classes
We continue to provide free, monthly clinics in partnership with the City of Kansas City, MO. Find a schedule of classes at http://bikewalkkc.org/education. We can also customize classes for your work place, club, or other group.

Safe Routes to School
Remember the days when kids could walk or bike to school?  BikeWalkKC is helping bring those good old times by helping cities and school districts make it safer for kids to bike or walk to school. We can help with planning, grant writing, and safety education.

Valet Bicycle Parking
Make your event or festival greener by encouraging sustainable transportation like bicycling. Thanks to the generous support of the Sierra Club's Thomas Hart Benton Chapter, BikeWalkKC will provide a fully managed bike parking service for your next festival, fair, or other big event.

Ciclovia/Open Streets
Cities around the world are reclaiming streets for temporary public space, turning them into parks filled with people walking, biking, running, socializing with neighbors and having a great time. Look for the international Ciclovia phenomenon to hit Kansas City later this year, and contact us to be a part of it.

We need you!
Join BikeWalkKC today to help us make communities across the metro area better places to walk and bicycle. Thanks to a matching grant from the Alliance for Biking and Walking, your membership will go twice as far to support BikeWalkKC!

Copyright © 2011 BikeWalkKC, All rights reserved.
 

Full disclosure: MoBikeFed has seen the lack of an active bicycle and pedestrian advocacy organization in Missouri's largest city and second largest metro area as one of the biggest missing pieces in the state's advocacy picture.

For that reason, in Summer 2010, the Missouri Foundation for Bicycling and Walking applied for and received an Advocacy Advance grant from the Alliance for Biking and Walking, funded by SRAM, which gave a startup matching grant for the new Kansas City metro organization--now called BikeWalkKC.  

Foundation is acting as the fiscal sponsor for BikeWalkKC during its first year.  By the end of the time, BikeWalkKC will be an independently established organization with full-time staff, taking primary responsibility for bicycle and pedestrian advocacy and programming across the Kansas City metro area.

MoBikeFed and the Missouri Foundation for Bicycling and Walking remain committed to providing the best possible advocacy and programs for bicycling and walking on a statewide basis in Missouri.

Helping establish and maintain healthy local and metropolitan area advocacy organizations is one of the most important keys to making that happen and helps sustain one of the primary goals of MoBikeFed's Vision for Bicycling and Walking in Missouri: to help build a strong and sustainable movement for bicycling and walking in Missouri.

Join MoBikeFed's Advocacy Network

MoBikeFed is a statewide group of people like you, working together for better bicycling, walking, and trails in Missouri. When you join our advocacy network you receive occasional important advocacy alerts and bicycle, pedestrian, and trails news from around Missouri.

Working together we make a real difference! Join our advocacy network:

Want better bicycling and walking in Missouri?
We rely on the support of members like you.  Please join, renew, or donate today.