Bike Walk RVA Nominated for Advocacy Organization of the Year
by Jon Lugbill
Wow! According to Bicycling Magazine, Bike Walk RVA is one of the nine best bike and pedestrian advocacy organizations in the country. In 2012, when the Sports Backers created the Bike Walk RVA program, we had no idea that this program would take off like it has in RVA.
The Richmond Memorial Health Foundation and The Community Foundation of Greater Richmond got on board early with grants to Sports Backers to fund the start of Bike Walk RVA. We knew from research by the Institute of Medicine that the most effective means of motivating people to live an active lifestyle was to make biking and walking a normal part of everyday life, but the program really took off when Max Hepp-Buchanan moved his wife and infant son 3,000 miles from Seattle to lead this fledgling effort. Max provides energy and enthusiasm to the effort while at the same time being the lovable, courteous cyclist guy that everyone wants as a friend. We asked him during the interview process why he would want to come to Richmond and his response was a very honest, “I can make an impact here because you have a blank slate that is ripe for bike and pedestrian infrastructure.”
Max brought the full weight of his limitless energy to educate and motivate people to advocate for safe and accessible bike infrastructure. Amy Chapman, Senior Manager of Community Affairs for Capital One, had this to say about her experience working with him: “Capital One was fortunate to partner with Sports Backers, particularly Max Hepp-Buchanan, for the Better Block RVA initiative last spring. From our interactions, it was clear that Max is a collaborator and person that puts community outcomes first.”
The best part about writing my weekly blog is to hear the stories of the many people who are working with us to make the community more active. Leah Page, a resident of Randolph, is the perfect example. She recently wrote us a note. “I believe that we can make Richmond a place where it’s safe for my family and I to bike all the places we need to go – improving our health, enriching our city, and saving my family gas money – and I’m so grateful for the work that you, your colleagues, and volunteers have done since Bike Walk RVA started.”
Of course, Max is the leader of the Bike Walk RVA team, but it takes other staff, a host of community partners, local governments and tons of volunteers to get infrastructure actually built. One of these key partners is Jake Helmboldt, Bike and Pedestrian Coordinator for the City of Richmond. I asked him to describe the benefits of working with the Sports Backers team. “Bike Walk RVA has galvanized incredible community support for the city’s initiatives,” he explained, “bringing a broad array of stakeholders to the dialogue and providing community education on the possibilities and benefits of improving our transportation infrastructure for bicyclists and pedestrians. Creating change is a tall order and requires a team working inside of and outside of the walls of city hall. We’re finally seeing some real progress, and Bike Walk RVA has been an essential element in that change.”
While we have been making great progress for a startup program, we obviously have a lot of work to do to make our community a safer and easier community to move around in by foot or on two wheels. Hilda LeStrange told us “I work in the Boulders Office Park where there aren’t even sidewalks, let alone bike lanes! It makes me so frustrated to see people attempting to walk on the edge of the road because they have no other choice. It’s time for a change, and I think Bike RVA can really help make it happen.” Of course, stories like Hilda’s are why Chesterfield County, in partnership with Sports Backers, has put together a draft Bikeways and Trails Plan.
We are incredibly proud of the support Bike Walk RVA has received from so many donors from throughout the community. People like Hilda and Leah have donated to support our cause. Mitchell Markus is another one of those people who has been so generous to our cause, and he is only 13! Mitchell has raised more than $4,000 to support our cause and has pedaled 500 miles to help build awareness for safe, active transportation. I asked him why he made safe cycling infrastructure his Bar Mitzvah project, and he replied, “I didn’t want to just do a boring project; I wanted to do a fun and helpful one.”
I think we all tend to get caught up in the complexities of biking and pedestrian infrastructure. We use fancy terms and ways of talking that become insider cyclist jargon. Maybe we could all benefit from speaking about it the way only a 13-year-old can do, so that we can all focus on the incredible and positive impact Bike Walk RVA is having and can continue to have in RVA. As Mitchell put it, he got involved “Because it was a fun and effective way to help out my community.”
We’d like to encourage you to get involved and to help us win Bicycling Magazine’s advocacy organization of the year contest. Just go to this link and select us as your top choice and remember to vote before February 20th.