LOCAL TEAM TOOLKIT
A guide to effective safe-streets advocacy in your own town
Pages:
2 - About SVBC Advocacy
Working with Us
At SVBC, we want to equip local leaders with tools to build large, diverse teams and steer effective campaigns. Our goal is to help our teams effect change in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties. SVBC’s Programs staff is also hard at work to educate the community and create fun opportunities to get on a bike. The goal of our programs is to bring as many people into our movement as possible through a shared love of the bike. The Programs staff is always looking for opportunities to coordinate events, classes, or trainings with the local teams.
While we always want to help each team achieve all their great ideas, the organization does have staff and budget constraints. Each year our work plan keeps us focused on what we know will get more people riding. Please understand, that there might be times when something seems critically important to you and/or your team, but it might not fit into what we’ve determined has the biggest impact toward reaching our collective goals.
It is also important to note, SVBC is a non-profit organization overseen by a Board of Directors. We are subject to business and tax laws, Articles of Incorporation, and corporate by-laws. All these together, coupled with staff and budget constraints, determine what we can and can’t do.
Read on to learn how our policies and positions come to be and about our local team framework.
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We need to protect SVBC’s reputation so that it remains useful when you work with decision-makers, partners, or recruit volunteers. SVBC is bound by its non-profit status, limited resources and staff capacity, liability, and insurance. So sorry, but we CANNOT sponsor or support:
● Any activities that break the law (duh.)
● Actions that attack or belittle any person, elected or not.
● Direct endorsement or donation to a political candidate running for elected office - this puts our nonprofit tax status in jeopardy. (We CAN take positions on ballot measures and other approved policy or project campaigns. We can provide voter education information.)
● Any event that does not primarily align with SVBC’s advocacy objectives of increasing the local team by size and/or effectiveness OR campaigns that we believe are not cost effective in accomplishing the goals set forth in our Strategic Plan.
● Events we consider too unrelated to our advocacy scope and strategic plan (e.g. save XX park). These events are considered on a case-by-case basis.
● Events outside SVBC staff experience (e.g. kayaking events).
● Events outside SVBC’s bandwidth – wish we could do it all!
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SVBC contains a vast, diverse group of members and some opinions may differ on how goals are met. Only SVBC Staff may speak on behalf of the whole organization. And SVBC can have only one position on any proposal, so please make sure you do not contradict a stated position.
Individual members or local teams do not “take new positions” — they apply SVBC’s existing positions. Members should familiarize themselves with SVBC supported positions and/or undergo a training.
You may send a letter as “[City’s] SVBC Local Team” that aligns with SVBC’s existing positions. If you are unsure, please check with SVBC staff. If the letter involves a regional issue that extends beyond the boundaries of a single SVBC Local Team, the group wishing to sign on must coordinate with SVBC staff.
To propose a position that falls outside of SVBC’s adopted policy agenda, submit a Position Recommendation Form for review by staff, the Policy Advisory Committee, and/or Board of Directors.
Policy and Advocacy
Biketivists are people who understand the links between transportation and safe streets, climate change, air quality, social connections, and human health. Biketivists are passionate about creating a transportation ecosystem that is resilient, affordable, sustainable, accessible, and fun!
Our region is facing a host of monumental, intertwined crises: high transportation and housing costs; growing inequities based on race and income; climate disruption; a lack of physical activity and growing health problems. We aim to recruit and train diverse residents to build the power of the bike movement and make bicycling safe and accessible for all.
With a small staff, SVBC represents thousands of supporters and 35 jurisdictions between San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. We need you to be a leader in your community to communicate with government about what you and your neighbors need, to effect change. We need you to show your local government officials that there are people in your community who want safe and comfortable bike infrastructure and bike-friendly policies. Only you can provide your on-the-ground experience and real-life stories within your community.
SVBC Biketivists (that’s YOU!)
SVBC is an umbrella organization, developing policies, campaigns and programs in support of its mission. Under this umbrella, we spend a lot of time supporting and growing local leadership in the form of local teams.
A local team is a group of biketivists who bike in a particular city or region and meet regularly to discuss relevant issues such as new bicycle/pedestrian infrastructure and city/regional policies and plans. Local teams organize events and social rides to grow the movement. By providing local knowledge, local teams can help SVBC staff make educated policies and positions that have community support.
Local teams can also be project or issue-based, where people passionate about a particular issue come together (for example: SVBC’s El Camino Real Team).
Successful teams have effective leaders and consistent members who meet regularly. These teams have strong relationships with their city staff and elected officials. They have annual work plans with 3-5 goals. And they run active and effective campaigns to make their community more friendly to those walking and biking.
For an up-to-date list of local teams, see our SVBC Local Teams page.
SVBC Local Team Framework
SVBC Policy Agenda
SVBC Policy Advisory Committee
SVBC Advocacy Staff Work Plan
SVBC has policy recommendations and guidance, which are summarized on our Policy and Positions page. Read the latest Supported Policy Positions. While SVBC is not actively working on all of these policies and positions at one time, they serve as a guidepost when SVBC determines campaigns and takes positions on specific projects.
Our current policies are categorized under the Strategic Plan’s 5 Key Activities:
Influence city and agency bicycle plans and policies, and build the political support to fund and implement them. Focus on street designs that slow cars, allocate more space for bikes, and fix “bicycle hot spots” such as highway interchanges.
Create a network of east-west and north-south bicycle routes, with a focus on making El Camino Real safe and accessible. Expedite projects using quick builds and pilots and relentlessly push agencies to shorten timelines from planning to construction.
Advocate for a more integrated trail system that gets people where they need to go, is well
maintained, and is welcoming.Work with community partners to advocate for effective public transit, affordable housing, and smarter parking policies so our communities have jobs, housing, and services closer together and within easy reach by bicycle.
Ensure that emerging technologies such as automated vehicle technology and speed safety cameras incorporate the experiences of people of color, low-income individuals, bicyclists, and pedestrians and are deployed in a way that advances social equity and safety.
To propose a position that falls outside of SVBC’s adopted positions, fill out a Position Recommendation Form for review by staff, the Policy Advisory Committee, and/or Board of Directors.
SVBC has a Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) to advise the SVBC Board and staff. The group discusses local biking policy issues raised by various sources and makes recommendations. Meetings are open to current SVBC members for viewing and are generally held the fourth Tuesday of the month.
As set forth in the Charter, the PAC is made up of SVBC Board members; representatives from SVBC’s Local Teams; and SVBC’s representatives to the Caltrain Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, the BART Bicycle Advisory Task Force, the Caltrans District 4 Bicycle Advisory Committee, and any other relevant regional bodies.
Every December, the SVBC Advocacy Team creates a work plan for the next year based on last year’s accomplishments and challenges. About 50% of the team’s work plan includes growing and providing resources, tools, trainings and expertise to build and support effective local teams. We conduct regular meetings and educational forums, recruit, and train effective advocates, and help teams create goals for the year. We are constantly creating tools to better support the local teams. If you need a resource from us that we don’t currently provide, please ask your community organizer, and we will do our best to help!