Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at SVBC

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Dec 19

The following blog post is from James Lucas, Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition's Board ChairA day after the presidential election, SVBC's Executive Director, Shiloh Ballard, published a blog outlining the organization's work to become a more diverse, equitable and inclusive organization. Feedback from readers was mixed. Some complained the organization was being political. Others said they didn’t understand the intersection of bike advocacy and equity. Several complimented the organization for raising the issue. And some don't think SVBC is doing nearly enough.

A year and a half ago, when SVBC staff and members encouraged the Board to start talking about the relationship between bike advocacy and equity, I myself as a person of privilege started with a level of skepticism. I thought, “Of course we advocate for bicycling for all. Streets don’t discriminate so if we fix a pothole on a street, everyone benefits. Right?” SVBC has always tried to apply the same resources equally. We treat all people and all issues the same.

My thinking has evolved dramatically over the past year. I’ve realized that, unfortunately, it's not enough to achieve the same outcome for all. Equity means we should provide each issue/person the resources they need to achieve the same outcome.

SVBC is not alone. Bike organizations across the nation have started making equity a significant priority. In 2013, the Bike League started an equity initiative. This past April, the Federal Highway Administration published a paper on active transportation and equity. And last year, CalBike made bike equity a focus of their annual summit. I regret it has taken SVBC so long to get there.SVBC started out as a scrappy nonprofit, a start-up in Silicon Valley-speak. Funding was bootstrapped and the organization’s main source of money came from its flagship program, Bike to Work Day, in addition to a core of relatively well-off donors. Over time the organization grew, all the while cobbling together enough money to keep rolling. As a board member just five years ago, I remember tense meetings where the then Executive Director, Corinne Winter, would nervously disclose to the Board that she might need to borrow money from us. Banks wouldn’t expand SVBC’s credit and the organization was at risk of not making payroll so she relied on us.Times are different now. Corinne did a stellar job of building a solid organization, an organization that now has the ability to worry less about the next paycheck and devote more time to make sure the streets are safe for ALL people.The near term goal of SVBC is that 10% of all trips be taken by bike by 2020. In order to reach that goal, we need to live up to our name – Coalition. We are a broad group of bicycling personalities. Some of us ride fixies and others are dependent upon the bike because it is the only affordable transportation option. Some find it fun to climb Old La Honda on the weekends, and some have ditched the car and pedal to work. And, some want to ride to the library safely with their kids.To do this, SVBC has been identifying the ways in which it can be more cognizant and proactive about where it works. For those who are interested and want more details about what SVBC is working on, I welcome your inquiries. If some of you are still scratching your heads, wondering what on earth I’m talking about when I say “equity,” some examples are below.Safe Routes to SchoolAt this year’s staff retreat, staff was tasked with mapping out where the organization does work. The point of the exercise was to use geography as a proxy for equity, to visually show whether where we work is disproportionally focused in affluent communities.Using the organization’s Safe Routes to School (SRTS) work, the mapping exercise left us with inconclusive data. However, there was enough uncertainty for us to think we needed to get the question answered definitively. What we know anecdotally is that the school districts that have the staff time to devote to applying for SRTS money and implementing money tend to be located in more affluent districts. This made us wonder: Are there districts that would like Safe Routes education but are too short-staffed or strapped for cash to even apply for grants?With that in mind, we approached the San Mateo County Health System and the County Office of Education to see if they might be interested in helping secure funding for the analysis needed to answer that question. They gave an enthusiastic yes. We are excited that the City/County Association of Governments of San Mateo County (C/CAG) is now putting SRTS money into looking into that question and providing technical assistance to school districts in need. As an aside, this is also a testament to the great partners SVBC has in the Health System, County Office of Education and C/CAG.Vision ZeroThis past year, San Jose took the lead in adopting a Vision Zero policy, the commitment to reduce to zero the number of serious injuries and fatalities on our roads. The City conducted an analysis that compiled and mapped all fatalities and major injury collisions showing that 50% of the fatalities and major injury crashes take place on only 3% of the city’s streets. Those streets are located mainly in East San Jose.If you look historically at where SVBC has focused its advocacy work, it has not been in East San Jose. Yet, this data shows East San Jose streets to be some of the streets with the most traffic collisions. For the past year, SVBC has worked closely with the City of San Jose and California Walks to develop a Vision Zero implementation plan and we are excited at the prospect of making equity a significant component of San Jose’s Vision Zero work.That said, there are many concerns in Vision Zero work that relate directly to equity. Consider this: If data show that the most dangerous streets are in lower income communities and one of our possible near-term solutions is to double down on enforcement, will increased ticketing be a win? Our work has always been well intentioned, but in reality there have been some unintended negative consequences. These are the types of issues that the bike advocacy community must be aware of.In wrapping up, I want to underscore that the main point of this blog is to clarify for those who were a little skeptical why a bike coalition would care about diversity, equity and inclusion. SVBC is learning as we go. We’ve reached out to sibling bike coalitions to learn from our colleagues and to figure out how to apply their experiences to Silicon Valley. We are also interested in your thoughts about how SVBC should be more inclusive, diverse and equitable.For additional resources and information about how the bike advocacy community is more deliberately moving towards inclusivity, diversity and equity, there are some reference materials below.James Lucas Board Chair, Silicon Valley Bicycle CoalitionReferences: