R Community Bikes, needs bikes!

Bikes needed

R Community Bikes, a grassroots organization that collects and repairs used bikes to distribute free of charge to adults and children in need, will be collecting bicycles on Sat, Sept 19, at Penfield Fitness and Racket Club, 667 Panorama Trail West, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Information: www.rcommunitybikes.net

Greetings from the Future! Wish you were here.

10th Annual RARE Rochester Area Recumbent Enthusiasts Rally

The R2k09.10: "The Rochester Area Recumbent Enthusiasts and the Rochester Bicycling Club will host the 10th Annual RARE Recumbent Rally, 'The R2K09.10'.
The ride is confirmed for June 27th, 2009


RIDES START AT 8amfrom the main parking lot of Hamlin Beach State Park"

ArtWalk2 Public Meeting and Design Workshop

I'm going. Are you?

Bikes Belong

What We Do

Bikes Belong works to put more people on bicycles more often. From helping create safe places to ride to promoting bicycling, we carefully select projects and partnerships that have the capacity to make a difference.

We concentrate our efforts in four areas:

• Federal Policy and Funding
  
  
  • Lobbying
  • National Bike Summit
  • BikesPAC
  • Overview of SAFETEA-LU

• National Partnerships
  
  
  • Safe Routes to School
  • Bicycle Friendly Communities
  • National Groups We Support
  • Interbike
  • National Conferences

• Community Grants

• Learn more about the grants we've awarded in your area by viewing our grants map or searching our grants database.
• Learn more about who is eligible to apply for Bikes Belong funding, and what we do and don't fund.
• At the bottom of this page, you can view a pamphlet highlighting our Grants Program.
• If you're looking for information about our REI/Bicycle Friendly Community grants, click here.

Support letters from the local bicycle industry are KEY
to your proposal. Letters from Bikes Belong members—retailers and
suppliers—will strengthen your application. Please ask your supporters
to address their letters to the Bikes Belong Grant Committee, as form
letters will not be considered. Click here to view a list of Bikes Belong members.

Promoting Bicycling

Bike Sharing — We teamed with Humana to provide 1,000 loaner bikes during the 2008 Democratic and Republican national conventions. Learn more.

Bicycling Booklet — We’ve distributed 30,000 copies of our booklet, Bicycling - Moving America Forward, which highlights the benefits of bicycling.

Statistics — We facilitate communication among the leading sources of bicycle industry statistics .... In addition, we’re assembling data on the benefits of bicycling to help make a case with community and government leaders.

Photos — We conduct professional photo shoots to capture high-quality riding images, and then share these images to help others promote bicycling.

Videos — We've started creating videos now and then, if we think of a good story to tell. Plus our ace videographer, Mat, sometimes gets a wild hair up his sleeve. Check out our video about:
Vélib (the Paris bike rental system)
Bike commuting
The innovative Freiker program, which is encouraging kids to ride to school
Coming soon: the story of how Boulder became a gold-level Bicycle Friendly Community

Alliance for Biking and Walking Advocacy Grants

The Alliance for Biking & Walking will award a total of $250,000 in
2009. Advocacy Advance Grants will range from $5,000–$30,000.
Approximately $125,000 will be available for Round 1 and another
$125,000 in Round 2.  Each round will include a balance of Start-up and
Innovation Grants.  The Alliance’s ability to award grants is dependent
upon receipt of the support pledged for this program.

Start-up / Capacity Building Grant Funding Priorities

These grants are to help catapult emerging and developing organizations
with matching challenge grants. Awards of $5,000–$30,000 will match
dollar for dollar new funds raised within six months. These funds are
to help leverage private and public investment and launch campaigns
that are proven to grow bicycling and walking. Priority for Start-up
Grants will be given to organizations serving cities and states with
the greatest potential for biking and walking advocacy organizations.
Funding may be used to develop staff, membership, and resources to
reach target outcomes that both support an increase in biking and
walking and sustain the organization. Advance funding will be
considered, but the majority of funding will be paid when funds have
been raised and/or pledges have been committed in writing.

Innovation Grant Funding Priorities

These grants are intended to help organizations take bold steps to
increase bicycling, walking, and safety. These grants can be used to
fund activities that will:

• Yield new sources of funding for biking and walking (e.g. new revenue streams and old programs that are ripe for change)
  
• Spur groundbreaking designs (e.g. Euro designs, reprogramming of streets space)
  
• Create innovative marketing and encouragement programs (e.g. new media, new audiences, social marketing)
  
• Develop cause-related marketing and mainstream partnerships (e.g. transit, seniors, health, business)
  
• Improve, expand or extend an existing program that promises further success

The goal is to create successful models that can spread throughout North
America. Priority for Innovation Grants will be given to established
organizations who demonstrate a clear work plan to develop and freely
share their innovative program. Grants from $5,000–$30,000 will be
awarded for winning proposals. Matching funds and over-matches are
encouraged and will be evaluated favorably.

Advocacy Advance Grants Round 2:

• Deadline for Inquiry Application: August 26, 2009
  
• Inquiry Applicant Notification: September 11, 2009
  
• Deadline for Full Proposal: October 13, 2009
  
• Applicant Notification: October 30, 2009

In exceptional circumstances, grant applications outside the official grant rounds will be considered. Contact Chanda for more details.

Applications must be complete and all attachments e-mailed to grants@PeoplePoweredMovement.org by the deadline date. Incomplete and late applications will not be considered. If you have questions or need help with your application, do not wait until the last minute to contact the Alliance staff.

Deadlines and Opportunities

This blog's many readers will note that a number of deadlines approach.

The recent posts highlight highly-relevant competitions
--
Urban Green Expo Garage Inventors competition deadline July 27th, 2009

WPA 2.0: Whoever rules the sewers rules the city deadline August 7, 2009

The Kodak American Greenways Program | The Conservation Fund deadline July 15, 2009

Alliance for Biking and Walking Advocacy and Startup grants, deadline August 26, 2009

BikesBelong Facilities and Advocacy grants, deadline August 24, 2009

Even more pressing and perhaps more promsing, Ram Shrivastava of Larsen Engineering points out that the County and the City will be submitting applications for NYSERDA / DOE Formula based block grants to the County and the City on June 25, 2009. He suggests that we

"call and write a letter to the Municipal Leaders requesting that they allocate a small fraction 5%-10% for a fund for conducting strategic planning studies. This could allow a source of funding for your project to conduct the first stage feasibility assessment to develop the design concepts and cost estimates. Since this is 100% grant and meant for projects with same goals as your project, it is worth reaching out to these communities and request them to set aside some funds for Planning work and remaining funds could be use for project implementation. The planning amount is not just for RIT – greenway but many other activities in the community.

Obviously there are other sources that can be contacted later, but this opportunity needs immediate action. Please do point out that this fits into Rochester Green program and would help create jobs and economic development in Rochester."