SLCBC 2006 Annual Report

Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective 2006 Annual Report

(title page, pictures, logo)

Building community with bicycles

Director’s Report 2006

This was the year of the Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective. To quote an award given by Cycling Utah, “The Salt Lake Bicycle Collective (www.slcbikecollective.org) runs on one gear. Fast.” Thanks to our wonderful volunteers, partnerships, donors, and general community support we are celebrating significant achievements in 2006, milestones that have set the stage for a powerful 2007.

The most noteworthy accomplishments were the hiring of the first full-time employee, launching Utah’s first BikeEd program, becoming the free helmet distribution point, spearheading a national network of community bicycle organizations, and offering more youth programs than ever before. Fueled with more volunteers, participants and programs than ever before this deceivingly small organization is poised to transform bicycling in Salt Lake, and be a driving force in turning it into a Bicycle Friendly City.

Community Bicycle Shop

Since moving to our new location at 2312 South West Temple, the community bike shop has developed into a “community hub.” Hosting the new YouthCity ArtCycle Apprenticeship program, the YouthCity Bike Bonanza Earn-a-Bike course, the classroom portion of Bike Ed courses, weekly volunteer nights, and open shop hours for the general public.

During the summer open shop hours were offered from 6-9pm on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and during the winter from 5-9pm on Thursdays. The public demand was so great it would best be described as a frenzy, always bristling with similar and new faces in upwards of 40 people a night. Under the guidance of dedicated volunteer mechanics helping folks find parts and the necessary tools to assemble their bike -- everyone worked together and had fun.

However, the demand for volunteering was so great we had to dedicate a new separate night for just volunteers on Mondays from 5-9pm. This turned out to be a huge success not only for refurbishing bicycles, but also for developing community and regular volunteers. On most volunteer nights there wouldn’t be enough work stands. Everyone came to hang out, learn, get their hands dirty, and even share their different musical tastes over the shop radio.

The Numbers:
# total Refurbished Bicycles: 
# were given to IRC refugees
# refurbished at YouthCity Bike Bonanza courses
# bartered for volunteer hours
# sold to community 
Recycled Metal: # pounds

Cycle Salt Lake Week

EDIT: We ran a movie night sponsored by Spin Cycle. We also parked bikes and wrenched at the Bike Bonanza.

Project Coordinator Hired

As soon as the Collective was awarded the approved project funding for the Bicycle Education Project, the first task was to hire a full-time project coordinator. After posting the job announcement for over a month, receiving (#) applications, and interviewing (#) candidates, the hiring committee chose Board member and original Collective founder Jonathan Morrison for the position. Jonathan hit the ground sprinting. The main responsibilities of this position are to manage the community shop and the Bike Ed programs.

Farmer’s Market

The Downtown Farmer’s Market has grown into a phenomenon, with artisans and musicians adding more flavor to the fresh food. The Collective has chosen this community event to showcase our programs and offer free bicycle parking to encourage folks to ride instead of drive. This summer the Collective had a new location in the park, and with that we parked a total of 1611 bikes over 20 weeks with a low of 22 bikes (last day) and a high of 125 bikes (July 15). Our average was 81 bikes per weekend.

Bicycle Education Project

On May 13th, the Collective offered its very first Road I course to 12 students. This 9-hour course spent on the bike and in the classroom is the flagship “effective cycling” curriculum taught around the country. Bike Ed is heralded as the nation’s leading training program to make bicycling safe and effective. The League of American Bicyclists has developed the course curriculums for kids and adults. Additional courses are available specifically for bicycle commuters, group riding, and even motorists. All courses are taught by League Certified Instructors (LCI) who are required to attend the prerequisite Road I course, study for and pass a pre-seminar exam, and attend a weekend-long seminar.

On June 23-25, the Collective hosted the LCI training seminar where 11 candidates were successfully certified. Utah now has 18 LCIs and one of the highest LCI to population ratio in the country. The 10 LCIs on part-time staff taught over 30 classes combined including:

	Road I courses in Salt Lake, Ogden, and Logan

Kids courses at Taylorsville PTA, Beacon Heights Elementary, the entire 5th grade at William Penn Elementary, GS Troop 452, and Ogden

Bike Rodeo at Willow Springs Elementary on Sept 21st with 650 participants

The Bicycle Education (Bike Ed) project proposal received funding from the Transportation Enhancements (TE) program with key sponsorship from UDOT. While TE money is usually spent on bricks and mortar projects, education was recently added to the program’s eligibility criteria. With funding at $200,000 for a 2-year project, the goals are 1) to recruit 250 students, 2) achieve 100% helmet use for participants, and 3) create new Bike Ed programs elsewhere. Long-term goals are to increase the number of bike commuters in Salt Lake and decrease the numbers of bike injuries and fatalities.