As we close out 2025, my heart is full of gratitude and pride for the Boston Cyclists Union community – our members, funders, supporters, allies, volunteers, staff, and Board of Directors. Your belief in this work, your advocacy, and your willingness to show up – especially during a year that tested our resolve – made everything we accomplished possible. I thank you for your support.

In February 2025, I stepped into the role of Interim Executive Director at a critical moment — for the organization and for our city, with a vision and conscious decision to revitalize robust programming, build a stronger foundation for equitable active transportation, deepen community presence through values-grounded outreach, advocacy and community engagement, while also preparing for the future through thoughtful strategic planning and organizational strengthening . This year was about momentum — and about reminding Boston that safe streets are not optional.

Rebuilding and Strengthening Our Foundation
Early in the year, we focused on strengthening BCU internally so we could move more powerfully outward. We fortified our Board of Directors, strengthened relationships with longtime funders, revitalized old partnerships, and forged new ones. We hired two new staff organizers, expanding our capacity to engage communities and respond to advocacy needs in real time.

We also became an official member of Transportation for Massachusetts, strengthening our ability to participate in statewide transportation advocacy and policy conversations, because what happens beyond Boston’s borders impacts our streets too.

At the same time, we dove deeply into drafting a new strategic plan to build membership value, advocacy power, and intentionally centering environmental justice communities – communities whose residents have too often been excluded from active transportation conversations, despite being the most impacted by unsafe streets and disinvestment.

Returning to the Community
By spring, BCU was fully back out in the community, tabling, attending events, speaking directly with residents, and listening. We participated in community rides, Bike to Work Day, and neighborhood conversations that reminded us that advocacy is strongest when it’s rooted in real relationships.

We were honored to receive recognition from the Boston City Council during Pedestrian Month, a meaningful acknowledgment of our continued work to center people, not cars, in conversations about street safety.

Bike Lanes, Backlash, and Speaking Up
This year made one thing clear: bike lanes became politicized in ways that distracted from their true purpose – saving lives.

BCU consistently spoke publicly, across multiple platforms, to bring common sense, data, and reason into conversations increasingly shaped by fear and misinformation. We questioned the City when flex posts and protective infrastructure were removed, emphasizing that without real separation, people biking are left navigating door zones and highway-like conditions that put them directly in harm’s way.

We stood with communities demanding safer streets, including advocating alongside residents for a safe Hyde Park Avenue, and participated in efforts like the South End Street Audit alongside our Shared Spaces partners (T4MA), ensuring pedestrian and disability perspectives were included in street design conversations.

Honoring Lives and Demanding Change
This year, we helped plan World Day of Remembrance, honoring those killed or seriously injured by traffic violence. These moments are always heavy, and necessary. They remind us why we do this work and why incremental change is not enough.

Safe streets are not a niche issue. They are for everyone. Whether you walk, bike, roll, use a mobility device, take transit, or drive, every road user has the right to protection and to feel safe.

Choice in how we travel matters. The ability to walk or bike safely is an expression of freedom. To not have a bike lane that allows someone to travel safely is more than an inconvenience, it is an unsafe condition and an affront to our collective liberation, especially for communities historically denied investment and protection.

Joy, Growth, and Community Power
Amid hard conversations, we made space for joy and connection. This year’s Bos/tréal Ride doubled its number of applicants and set a new record for fundraising dollars — allowing us to envision additional rides that raise funds while spreading the message of bike joy, belonging, and community. The Boss Babes on Bikes ride centered local Black and brown women leaders and entrepreneurs for an afternoon of biking, community building, and connection.

We also proudly brought back our Annual Membership Meeting (formerly Biketoberfest), for the first time in three years – reconnecting members and reaffirming that BCU is a people-powered organization.

Shifting the Narrative
BCU is committed to shifting the narrative around who a cyclist is and why they choose to ride. This year, we began examining the language we use, ensuring our messages and invitations are inclusive and resonate across communities.

We partnered with organizations and businesses to bring bike resources and opportunities to all cyclists while uplifting the specific needs of those from under-resourced neighborhoods, meeting people where they are and honoring the many reasons people bike – affordability, health, necessity, joy, and freedom.

Expanding Our Advocacy Power
Recognizing the urgency of this moment, we connected with a pro-bono attorney, giving BCU the ability to lobby more directly and communicate around elections effectively. This positions us to influence future laws and policies that will create safer roads for all users — more vigorously than ever before.

This past election, we also created a candidate questionnaire with the help of activists and advocates to help community members understand where City Council candidates stood on safety policy.

Gratitude and Looking Ahead
I am deeply grateful to all of you who made personal donations, large and small. I am grateful to everyone who joined us at Hibernian Hall for the Member Celebration where we surpassed our $10k fundraising goal. A heartfelt thank you goes out to Bikes Not Bombs for the Advocate of the Year award – a recognition that reflects collective movement work and shared values.

We are proud of what we accomplished this year and we are clear that there is much more to do. In 2026, we will continue fighting for infrastructure that protects people, expands choice, and affirms that everyone belongs in public space.

To our members, funders, supporters, allies, staff, and board: thank you for your solidarity, for riding with us, standing with us, and believing that safer streets are possible.