Strategic Plan

Since 2015, when the Board of the Boston Cyclists Union last adopted a strategic plan, many things have changed within the organization, in the bicycling advocacy space, and in thought about people-centered cities. BCU has matured dramatically during this period, nearly tripling its budget and with proportionate growth in staff. Concurrently, the public sense of urgency has risen with respect to the related crises of climate change and congestion. At the same time, modernization of bicycle and pedestrian facilities proceeds at a glacial pace with respect to where we need to be in the region, though support for it and ridership continues to grow exponentially.

This new strategic plan takes account of these organizational and external factors.

If this vision resonates with you, and we hope it does, we invite you to join with us on the journey to reshaping Boston as a world-class bicycle city. If enough of us contribute our energy, imaginations, voices, resources, and resolve, then it can happen!

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Read a message from our Executive Director and Board President about the Strategic Plan.

Mission

Our mission is to transform the streets of greater Boston into equitable and inviting people-centered spaces affording access and connection for every body. We accomplish this through organizing, advocacy, public actions, and holding city and state agencies accountable to build out the network of safe, protected bike infrastructure.

Vision

The Boston Cyclists Union believes that bicycling is a meaningful way to shape the future of our cities.

We envision a Greater Boston where people, especially those of color, elders, youth, female-identified people and those who have historically been most vulnerable can safely ride for transportation and leisure on a network of connected, low-stress and physically separated infrastructure year round. As a result, residents are healthier, cities greener with less pollution from motor vehicles, and traffic congestion eased as more and more opt for biking to reach their destinations.

Equity is central to our vision of the future. Residents, especially people of color and low income individuals whose opinions have historically been left out of planning processes, participate in the planning of their neighborhoods. Accommodations for people on bikes are as prolific in Roxbury as they are in Cambridge. Many will use bikes to connect to other forms of transit, which will be functional, well-maintained, and convenient. Inequities in health narrow and neighbors across the Greater Boston community can more easily access opportunities—education, employment, leisure, and commerce—safely by bicycle.

In our vision of the future, municipalities will fund bicycle infrastructure, access and education at levels that are meaningful. They will use data and an equity framework to inform their decision-making. Residents, trained in organizing best practices, will be engaged and active in planning their communities and agencies will keep their promises to build and maintain bike facilities in a timely manner.

Values

People power

Dignifying each person

Mobility justice

We recognize that inequitable investment in transportation infrastructure has left many without viable access to opportunity, and seek to reverse this pattern. In order to achieve a genuinely just transportation system, all users, including those historically disadvantaged through systemic injustice, must have access to safe and comfortable trips, regardless of their chosen mode of travel and free from harassment or bias in law enforcement.

Joy and freedom

Sustainability

Goals

Leverage our collective power to more effectively press government and business leaders, and other influential actors, to fulfill and expand the ambitions of Vision Zero and a safe, connected bike network throughout Metro Boston

To achieve this, we will:

Focus on organizing residents

Continue to shift our focus from advocacy to community organizing.

Train members, grow our base, and support neighborhood leaders to build local bike groups that can work collectively to make improvements.

Use targeted Action Alerts, social media outreach, and other methods to mobilize people to engage in public processes.

Use civil disobedience to demand more urgent action when necessary.

Leverage and build relationships across diverse sectors — affordable housing and environmental justice activists, public health workers and physicians, faith leaders, transit and pedestrian advocates, and more — that build our power and expand our reach.

Hold elected and appointed officials accountable

Continue to play a leading role in the Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition, which includes putting out progress reports on Vision Zero and Go Boston 2030 goals.

Advocate for Boston and other municipalities to allocate more budgetary resources for bike infrastructure.

Hold state agencies that own and manage roads accountable to reducing emissions, meeting mode shift goals, and making their roadways safe to bike.

Ask for campaign promises during municipal elections, and use questionnaires to educate voters about candidates’ positions.

Create and encourage public demonstration projects that showcase a bike-friendly, people-centered paradigm

Advocate for policy change in a holistic way

Draw connections to policies that support a bike-friendly paradigm, such as those related to transit, congestion pricing, pedestrianization and more.

Highlight when a city or state agency is meaningfully addressing these policies, and doing it well.

Push developers and municipalities to create decent and dignified bike parking.

Build on our success with truck-safety-related policies to ensure safer trucks proliferate in Metro Boston, especially in connection with the development boom in the city.

Make a clear call to municipalities to embrace targets for pedestrianization of business districts and water frontages to accelerate expansion of the low-stress bicycle network.

Use strategic communications to frame the issue in systemic ways

Counteract our deeply entrenched car culture through a focus on shifting hearts and minds

To achieve this, we will:

Create small experiences of a bike- and people-centered paradigm so the public can have an embodied experience of a future that aligns with our vision

Advocate for and promote open-streets and ciclovia events in more neighborhoods of Boston.

We will continue to advocate for Boston to participate in Park(ing) Day.

Host food rides and other group rides that are accessible to people of all ages and abilities to introduce non-regular riders to the experience of riding a bicycle in the city.

Treat events as opportunities to prove the business case for car-reduction and people-activated spaces.

Recognize the needs of youth and families in our work, knowing that the next generation is an important source of culture change

Host family-friendly events and rides, and provide childcare at events and trainings.

Partner with organizations that organize youth, and advocate for strong bicycle-education efforts in area public schools.

Hold pop-up bike repair in locations accessible to high school students, and create places where youth feel comfortable learning about bikes.

Hire high school students in our Bike to Market program.

Align ourselves with a broader group of partners, to amplify each other’s work and broaden our base of support

Use strategic communications to normalize and humanize biking

Use images of kids, families, seniors, women, and other underrepresented demographics to broaden the idea of who bike infrastructure is for.

Use easy-to-understand data, poignant storytelling, and visuals of how the street use could be re-imagined.

Highlight the joys of biking and the ways that cycling can help people access opportunities.

Frame issues in ways that remind residents that people-first design is not new; we used to live this way.

Become a more inclusive, equitable, and representative organization

To achieve this, we will:

Work to develop authentic and mutually beneficial relationships with communities of color

Externally, ensure our programs, events and communications are designed to be inclusive to women, families, and people of color

Hold our meetings and events at accessible community venues.

Consider new types of programming and events that might appeal to a more diverse set of people.

Engage with youth-focused organizations to better understand and represent young people’s interests.

Offer programs that provide access and connection between BCU and people of color and under-resourced communities.

Use the frame of “safe street design” when we talk about our work, recognizing that bike safety is only one street safety issue faced by marginalized folks using public streets.

Internally, work to learn about, understand and recognize oppressive dynamics and patterns in our organization, and shift them

Continue to diversify our staff and Board of Directors.

Target organizational resources to support leaders and emerging bike groups in communities of color.

Reserve spots in our trainings for people of color to make sure that our organizing spaces feel and are welcoming and inclusive.

Work to provide stipends for interns and neighborhood organizers so we attract a more diverse candidate pool and build local leadership, knowing it is a privilege to be able to work for free.

BCU Mural Ride, 2019 — you could help plan excellent events like this as part of our Development Committee!

We will build capacity to do more, and do it well

To achieve this, we will:

Build the capacity of the broader bike movement so that we can build a base of decentralized power

Develop our organizational capacity and skills in ways that increase our effectiveness

Budget resources for training staff.

Host interns to increase our capacity on projects, and also as a pipeline for board and staff recruitment.

Expand the size and diversity of our board to bring additional competencies to our work.

Increase the size and level of engagement of our committees and groups.

Thank and acknowledge our hard-working volunteers, who give an incredible boost to organizational capacity.

Focus on increasing the efficiency of our team

Streamline internal processes and systems, and leverage our new database to make efficient use of staff time.

Increase bookkeeping and operations resources to optimize the time of our Executive Director.

Deploy our strategy screen to discern highest need and most effective use of our resources.

Develop employee policies that will contribute to employee well-being and allow us to do our best work.

Embrace and embody a culture of appreciation for one another.

Bring in additional financial resources to support our work, including growing our membership and securing at least one new major foundation commitment

Boston Cyclists Union

Strategic Plan

Read a message from our Executive Director and Board President about the Strategic Plan.

Mission

Vision

Values

Goals

Leverage our collective power to more effectively press government and business leaders, and other influential actors, to fulfill and expand the ambitions of Vision Zero and a safe, connected bike network throughout Metro Boston

Counteract our deeply entrenched car culture through a focus on shifting hearts and minds

Become a more inclusive, equitable, and representative organization

We will build capacity to do more, and do it well

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