Dear friend,

Our mission at the Boston Cyclists Union is to make cycling safer and more accessible for everyone. It’s why we fight for better bike lanes, demand life-saving infrastructure changes, and hold officials accountable for making year-over-year improvements to our streets. We need your help so that we can continue to make change.

On December 8th, we launched a campaign to improve a one-mile stretch of Mass Ave., from Melnea Cass Blvd in Roxbury to Columbia Rd in Dorchester. This portion of Mass Ave. averages more than one crash per week, has a high volume of truck traffic, and was the site of two pedestrians fatalities in the last two years. And yet, there are no bike lanes – let alone protected bike lanes – for the hundreds of people who bike there daily from Dorchester, Mattapan, and beyond to neighboring job centers. We have been organizing with residents, businesses and people who use this corridor to demand that the City bridge this gap in safe bike infrastructure.

We need your support to ensure the City makes meaningful changes on Mass Ave in Dorchester for people who bike and walk, and to accelerate change in neighborhoods throughout the region.

Over the past year, the Bike Union bridged physical gaps — like winning protected bike lanes on the Longfellow Bridge — while closing intangible gaps for area riders, too. With YOUR help, the Bike Union:

• Pressured Mayor Walsh to bridge the funding gap and increase the Boston Transportation Department budget for bike projects — which he did to the tune of $5 million!
• Fixed hundreds of bikes and taught basic repair skills at Bike to Market, a free program held at farmers markets in communities where bike shops are non-existent or difficult to access
• Engaged residents from Dorchester, Roxbury, Mattapan and beyond through the Boston Neighborhood Bike Forum and three fall Bike Talk events
• Created an educational training video for truck drivers with our partners, highlighting safety techniques and side guards as ways to minimize crashes between trucks and people on bikes

Your support is vital to helping us bridge even more gaps for all of metro Boston cyclists in 2019. We have a goal of raising $30,000 through the end of the year, and a generous donor is matching all gifts made by December 31st up to $10,000, doubling your impact. Your year-end tax deductible gift will help us to close out 2018 in a position of strength, and give us the resources we need to tackle challenges into next year!

Will you make a year-end gift? To give online, please visit us at give.classy.org/bcu or use the enclosed envelope to send us a check. You may also donate by phone by calling Kaity Collins at (617) 516-8877.

Best,

Becca Wolfson
Executive Director