Tonight: BTA hosts first-ever Bike Advocacy Clinic

The Bicycle Transportation Alliance wants more of the community to step up and become their own advocates for better biking. Tonight they host a Bike Advocacy Clinic that aims to give people with bike-related concerns and issues the tools they need to fix them.

The BTA has done free bike legal clinics for many years, but this is the first time they’ve offered a clinic on advocacy. The group’s engagement manager Carl Larson said today that they recognize there’s, “A need for informed advocates in our community and we can’t tackle every little problem.” “With some basic tools and and tactics,” he added, “our members and the public can make biking better.”

It’s sort of like getting to tap into the BTA’s 25-years of lessons and expertise. Topics that will be covered at tonight’s clinic will include messaging, defining success, figuring out who holds influence on your issue, finding allies, and the difference between pressure and persuasion.

Here’s more from the BTA’s event description:

– There’s no place to park your bike at the grocery store.
– Your kid can’t bike to school because of one dangerous road crossing.
– Your neighborhood association is fighting a bike-friendly project.

The problem is clear. The solution might even be obvious to you but how do you get others on board? How do you get the problem solved?

The Bicycle Transportation Alliance has been advocating for better safer streets since 1990. In this free one-hour clinic, a BTA advocate will share some of the lessons we’ve learned about how to get your voice heard — how to get your community’s problems solved.

Larson said this clinic is a way for the BTA to help be a part of bike-friendly changes, without having to be directly involved with every little effort. “We get called about a lot of legitimate problems, like a dangerous intersection, but if we’re going to be an effective advocacy organization we just have to say no to some things.”

With some basic knowledge and guidance, the BTA hopes to create an army of community advocates to help usher in a bike-friendly future.

The clinic starts at 6:00 pm tonight at the BTA office (618 NW Glisan St., Suite 401). Learn more about the event here (FB).