The East Bay Bicycle Coalition’s new Strategic Plan

Change is afoot here at the East Bay Bicycle Coalition. In October our Board of Directors approved the first multi-year strategic plan for our organization. What does this mean? For the first time we, as an organization, have mapped out our strategic direction for the next three years, clearly defined our mission, vision and values, and have created action plans and measures to guide us along the way. This is a huge positive step forward for us as an organization.

Each of our goals focuses on one key change we are trying to effect in each of our work areas. For advocacy we challenge ourselves to focus on those improvements that will get the most people biking on our streets and roads because we know that the more people there are out there on bikes the safer and more enjoyable the ride is for everyone. We challenge ourselves to grow our bike safety education program to serve 50% more people and to serve more of the communities here in the East Bay. We challenge ourselves to double our membership in the next three years, and to provide more fun events, rides and programs to build our community and build support for our advocacy work.

This planning process started back in early 2010 when we applied to the Alliance for Biking and Walking for a strategic planning grant to do this work. The grant was approved in 2010, but because of our change in leadership we were not able to get underway with our planning process until this year. In July we brought together our board, staff, and key partners in our community to spend two full days brainstorming and mapping out our direction for the next three years, facilitated by the very talented Jeremy Grandstaff from the Alliance. We came out of these two days with a mission, vision, guiding principles and goals that we all agreed on, and with draft action plans for our goals.

We then brought all of this to you, our membership, at our September Member Meeting. We got great feedback and ideas at this fun lively meeting from all of you, helping us to prioritize and refine our plans. After integrating the input from this meeting we approved the final strategic plan at our board meeting in October.

As a staff and board we are tremendously excited to have this strategic road map for the next three years. By involving so many people in the planning process we feel confident that we have a direction that you, our valuable members, will be excited to work on.

EAST BAY BICYCLE COALITION Strategic Plan

Mission

East Bay Bicycle Coalition works for safe, convenient and enjoyable bicycling for all people in the east bay.

Vision

Bicycling in the East Bay is routine, appealing and safe for residents and visitors of all backgrounds. The entire East Bay is easily accessible by bicycle on a robust and seamless transportation system. The East Bay is filled with people biking and walking on vibrant streets, which are the center of our rich and diverse communities.

Guiding Principles

• We are committed to improving access to biking, walking and transit for all residents of the East Bay, with particular attention to those communities and areas that have been historically underserved.
• We seek to increase bicycling to improve the health and quality of life of all residents, reduce environmental impacts and make our streets and communities vibrant places to live, work and play.
• We are passionate about increasing the number of people who ride bicycles safely, confidently and knowledgably.
• We partner with diverse groups for effective change.
• We are fiscally, ethically, and environmentally responsible with our resources and in our work.

Goals

1. Advocacy: Increase the number of people who bike regularly in the East Bay by 50% by 2014. This will be achieved through local and regional campaigns increasing and improving the bikeways in and connecting our neighborhoods and communities.
2. Education: Increase participation by 50% in bicycle safety and educational activities across the East Bay for people of all ages and backgrounds, to include safety trainings and awareness programs by 2014.
3. Membership, Services and Volunteer Development: East Bay Bicycle Coalition’s active and engaged membership reflects the diversity of the East Bay, has doubled in size, and includes collaborating with diverse partners (membership goal 6,000 by end of 2014).
4. Diversify Funding Sources through Creative Fundraising – Events, Rides and Programs: Host fun and informative events, rides, and programs to build community engagement and financial support for our advocacy campaigns, providing 30% annual income by 2014.

   Click on the links above in goals to download a pdf of our action plan for each goal. Click here to download a printer friendly version of our strategic plan above.