History, Mission, Vision, Strategy, Community Benefits & Organization

Background and Participants

Our effort began in 2011 with a series of brainstorming sessions with delegates drawn from law enforcement, parks and recreation, transportation engineering and planning, current and former elected officials, governmental staff, road agencies, education, bicycle retailers, bike teams and clubs, health care, and philanthropic and charitable organizations.  The delegates prepared a list of more than 600 ideas clustering around themes ranging from infrastructure to education, safety to tourism, and ways to enhance the community’s prestige and reputation.

Implementing the ideas was expressed in a long term plan that was itself condensed into a series of infrastructure, educational and awareness-building goals aimed at achieving each of these main components. That plan will unfold and evolve over time as some goals are achieved or modified, and new goals emerge. This is the first such broad-based bicycling plan our community has put together. Versions of the plan can be found on our Meetings page.  The process we’ve been following and the plan that has emerged are a model of inter-governmental and cross-organizational cooperation.

Bike Friendly Kalamazoo is now a 501c3 charitable organization, incorporated in the State of Michigan and are a GuideStar Gold Seal of Transparency charity.  We’re excited to be in an even stronger position to sustain our mission, thanks to the continued generous sharing of time on the part of our many volunteers, backed by the generosity of the financial support we receive.  Please visit our DONATE page to contribute!

Mission

Bike Friendly Kalamazoo (BFK) is helping to make our entire community even more bicycle friendly.  Our mission aligns with many public-spirited place-making efforts that make our community so great!

Long Term Vision and Strategy

Vision
Helping our communities, businesses and schools achieve award-winning recognition as Bicycle Friendly through collaboration and by leveraging the area’s many resources via positive action, supplementing those resources with our own from time to time.

Strategy

• Engage key leadership and stakeholders in an ongoing, open and constructive process and exchange of relevant information
• Earn the community’s respect as a source of reliable and useful knowledge
• Explore, use and improve creative ways to become self-sustaining
• Advance the interests of individuals and organizations working to make our community even more bicycle friendly by helping them achieve their goals
• Reward and recognize others making strides toward making our greater community even more bicycle friendly
• Create virtuous cycles and inspire others to do so in their own organizations as they advance bicycle friendly goals
• Support and encourage other worthy non-motorized and allied efforts
• Support and encourage a collegial feeling of togetherness in pursuit of our Vision

Goals and Programs

The goals we currently feel that require the most financial support can be found on our Goals & Programs page.  Those goals are updated periodically per those that arise in our community-wide Bike Program Steering Committee.  Please see the Meetings page for notes from recent committee meetings.

The motivation to make our community even more bicycle friendly is many faceted. At the time our effort was launched the economy was in a downturn. Participants were initially interested in finding ways to enhance the greater community’s bicycling-oriented reputation and create a positive economic draw for the area.

Benefits to the community include:

• enhanced public safety
• economic development
• improved fitness and wellness
• expanded recreational opportunities
• improved education and awareness-building
• reduction in costs and taxes related to health care
• strengthened family bonds and values
• improved mental health
• upturn in local retailing
• increased ability to attract talented employees
• business and resident retention
• expanded tourism
• facilities supporting multiple uses such as jogging, running, hiking, walking pets, strolling with baby buggies, painting a picture, photography, studying and appreciating nature and local wildlife.

When we discuss the list of benefits just mentioned above with others, people are often quick to add their own ideas, such as:

• supporting the environment
• reducing dependence on foreign oil
• reducing energy dependence
• reduction in tax increases such as with Medicare
• improving longevity and quality of life
• sense of freedom and independence
• reducing greenhouse gas emissions
• slowing the pace of negative climate changes
• plus, the simple pleasure of biking itself!

You can undoubtedly think of many more. The benefits for helping to make our community even more bicycle friendly are extensive.

Organization

Bike Friendly Kalamazoo is a Michigan not for profit organization with 501c3 status as a public charity.  Our volunteer board of directors is greatly supported by our network of individuals and organizations working toward our mission as it intersects with the goals of the groups they represent.

The way we move forward is dictated by the fact that our delegates and participants are busy people. Many lead organizations of their own and need to manage their time effectively. This means that we primarily stay in touch and coordinate our efforts through email and voice communication. Face to face public meetings are held as needed to accomplish specific tasks best handled through direct discussion. Our volunteers are welcome to invite others to meet with each other as they see fit.  The only thing expected of our volunteers is to act on their commitments in a diligent manner as time and resources permit.

Working as an informal network of volunteers since 2011, BFK incorporated as a Michigan not for profit corporation in mid-2018 to further ensure that our mission would continue and to further cement Bike Friendly Kalamazoo as a regional resource.  We received our 501c3 status in time to announce it in time for Kalamazoo Bike Week 2019.  Our bylaws may be found here; we modeled our own after other fine organizations, including the Greater Grand Rapids Bicycle Coalition.

Most of our goals are achieved through the actions of other organizations working in a cooperative spirit of enlightened self-interest and collaboration.  At this time we collect no dues.  We raise funds for worthy programs defined by the community as important when they require financial resources for implementation.

One of our key organizational principles is to achieve our goals by applying resources that already exist where possible and focusing those resources more effectively, supplementing them with our own as the situation warrants. Volunteers rely on their own creative sense and initiative to move toward our vision by launching or enhancing their own initiatives in their own domains and spheres of influence. Coordination is accomplished through communication via email, face to face meetings and mutual personal encouragement.

Accessibility Policy
It is BFK’s accessibility policy to strive to make our public meetings and programs accessible to all people and this is a priority of our government funded programs. BFK will make every attempt to ensure that our public meetings and programs are accessible to persons with disabilities.

Non-Discrimination and Equal Opportunity Policy
Bike Friendly Kalamazoo (BFK) does not and shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status, in any of its activities or operations. These activities include, but are not limited to, hiring and firing of staff, selection of volunteers and vendors, and provision of services. We are committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming environment for all members of our staff, clients, volunteers, subcontractors, vendors, and clients.

BFK shall be an equal opportunity employer if we ever act in the capacity of an employer. We will not discriminate and will take affirmative action measures to ensure against discrimination in employment, recruitment, advertisements for employment, compensation, termination, upgrading, promotions, and other conditions of employment against any employee or job applicant on the bases of race, color, gender, national origin, age, religion, creed, disability, veteran’s status, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.