traditional bicycle coalitions isn’t the right frame forroad bike jerseys looking for new models of bicycle advocacy. In fact, there may be no such thing as a “traditional” bicycle coalition (thanks to Streetsblog California editor Melanie Curry for pointing this out).

California’s bike advocacy groups continue to evolve, grow, and find better ways to serve their communities, including partnering with other active transportation and community groups. We spoke with advocates from three bike coalitions about the methods, new and old, that they use to push for safer streets and build community.

Sandhya Laddha
Sandhya Laddha
A hub and spoke model of bicycle advocacy
The Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition covers 35 cities and towns across two counties. In 2019, says Sandhya Laddha, SVBC advocacy and policy director, “We changed our work plan for how advocacy should be at SVBC from a top-down approach. We will focus all our energyshort sleeve cycling jerseys on empowering members so that they can work on campaigns and initiatives.”