10-2SG Elm City Cycling

Grant Application

10-2_Elm_City_Cycling.pdf

Grant Round:

2010 September

Grant Program:

Small Grants

Grant Type:

Other Grants

Grant amount requested:

2,000.00

Grant amount awarded:

$1,500.00

Attachments

Please provide a brief description of the project for which you seek funding.

We seek funding to do an update of our organizational brochure, which was first printed in 2008 (with funding from NEGEF), to do a Spanish translation of it, and to get 2,000 copies in English and 1,000 copies in Spanish printed for distribution throughout New Haven and to make available in key locations in the surrounding towns of Hamden, West Haven and East Haven. Additionally, we are requesting funds to print attractive "rules of the road" flyers in Spanish and English and to support bike clinics to help Latino residents (youth and adult) repair their bikes and get safety equipment and information. The brochure is an important outreach tool, and most of our original brochures are gone, and many new developments have rendered it obsolete in any case. For example, we now have both municipal and state legislation regarding "complete streets" that didn't exist in 2008, for both of which Elm City Cycling can claim some credit. Also, the City of New Haven has adopted our 2010 Bike Plan, which calls for a number of improvements like "sharrows" (share the road symbols), dozens of which have just been painted on city streets; more bike parking; and safe, marked routes to major destinations like the Amtrak/Metro North train station and bus terminal. We need a brochure in Spanish because there is a sizable population within New Haven and near suburbs of Spanish-speaking cyclists -- often laborers who ride without helmets and who don't know the rules of the road and often ride bikes with safety problems. We have financially supported a local bicycle collective (Chainbreakers) that has conducted two bike clinics that have attracted Latino youth and some of these adults to provide bike maintenance, free helmets and safety information. We want to continue this collaboration.

Project Summary

In 2010, ECC was awarded a grant to update their organizational brochure in English and Spanish. ECC will print 2,000 copies in English and 1,000 copies in Spanish for distribution throughout New Haven and to make available in key locations in the surrounding towns of Hamden, West Haven and East Haven. In addition ECC is working on "rules of the road" flyers in Spanish and English, and supporting bike clinics to help Latino residents (youth and adults) repair their bikes and get safety equipment and information.

Primary Issue Area:

Climate Change & Energy

Please break-down/categorize the program expenses:

Proposed ItemEstimated $ AmountWould grant funds be used for this item?

Translation Service

$150.00

Yes

Printing of Brochures

$1,000.00

Yes

" of Safety Materials

$100.00

Yes

Design Work

$150.00

Yes

Helmets

$300.00

Yes

Bike Safety Items

$300.00

Yes

Whom does your group need to make this project happen?

Please explain how your group will engage members from your community in this project.

We will distribute brochures and "rules of the road" information in bike shops, through the New Haven public schools, the city's police department, and New Haven's ten neighborhood management teams (grassroots groups that interface with the police department and pursue quality of life issues). We already have contacts in all these groups/agencies, including some individuals who are active members of ECC. The Education and Outreach Committee of ECC has conducted many bike safety jamborees for kids, participated in school and after-school programs, and particpated in programs at libraries, in neighborhoods, at the annual Green Expo and the annual International Festival of Arts & Ideas. We have advocated at the municipal and state levels for improvements in bike safety and access, and we will continue to do all these things going forward.

If your group receives a NEGEF Grow grant, how do you plan to pay for remaining expenses?

$ AmountSource

$2,000.00

NEGEF Grant

Please list these materials or services

$ AmountItem

$100.00

Some copying

$200.00

Some layout services

$2,000.00

All organizing

Please describe what changes will occur in your community and its environment when your group's project is successful.

New Haven area bicyclists will become better informed of their rights and obligations; they will become aware of the improvements that have been made for their benefit and be able to take advantage of them; and we will build the cycling community across ethnic, age and neighborhood lines. These changes will be measured in the increase in the number of cyclists and the decrease in the number of injuries and deaths to cyclists because of their own behavior and that of motorists.

Please list how many people in your community your group expects to actively engage in this project.

1 000

What relevant skills does the group need (but does not currently have access to) to help move the initiative forward?

There is some diversity lacking, and this is an issue we are working to address. We've made some progress but feel we can make more with funding of these projects.

What relevant skills do current members of the group have to help move the initiative forward?

We have professional planners, data experts, youth advocates, community organizers, journalists, parents, city officials, public health advocates, students, lawyers, and the Yale Sustainable Transportation department as active participants in ECC.