Keep in mind, too, that the AWB is working on merging with the League of American Bicyclists and Bikes Belong [1].  I won't speak for them, but I don't necessarily trust right now that from an organizational standpoint, they (or the successor organization) will have the resources to cash checks their goodwill would write.

I second Godwin's statement about the differing end goals; as community shops, we work at a retail level that advocacy organizations -- or at least, the ones I'm most familiar with -- don't.  I think, too, that before we can as a group of collectives start working with a national-level agency, we need to share what works at our local levels.  The Sacramento Bicycle Kitchen is doing gangbusters community shop work, but we can't easily contribute to a partnership with AWB.  What we can do is work with the Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates and let the rest of the BCN know what we did, how we did it, and hopefully what worked, what didn't, and why.  This sort of grassroots action plays directly to our strengths.

That said, I would love to see this discussion continued in Vancouver, particularly if AWB/LAB/BB sends a squad to Bike!Bike! and makes it easier for us to send representatives to ProWalk/ProBike.

--Ryan S.

[1] http://blog.bikeleague.org/blog/2012/02/new-national-plan-to-transform-bicycling/

--
Sacramento Bicycle Kitchen
http://sacbikekitchen.org/
1915 I Street, Midtown Sacramento
Open Tu 6-9p, We 6-9p, Th 6-9p, Fr 10a-2p (kids 6-8p), Sa 12-4p

On Wed, Mar 28, 2012 at 9:52 AM, Godwin ! <goodgodwin@hotmail.com> wrote:
This involves all of us, why not keep the discussion open for now?

My first thoughts are that an alliance (with the alliance) would be of interest, however a partnership may be going too far. We have similar interests and possibly end goals, however I feel that our immediate goals are very different.

The mission of the Bike Collective Network is to strengthen and encourage communication and resource sharing between existing and future community bike shops. Collectively we can improve a bigger wheel as opposed to re-inventing smaller ones.

From what I have understood of the AWB is that the primary interest is advocacy in general while to me, the BCN exists to help people start up their own collectives and keep them going. While most of us are likely advocates and want to promote cycling (and walking I guess), that I feel comes second or is even a byproduct of what we do.

I'm not sure where this would go in the end but we had some initial discussions at last year's Bike!Bike! concerning creating stronger ties between our organizations and possibly making the organization more formalized. There seemed to be some interest, however there was some backlash at the thought of a having a parent organization to encompass all of our organizations. The consensus seemed to be that this would not be of interest, however creating a third party organization to help with research and funding may be. Perhaps this is where such a partnership could take us.

My other concern is that the AWB is a US/Canada wide project, while it's awesome to hear that we've been included up here, the BCN has been helping organizations world-wide. I'm not sure how such a partnership would effect these relationships.

I really like that we're talking about this! Is there any chance that anyone from the AWB will be able to make it out to Vancouver this June? It would be a great opportunity to get this discussion going in person and gauge the feelings of the general community.

.godwin




Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2012 11:47:54 -0400
From: Mike@PeoplePoweredMovement.org
To: thethinktank@bikecollectives.org
Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Partnership with the Alliance for Walking and Biking


As Jonathan mentioned, we have been in discussions about establishing a partnership with the Bike Collective Network as part of a larger effort by the Alliance to work with Community Bike Shops. I encourage you to call or email me with your thoughts and ideas as we continue to determine how this partnership will look.

Best,

Mike Samuelson 
Member Services and Open Streets Coordinator
Alliance for Biking & Walking

P.O. Box 65150
Washington, DC 20035



The Open Streets Project has just released the Open Streets Guide!  A great resource for anyone looking to further open streets in their community.

From: Jonathan Morrison <jonathan@slcbikecollective.org>
Reply-To: The Think Tank <thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org>
Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2012 15:43:32 -0600
To: The Think Tank <thethinktank@bikecollectives.org>
Subject: [TheThinkTank] Partnership with the Alliance for Walking and Biking

We have been working with the Alliance for Walking and Biking to establish a partnership that will help Community Bike Shops grow and achieve their goals, as well as help bridge the gaps in the bicycle advocacy community at large.


We invite you to join in the conversation.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Morrison
Executive Director
Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective
2312 S. West Temple
Salt Lake City, UT 84115
w: 801-328-2453
c: 801-688-0183
f: 801-466-3856
www.slcbikecollective.org

The mission of the Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective is to promote cycling as an effective and sustainable form of transportation and as a cornerstone of a cleaner, healthier, and safer society. The Bicycle Collective provides refurbished bicycles and educational programs to the community, focusing on children and lower income households.
_______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org To manage your subscription, plase visit: http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.org
_______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org To manage your subscription, plase visit: http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.org

_______________________________________________
Thethinktank mailing list
Thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org
To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org
To manage your subscription, plase visit:
http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.org