Angel,

" I attended a couple conferences recently that I wouldn't otherwise have been able to attend by signing up to volunteer at each conference."

One thing I think we want to avoid is setting up a caste system of people who pay and people who volunteer (indentured servants). At BikeBike everyone should be volunteers, it's a conference of problem solvers, and we can all come together to make it happen. No one is making money, so it should be on the conference as a whole to take on the work. One of the main goals should be to help build something and leave the city and the collective in better shape than we found it.

"Personally, I believe that bike collectives have grown enough to the point where there are enough organizations that there can be a stronger focus on cohering the regional bike bikes and the zine zine (hey, any more info forthcoming with that?), with the centralized international bike bike happening only once every 3-5 years in the name of giving people with low incomes and collectives who want to send some core volunteers the time to save up to attend, and to reduce the impact of long-distance travel on the environment"

I don't disagree with anything you said, and we may want to think about the environmental impact of people traveling from all over the country (BTW driving alone in a car <9 hours has less impact than flying on a full plane the same distance).
I however have gone to a few B!B!SEs (South East) and it seems that the trend there is bike Co-Ops with members and Co-Ops that are semi-for-profit (or at least focus on sales). Personally these do not seem like a very inclusive models. Especially in a region that is still heavily segregated(I did miss the B!B!SE in Atlanta, so I'm sure it was much different there). With this I think it would really benefit folx from the South East to be exposed to ideas of the larger group. Especially the collectivism of Latin America. I would say we could plan on only going to the annual international B!B! if it is in your region, and save money for it for the years it is not. However I think that would rely on the schedule being done a couple years a head. With the life expectancy of Bike Collectives I don't think that is realistic. (If you are from the SE and disagree with me, please let me know. I'm sure folx are working for social justice everywhere.)

My org really doesn't have money to spend on sending volunteers anywhere. We are focused on youth, so if we had money it would probably go towards sending youth to the Youth Bike Summit (YBS) or sending our youth mountain bike team to a meet.

thanks for adding to the conversation,
-erk

On Sat, Oct 10, 2015 at 5:48 PM, Angel York <aniola@gmail.com> wrote:

I really like this idea!  Here are a couple of thoughts:

- I attended a couple conferences recently that I wouldn't otherwise have been able to attend by signing up to volunteer at each conference.  Food was included.  (I was really impressed by OSB conference; more details on the ways they focused on equity available if you're interested)

- I was able to attend a Bici! Bici! in Southern California once because our bike collective paid the bus fare to travel for the only two people interested to travel all the way from Northern California.  It was a great experience, and I still remember it years later.

- I have never been to Bike! Bike!, but I've attended a couple regional Bici! Bici!s, because, in addition to the hardship of buying a ticket to a faraway place, I am a person who values being able to transport myself by bike, as I would expect some non-attendees are, and I have trouble getting past the environmental barrier of traveling such a long distance, even for what I know to be an amazing event with people I'd love to meet, see again, get to know, share with, learn from. 

Personally, I believe that bike collectives have grown enough to the point where there are enough organizations that there can be a stronger focus on cohering the regional bike bikes and the zine zine (hey, any more info forthcoming with that?), with the centralized international bike bike happening only once every 3-5 years in the name of giving people with low incomes and collectives who want to send some core volunteers the time to save up to attend, and to reduce the impact of long-distance travel on the environment.

Angel York

On Sat, Oct 10, 2015 at 2:42 PM, erk magosh <emailmyremail@gmail.com> wrote:

Hey y'all,

I have been throwing around ideas about travel equity after our trip to Mexico. For me a citizen of the US it was easy to get down there and was very affordable. I started thinking about why that was, and how it doesn't apply to everybody. Below is some suggestions that I have come up with. Most of these suggestions would really be up to the BikeBike hosts (Detroit in 2016), but the travel fund could be something we could start easily with donations. It is a rough draft and I'm looking for feedback (there has only been 5 minutes of feedback so far). Most of these ideas would take a bit of work, but I think it would be worth it to allow as many people to participate in BikeBike as possible.

let me/us know what you think,

erk

BikeBike Travel Equity:

Suggestions to Offset Inequitable Travel Cost and Barriers

 

Summary: In an aim to make BikeBike more inclusive we should help address travel inequities. Travel can be much harder/more expensive depending on what side of some imaginary lines a person was born on or what system they have to live in. We should encourage those with privilege to help those with less.

 

1.    Registration: registration fees should be very malleable. Folx that can pay more should be encouraged to support folx that cannot.

a.    For some participants the registration fee is very cheap for all the services provided, others it may be a large expense.

2.    Travel funds should be created ahead of time to help folx with Visas/other travel expenses.

a.    Donations or excess registration fees could create these funds.

b.    Example of need: A Mexican Citizen needs to pay $300 USD just to apply for a visa to the USA. If they do not get approved they do not get the money back. For a US citizen with steady work this might not seem like a huge loss, but that works out to $5,100 MEX, which could be 3 or 4 times a person’s monthly housing cost.

3.    3 meals (and snacks) a day at BikeBike.

a.    Eatting out is by default expensive, but if you come from a country with an unfavorable currency exchange it is even more so. Even without that exchange, some people don’t have money to blow on a luxury like eating out.

b.    This creates a bit more work, visiting BikeBikers should be encouraged to help cook and take any other loads off the hosts.

c.     An alternative may be providing access to the kitchen when meals cannot be provided. 

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