Strategic Plan, 2022-2025

WE BELIEVE

Bicycling makes life better for everyone.
When more people ride bikes…
     People are happier and healthier,
     Our Communities are safer, stronger, and better connected,
     Our Nation is socially and economically stronger, 
     Our Environment is more protected and we are slowing climate change.

Introduction

Bicycling is good for people, our communities, our country, and our world. Biking is fun, healthy, and environmentally sustainable. The League of American Bicyclists believes everyone should have the opportunity to bike for transportation, good health, and the pure joy and freedom it brings. Over the last 100 years, our communities and transportation system have been developed and designed primarily for automobiles, which has prioritized vehicle road space and speed over people’s safety and ability to get around without a car. In communities all across our country, people who bike have been treated as if they don’t belong on our streets. For children and parents, riding a bike to school seems impossible. Too often, bikes are viewed as toys or a niche activity for select groups rather than how bikes should be seen: as an essential tool in building a better life for everyone. We think bicycling should be commonplace — an everyday part of life. To do that, we’re making biking an easier option for more people, because when more people bike, more people benefit, even those who don’t bike. Removing barriers to bicycling must be a national priority. 

The League is powered by a network of changemakers dedicated to improving lives and communities by making bicycling safe, comfortable, and accessible to all. We are an organization of more than 200,0000 members and supporters and more than 1,000 state and local affiliated groups and bike clubs as well as thousands of businesses, universities, and communities together leading the movement to create a Bicycle Friendly America for everyone.

Our Mission

To create a bicycle-friendly America for Everyone, improving lives and strengthening communities through bicycling. 

Our Vision 

We envision a nation where everyone, whether they bike or not, recognizes and enjoys the many benefits and opportunities of bicycling and where everyone can experience the joy of bicycling.

Core Values

Principles we hold most dear which guide our actions and decisions:

Diversity and Inclusion

We listen openly and seek out varying perspectives from many backgrounds.  We acknowledge our own limitations and engage others to broaden our thinking and experience.  We are welcoming of and celebrate our differences.

Partnering and Connecting 

We believe that by working together with those who share our goals and aspirations, we all move forward faster and with better results.  We are committed to partnerships, collaborations, connecting, and engaging with other organizations, institutions, and individuals that amplify and multiply our mutual success.  

Well-Being 

The actions we take and solutions we promote are focused on improving physical, mental, emotional, social, and environmental well-being.  We seek always to be a driving force in improving the well-being of individuals, communities, our country, and the planet.  We encourage well-being through the joy and fun of bike-riding.

Integrity 

We adhere to the highest standards of governance.  We are honest in our practices and operate with transparency.  We are good stewards of the trust placed in us.  

Our Approach

The League has been people-powered since 1880. Grassroots action to improve lives and strengthen communities is essential to the League’s theory of change; we organize and amplify those grassroots voices for better bicycling, the bike movement, at the national level to prioritize and improve investments, policies, and programs that make bicycling safe, comfortable, and accessible for all people. We support and develop changemakers, we promote the benefits of bicycling and safe behaviors, and we showcase best practices and national standards to make biking better for all. 

As a national organization, it is our responsibility to represent and serve all people who bicycle in the United States. To be effective in this, we must thoughtfully engage and collaborate with people and organizations who are not adequately represented within our organization and the larger bicycling movement. The League and the bicycling movement have contributed to the divisions in our communities, have overtly excluded people of color in the past, haven’t done enough to welcome people of color to participate, and haven’t taken action to address the structural racism in the built environment, bicycling-related policies, and bicycling programming. Equity, diversity, and inclusion are fundamental to the League and the bicycling movement’s success. This means more than simply being open to new ideas, people, and groups. This means active engagement, listening, learning, and deep collaboration with others towards our shared goals. 

For the next three years, the League will prioritize collaboration in order to create great bicycling networks and safer streets for all, to reach more people with bicycling and driver education, to create and promote opportunities to bicycle with others, to showcase best practices, and celebrate leaders in our movement, and to ensure that everyone is being served and represented in and through these initiatives. 

Our Goals 

1. To create a safer built environment for everyone that increases bicycling and reduces the dependence on personal cars and trucks. 
2. Empower people through education to be safer and feel more comfortable and confident to bike more.
3. Grow and strengthen the Movement to expand our reach and inform our approach.
4. Celebrate, promote, and communicate the positive changes and progress being made toward building a Bicycle Friendly America for everyone.
5. Grow and maintain a thriving and resilient organization

Learn more about each goal and its objectives in the accordion below.