Mary DeBacker, Board of Directors president

“When the initial founders sat down to form the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation, they had a vision to improve bicycling in our community. With our beginning in 1985, this organization's journey has truly transformed the region.

We - the board, staff, membership and volunteers – have thrived, becoming a strong voice for bicyclists through the entire region. We are known among the cycling, government and advocacy communities as the authority on all things bicycling.

While we enjoyed our success with our bicycling message, it became clear by 2004 to the Board that the region desperately needed us to focus our attention on improving all the ways people get around. We recognized that an improved and balanced transportation system is good for everyone — fewer cars on the road, improved air quality and more options to get to your destinations.

The board amended the organization’s mission statement to recognize the synergies between promoting bicycling and promoting walking and public transit. We aimed to do this through the power of a broad, multi-modal coalition, bringing our unique focus on social equity and community improvement to the discussion. We began our efforts to improve driver behavior and conditions for pedestrians with programs like Safe Routes to School, Drive With Care and Sunday Parkways.

The following year, the board and staff returned to our members with a strategic plan to reach two goals by 2026: 50% fewer crashes and 50% of all trips made by biking, walking or transit. We presented this bold plan to you last year. This plan envisions the region 20 years in the future as one with eight subregional bike plans; where half of the area’s communities execute Drive With Care programs; and our transit systems fully accommodate bikes.

The response from you was overwhelming support and pride.
Today we look to you again for that pride and support as we unveil our vision of a region where cars are only one option of many as residents get around our community. Where anyone of any age and ability can safely get to work, school and other destinations.
What if the region had such an abundance of transit opportunities so that you didn’t have to immediately reach for the steering wheel to visit friends in the city or the suburbs. Imagine: what if walking your kids to school didn’t mean traversing a six-lane highway. Or what if taking CTA didn’t mean waiting 30 minutes for three buses to show up at the same time?

What if the hardest part of getting around was choosing which clothes to wear for the day’s weather?

With the gracious help from VSA Partners, we set out to find out what you, as members, wanted out of an advocacy organization. What we learned was exciting — 97 percent of our members want us to encourage healthy and active transportation options. 95 percent of our members want us to advocate for safe streets for all users

With our members in mind, the board approved a new mission “to make bicycling, walking and public transit so safe, convenient and fun that we will achieve a significant shift from environmentally harmful, sedentary travel to clean, active travel. We advocate for transportation that encourages and promotes safety, physical activity, health, recreation, social interaction, equity, environmental stewardship and resource conservation.”

However, our addition of walking and public transit only means that our commitment to cycling will be strengthened. I like to walk, and on those chilly and not-so-bike-friendly days, I'm thankful that there's a bus or a train to get me to where I want to go. Yet, like you, I love to bike – it gets me to and from work, and takes me place on the weekends that I wouldn't normally visit. And I, like you, the Board and staff, never want bicycling to return to the days when we were a marginalized mode of transportation or seen as a thing that only children do.

Therefore, we feel the need to ensure our members that our original work will not be compromised by these changes. We promise that this new direction and expansion will add new resources and strength to the voice of bicyclists and not take away from our bicycling commitment. We will always bring that context to the table.

To help clarify what this mission means for our work, the board also adopted the following preamble to our strategic plan:

“Our organization began as the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation in 1985 and we remain a strong voice for bicyclists. We now also work for pedestrian and transit improvements and safety. We understand that there are circumstances where bicycling, walking and transit compete for public space and resources. In these circumstances we will work for the best-balanced solution. If choices are necessary, we will prioritize our resources and advocacy to achieve the outcomes of this strategic plan and provide physically active transportation options. Program and advocacy priorities will be aligned with the priorities of our members.”

As members, you offer us a unique and special support. Thank you for sticking with us and continuing to support us as we strengthen our work and reach for even higher goals.

I now want to hand this to Rob Sadowsky, our executive director, who will tell you what this change means for you, the organization and our name.“

Rob Sadowsky, executive director

“Wow, it’s so wonderful to see so many of you join us tonight for our Annual Member Meeting. Over the past few years, we have worked hard to engage our members in our work and in our visioning and planning. You just heard from Mary DeBacker, our board president, that after intensive deliberation, we have expanded our mission to better meet the needs of our members and ensure that our primary goals —increase the number of bicyclists on the road and cut the number of crashes — succeed.

There has never been a more exciting time to be part of this organization.

From a staff of 0 in 1985, we are now a staff of 36. Our membership has grown to more than 6,000 — and nearly half of them ride several times a week. More than 1,000 volunteers make our office, events and advocacy succeed.

This coalition of staff, board and volunteers has been the magic ingredient to make Chicagoland bicycling flourish.

This coalition was the extra push Metra needed to allow bikes on trains. It was the brains and will that opened Lake Shore Drive to bicyclists. It was the robust voice that demanded Illinois legislatures pass complete streets legislation — policy that requires road projects accommodate all road users. This leadership has made the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation an authority.

More than 25 cities, towns and school districts have made their communities more livable by hiring our staff to write their bike plans. We have become a national leader in the international Safe Routes to School movement, which works to help children get to school in a safe and active way. We have celebrated with communities as they connect with each other through trail openings and future trail plans.

We continue to take incremental steps to grow our partnerships beyond bicyclists and the bicycling community to help strengthen our voice and to win more victories. The successes of Sunday Parkways, Footprints — which gives Southland residents real transportation choices — and Safe Routes to School show how our work has grown. We have progressed into pedestrian planning consulting for the City of Chicago and the region, leading to more financial resources for our overall advocacy work. We worked with residents on Chicago’s Northwest Side to reduce reckless driving in their neighborhoods by helping them stage pedestrian rallies and place Drive With Care signs in their yards.

These steps have been fruitful, both for the organization and for the bicycling community. We have gained new allies and partners who are helping push for effective legislation, increased funding and safer streets for all road users. We have gained additional vitality and passion from new friends and supporters who see the synergies that can be achieved when working together on improving not only the bicycling environment, but also the environment for pedestrians and transit riders.

Once the board approved the bold mission you just heard from Mary, we realized that we needed a name that reflected our work, our new mission, and would gather a new group of supporters around our cause. While many of us had great affection for the name Chicagoland Bicycle Federation, we also knew that the name had its limitations.

After reviewing more than 150 possible names, our board settled on the name that best captured our essence.

Ladies and Gentlemen please join me in an exciting moment as we unveil our new name: Active Transportation Alliance.

The name illustrates the physical activity qualities of biking and walking, and given that 80 percent of people taking public transit are getting the recommended daily amount of physical activity by walking to and from their transit, it includes that element as well. We are an alliance and will continue to be a membership-based alliance of individuals, institutions, municipalities, planning firms and clubs. Together we will work tirelessly to transform the current transportation culture into one that makes our roads safer and reduces the volume of traffic and burning carbon fuels in our neighborhoods.

Under this name, we promise to advance sustainable transportation through safe and healthy Chicagoland streets.

The identity includes a new logo that captures the core history of our work.
The Active Transportation Alliance logo is built around two main components that work in concert to make a cohesive representation of the organization’s new identity: the badge and the color.

Our badge visually connects our heritage within the cycling community to our newly expanded focus on all forms of responsible mobility. The badge also represents membership and pride in a community that supports social and environmental causes.

We deliberately selected as a logo a head badge similar to one you will find on the front of a bicycle built with pride. It’s three elements represent community, pathways and green space.

The green and grey communicate our commitment to transportation, safety, and recreation while reinforcing our environmental consideration.

You are now members of the Active Transportation Alliance — a transformative advocacy organization that will continue to improve the built environment and the perceptions of transportation; an inclusive organization that will be the voice for any person who demands a safer and more sensible transportation culture; and an active group that will catalyze individuals and communities to demand more sensible transportation options.

Before I conclude, there are a few folks I need to thank for helping shepherd this process. Ethan Spotts, our Director of Marketing was responsible for the identity and naming work from beginning to end. He had help from our Marketing Committee, a group of members/volunteers chaired by board member Carole Gifford. Along with Ethan, he had staff assistance from the entire Marketing and Communications team of Margo O’Hara, Chris Ege, Akane Tsuruta, and Rebekah Broussard. Finally, over one year of work and effort was put in by our private pro-bono firm, VSA Partners. They have been unbelievable in their charity and their passion. Thank you everyone and thank you to the board and other volunteers who helped along the way by participating in surveys, meetings, and design.

Members like you are the stars that light up our work. This mission, while bold and exciting, will only be possible with you.

Now, for how you can help. Please share this news with friends who might not be an avid cyclist but would support this expanded mission of improving all transportation. And if you are a bit nervous over this new direction, give us a little time and we will show you that our work will truly help all of us as our voices grows.”