Words matter — especially the language we choose so meticulously to describe what we do as bike/walk advocacy organizations. Our mission statements are micocosms of our values and convey the most concise version of our work. In our State of the Movement report, we took a look at the most common words used in Alliance member organization's mission statements. Here's what we found...
Drawing on commonly used keywords in member organizations’ mission statements, the bicycle and pedestrian movement is focused on:
Health: Appearing in three iterations among the top 50 keywords, physical and mental health are top priorities for our member organizations.
Safety: Members are focused on keeping our big infrastructure gains safe and advocating for new bicycling and walking connections where community members are most at-risk.
Connectivity: Advocates are completing streets and trails to connect people with economic, recreational, and social opportunities in our cities and regions.
Quality of life: Words like community, access, friendly, public and environment, paired with fun, enjoyable and better, send a pretty clear message that this infrastructure and programming are essential community resources.
Activating voices: Member organizations want to be sure that no voice is left out of our collective vision for bikeable, walkable, livable communities for everyone.
Top 25 keywords: bicycle, community, transportation, educate, safe, cycle, recreation, walk, advocate, improve, advocacy, healthy, more, safety, bike, create, provide, active, health, encourage, build, access, friendly, public, environment
