In 2016, the Alliance will celebrate 20 years of serving state and local bike/walk advocates. As we reflect on our fundamental role in the growth and evolution of the movement, we know that to continue to serve YOU, our members, we can't simply rest on our successes.

Two decades ago, the Alliance was created to connect a handful of grassroots activists leading a still-marginal movement for active transportation. Since then, our advocacy efforts have evolved dramatically. In fact, according to our recent State of the Movement report, there are now more than 1,100 paid bike/walk advocacy staff nationwide, with a collective budget of more than $88 million.

The Alliance has played a key role in that massive sea change in scope and capacity. Its mutual aid model has helped to professionalize the movement, creating a network of savvy leaders and sophisticated organizations that are highly effective agents of change in their states and communities. In partnership with the League of American Bicyclists, the Alliance helped those advocates connect with city and state officials to leverage hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal funding through its Advocacy Advance program. In collaboration with Street Plans Collaborative, the Alliance launched the Open Streets Project, which helped to galvanize ciclovias as sought-after and common activities in communities of all sizes across the United States.

But continued leadership requires reflection. It requires celebrating our successes — and being willing to move on. In capacity building, many Alliance member organizations now exceed the resources of the Alliance. With federal dollars increasingly hampered by political gridlock, advocates are driving progress and innovation with state and local funding. With the cities eagerly taking the lead in developing Open Streets, the momentum around ciclovias has become self-sustaining.

So where does the Alliance go from here?

Just like our collective work as advocates has moved from the margins to the mainstream, it’s time for the Alliance to pivot. While we are tremendously proud of our 20-year legacy, which has been fundamental to the growth and professionalization of the movement, we know that to continue to serve YOU, our members, we need to consider a more strategic, focused path forward.

To that end, in September, Breen Goodwin came to the Alliance as its new Executive Director. With a background in organizational transformation, Goodwin helped the Alliance take a deep and critical look at its internal operations, from finance to programs, and its role in the wider movement. Under her direction, the board and staff recognized that it wasn’t enough to simply move forward along the same path with a new and capable leader. Given the significant shifts in funding sources and changes in the national bike/walk advocacy landscape, Goodwin made it clear that it was time to pull out the map and consider where the Alliance should go next, not based on what we’ve done in the past but what the movement needs us to do in the future.

Having set the foundation for that critical conversation, Goodwin is stepping down and Christy Kwan, the Alliance’s Programs & Outreach Director, will step up as the interim executive director. With deep institutional knowledge of the organization’s operations and long-standing relationships with Alliance members, Kwan is uniquely qualified to work with staff, board and member organizations to investigate how the Alliance can sustain and maximize its impact to grow the movement for biking and walking.

“The Alliance has a 20-year legacy of leadership that has been fundamental to the growth and professionalization of the movement,” said Breen Goodwin, outgoing Executive Director. “While we’re proud of that history, we recognize that the landscape is shifting and, to continue that leadership, we must take time to ensure a strategic and intentional investment of our resources and programming offerings. With changes to funding and staffing in the near future, I have made the difficult decision to step down and allow for dedicated leaders within our organization to come to the forefront.”

“Goodwin came to the Alliance with the right skill set at the right time, applying her background in organizational development and bringing a new and nuanced perspective to the role of the Alliance during a critical moment for the movement,” said Jill Chamberlain, the Alliance’s incoming Board Chair and Senior Project Manager in the Center for Prevention at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. “Over the past four months, Goodwin has played an invaluable role in setting the course for a more financially stable organization — with a more focused and impactful scope of work to support biking and walking. We’re grateful to Goodwin for her service and excited to elevate Christy Kwan, a proven leader with a deep understanding of the Alliance and its members, to the role of interim Executive Director.”

“There’s no doubt that 2015 has certainly been a year of changes,” said Christy Kwan, incoming interim Executive Director. “We’ve seen transitions here at the Alliance but we’ve also seen exciting shifts across the movement, with new leaders and new partnerships emerging, highlighting the opportunity to broaden the voices and stakeholders engaged in our collective efforts to make our communities better places to bike and walk — for everyone. I’m deeply committed to the Alliance and eager to work with the Board through this transition, but more importantly, I’m dedicated to continuing our work with our members and partners to ensure that the Alliance moves forward in a way that better serves the broader movement and retains our core values to strengthen and unite walking and biking advocates.”

In lieu of hiring an Executive Director in the near-term, the Alliance is empowering Kwan to engage with our team and board members in a shared leadership model that will accentuate skills sets and perspectives necessary during this time of internal investigation and transition. The organization will also engage in dialogue with national partners about shared values and goals and what type of alignment or collaboration would best serve the movement moving forward.

No, we don’t have all the answers yet, but we do know this:

• We believe the Alliance can best serve the movement not by doing everything it can, but by focusing on what it can do best. In the near-term, that will likely mean streamlined staff and fewer programs — but a recommitment to elevate the profile and quality of our most effective and impactful offerings.
• Recognizing the changing landscape at all levels of the bike/walk movement, we are deepening our discussions with our national partners to explore areas of shared goals and values — and how we might be able to work more effectively for the mutual efficiency of our organizations and maximal impact for our member organizations.
• We will release the 2016 Benchmarking Report in February that will raise the visibility of bike/walk issues and trends in the media and serve as a vital resource for Alliance members.
• We plan to convene a 2016 Leadership Retreat that builds on the findings of our State of the Movement report and serves the unique role of convening advocates, face to face, to have the formal and informal conversations that truly shape the trajectory and success of the movement.
• We need your support more than ever. (And not in the cavalier way that’s typically tossed around during the end-of-year giving season.) Strategic planning isn’t sexy, but it’s absolutely essential — especially in moments of wider transition, like the bike/walk movement is seeing right now.
• We have capable and visionary leaders at the table. Along with Kwan on the Alliance staff, the Alliance team includes Andrea Milne who is finalizing the Benchmarking Report, Naomi Doerner and Carolyn Szczepanski in contracting capacities, as well as a board of directors that represents long-time and up-and-coming leaders at the state and local level.

The Alliance has a deep and meaningful role in the bike/walk movement and an equally committed team of staff, board members and partners that are dedicated to your success. We look forward to working with you during this time of transition — and building an even stronger People Powered Movement together.