We've got some big news. First, we are sad to see Christy Kwan depart the Alliance. Her last day in the office will be April 14.
She started with the Alliance back in 2013 on funding from Kaiser Permanente for Advocacy Advance, which was our partnership with the League focused on increasing public funding for biking and walking. Advocacy Advance funding ended at the end of last year, so Christy had been starting to think about what's next for her for a while now. We appreciate her service to the Alliance and the countless hours she spent helping our member organizations.
"We support Christy's decision but are sad to see her go," said Alliance Board Chair Jill Chamberlain. "She has helped guide the Alliance through a challenging time of transition and done so with an admirable dedication to our mission and members."
But this ending is also the start of a new chapter for the Alliance. Today we are happy to announce the formation of an Active Transportation Leadership Institute, a new program of the League of American Bicyclists. The Leadership Institute will build leadership capacity in local and state bicycling and walking organizations and recruit and develop new leaders.
The Institute will have a strong focus on equity, diversity and inclusion, working to recruit new leaders and help existing organizations diversify their leadership.
The Institute will also produce the Benchmarking Report, with the next publication scheduled for 2018.
As a first step, this spring the Institute will convene several listening sessions to identify the needs of professional biking and walking advocates for furthering their professional development and steps for how we can increase equity, diversity and inclusion in our organizations. We will be delaying the 2016 Leadership Retreat until 2017 with the hopes to integrate what we learn in the listening sessions.
We will be sharing more about the structure and details of the new Active Transportation Leadership Institute over the next several months.
Thank you for your continued support as we work to continue to build and advance the walking and bicycling movement.
