The mission/purpose of the Friends of the Fort Collins Bicycle Program, Inc., d.b.a. Bike Fort Collins is to increase participation in active transportation and advance bicycle culture and policy changes, creating safer streets and communities, while also creating an inclusive and empowering culture for all bicyclists, regardless of ability or identity. At itsessence, More Bikes. Safe Streets.
The lists below highlight our accomplishments during the year, many of which we also initially presented as part of our 2021 Agenda.
Additionally, in 2021 Bike Fort Collins introduced a new organizational vision by posing the question, “Can Fort Collins become the Amsterdam of the U.S.” when it comes to bicycling?
PROGRAM RESULTS
While COVID-19 continued to challenge us all in 2021, Bike Fort Collins was able to deliver on its mission (and vision) with the following program highlights:
- Represented the state of Colorado in bringing three pieces of legislation to the attention of law makers during Lobby Day of the League of American Cyclists’ virtual National Bike Summit
- Brought back Ride-Around-Town (RAT) Rides, hosting three rides during the year (May, July, October)
- Re-introduced BFC’s You Know Me. I Ride a Bike. campaign, featuring 11 worthy individuals
- As part of our Safe Routes to School program (SRTS):
- Found ways to still deliver programming during the spring semester, despite schools being closed prohibiting our normal programming, by conducting bike repair sessions within low-income housing communities
- Provided scholarships to City of Fort Collins’s summer bike camps for low-income youth
- Developed and executed the Walk/Bike-to-School Challenge for PSD schools in spring and fall garnering three participating elementary schools each time
- Produced the second annual Wish for Wheels FoCo program delivering 350 bikes to second-graders in PSD’s six Title 1 schools, achieving our program goal in just its second year
- As part of our Active Living program:
- Executed on a Nature in the City grant received in late 2020 and finished a park area refresh that augmented the new playground installed at the Poudre Valley Mobile Home Park—including a culminating celebration of the new park area
- Continued Active Living program initiatives in partnership with the Larimer County Department of Health and Built Environment (LCDHBE) that included:
- Creating point-of-view shot SRTS videos in Spanish highlighting routes from low-income communities to middle schools, as well as a video that showcases an unsafe route
- Creating a bi-lingual Bicycle Resource page for the Spanish speaking community to help break down barriers, impediments, and inhibitions toward riding bicycles
- Hosting Bike Repair Sessions for the low-income mobile home park communities of Poudre Valley, Hickory Village and Cloverleaf
- Saw new “3-feet clearance” road signage installation begin as a result of our 2020 advocacy efforts, with a spring/phase 1 installation 20+ signs and a fall/phase 2 installation of another 20+ signs
- Distributed, compiled and presented questionnaire results sent to Mayor and City Council candidates via Special Election Edition of The Pedal Post eNewsletter
- As part of a grant received by the City of Fort Collins, and in partnership with Northern Colorado Clean Energy and Recycled Cycles, delivered on an eBike pilot program to provide low-income essential workers with free eBikes and accessories to replace single occupant vehicle trips.
- Hosted a Ride with the Mayor following her election to office, showcasing some of the improvement opportunities in-and-around Fort Collins
- Initiated the development of a Near Miss App to enable easy crowd reporting of near miss crashes around the region, and ultimately provide data to support the need for bicycle infrastructure improvements. Partnering with North Front Range Metropolitan Planning Organization (NFRMPO) and CSU.
- In partnership with the City of Fort Collins from a grant through the National Association of Commuter Transportation Officials (NACTO):
- Identified and engaged communities in an effort to test a newly developed Asphalt Art program and application process that the city developed, as a result of BFC’s initiative in late 2020
- Engaged communities/locations, coordinated design (with artists) and lead installation, and follow-up reporting of “Paint the Pavement” projects in Andersonville/Romero Park, Hickory Village, and Putnam/Roosevelt & Maple
- Brought the Bicycle Film Festival to Fort Collins virtually for the second time, featuring Together We Cycle as a way to introduce BFC’s newly adopted organizational vision (to be the Amsterdam of the U.S. when it comes to bicycling)
- Inspired by our new vision, helped coordinate a “How the Dutch Do It” webinar with the City of Fort Collins for the benefit of city, county, and CDOT planning officials, partnering with the Dutch Cycling Embassy, the City of Enschede (Netherlands), and Dutch Engineering/Consulting firm, Goudappel
- Continued the Intersection/Facility Focus Initiative (introduced in 2020) – presenting improvement opportunities to Fort Collins Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC) and the City of Fort Collins Transportation Board on three separate occasions/months (February, June, November)
- Partnered and began advocating for and supporting OMBA’s efforts to bring a Bike Park to Old Town, as well as beginning a push to formalize singletrack sidewalks within urban areas
FINANCIAL & OPERATIONAL RESULTS
Bike Fort Collins achieved the aforementioned Program Results in accordance with financial performance depicted below, as well as accomplished the following other organizational and operational highlights:
REVENUE
EXPENSES
- Introduced and hosted the reading of two books as part of a new Book Club
- Participated in the return of Bike to Work/Wherever Day (BTWD), hosting a station, as well as hosting the Remington Bike Count Challenge, for the second year in a row
- Hosted a sold-out Tour de Farms ride, with presenting sponsor HSD Law, in its return for the first time since 2019
- Received accreditation as an Accredited Charity with the Better Business Bureau (BBB)
- Hosted the Virtual Turkey Hot Lap Challenge for the second year in a row, and produced the BFC Bicycle Holiday Gift Guide for the second year in a row
- After hosting a virtual version in 2020, brought back a Bike the Lights ride, in an in-person, socially distanced format that brought out approx. 70 riders