Keeping aggressive growth out of your face and out of mind
Join in a Day of Service for Martin Luther King Jr Day on the Capital Trails Network. The Capital Trails Network is a regional network of world-class current and planned trails connecting the region. With 456 miles of trails currently in the Network, there is certain to be something!
Our region is connected by its trails, rivers and roads. Your efforts at one trail spot will not only help that trail but the neighbors down the watershed by reducing trash flow or making the trails a more pleasant place to be. World-class means thoughtfully designed but also trash-free, well cared for, and free of invasive plants.
Montgomery County
Join park neighbors for an annual MLK Day of Service park cleanup along your local trails and streams!
Supplies will be provided, volunteers should dress appropriately for the weather and wear sturdy shoes and clothes that can get wet and dirty. SSL hours will be available. Volunteers under 14 must be accompanied by a responsible adult.
Sligo Creek Cleanup – Hillwood Manor Park January 20th, 2020 10am – 12pm Signup and details here
Sligo Creek Trail – Piney Branch Rd January 20th, 2020 1pm – 3pm Signup and details here
Takoma Woods January 20th, 2020 10 am – 12 pm Signup and details here
Turkey Branch & Matthew Henson Trail Cleanup January 20th, 2020 10am – 12pm Signup and details here
Rock Creek Trail at Jones Mill Rd January 20th, 2020 9am – 11am Signup and details here
Rock Creek Trail at Meadowbrook January 20th, 2020 10am – 12pm Signup and details here
Long Branch Trail January 20th, 2020 10am – 12pm Signup and details here
District of Columbia
Pope Branch January 20th, 2020 10am – 1pm Signup and details here
Many different sites along Rock Creek Trail with Rock Creek Conservancy and National Park Service here
Arlington
Four Mile Run January 20th, 2020 10am – 12pm Signup and details here
Theodore Roosevelt Island January 20th, 2020 10am – 12pm Signup and details here
City of Alexandria
Jones Point Park January 18th, 2020 10am – 1pm Signup and details here
Prince George’s
College Park – Proteus Bicycles January 20th, 2020 10am – 2pm Details here
Fairfax Know of any trail cleanup in Fairfax or elsewhere that we missed? Let us know at trailranger@waba.org.
Can you turn enthusiasm into action? Do you love connecting people to their power? Do you have experience in distributed organizing?
WABA is looking for a 20×20 Campaign Organizer. This is a one-year position to accelerate and win our campaign for 20 miles of new protected bike lanes in the District of Columbia by the end of 2020.
The Team
The WABA Advocacy team currently has five staff: the Advocacy Director, one trails-focused staffer, and three organizers.
Together with a network of volunteers and allies, we fight for (and win!) better places to bike: connected, protected, and equitably distributed bike lanes and off-street trails.
The Position
WABA’s 20×20 Campaign is a city-wide effort to increase the pace of protected bike lane implementation and compel the District to build 20 new miles of protected bike lanes by the end of 2020.
The 20×20 Campaign Organizer identifies and organizes grassroots support, and empowers community advocates to be effective leaders in this campaign. In this position, you will:
Organize passionate, dense pockets of support for more protected bike lanes and safer streets in Washington DC.
Organize four or more ward-focused advocate groups to plan and lead discrete campaigns for protected bike lanes in each ward. These groups meet at least monthly to plan effective, fun, and inclusive campaigns.
Grow grassroots leadership through one on one mentorship, group trainings, effective follow up, and escalation.
Welcome, support and empower community members to be effective advocates.
Assist advocates in the development of strategic campaigns and effective tactics.
Draft compelling action alerts, blog posts, and campaign materials.
Coordinate action alerts, blog posts and other campaign communications sourced from advocates.
Attend frequent evening and weekend community meetings, planning sessions, or campaign actions.
Assist the Advocacy team in planning, staffing events, drafting comment letters, and other duties as needed.
WABA is a small office and everyone ends up helping out with things like event staffing, stuffing envelopes, loading our youth bike fleet into the van, and tidying up.
Qualifications
Core skills:
You’ll need to be able to:
Listen, learn, and build trusting relationships
Manage distributed organizing campaigns
Train volunteers in campaigning
Manage projects from start to finish
Communicate with diverse audiences with an inclusive spirit
Write clearly and persuasively
Useful experience and skills:
If you have this experience or these skills, let us know. You don’t need them to be considered for the position, but you should be eager to learn them:
Experience engaging and navigating government agencies
An understanding of current best practices for low-stress bike infrastructure
An understanding of the intersections between transportation, justice, equity and sustainability
Experience with political or policy organizing
Professional experience facilitating meetings
Support
There’s a lot of work to do! Here’s some of what’s available to help get it done:
A network of thousands of engaged advocates
WABA’s Advocacy Team is hardworking and supportive, and has spent six months building up this campaign.
WABA’s Comms Team is here to help you get the right messages to the right people
WABA’s Programs team is already on the ground all across the District.
Wins you can ride your bike on.
Benefits
Full-time employment.
Expected salary range is $44,000 to $46,000
100% employer-paid health, dental, and vision insurance.
Generous vacation, sick and personal leave.
Committed colleagues and a fun working environment.
403(b) retirement program with 5% employer match after one-year of service.
Optional voluntary accident and disability insurance programs.
About the Washington Area Bicyclist Association
Making bicycling better through advocacy and education, the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) promotes biking as a healthy, low-cost, and environmentally-friendly form of transportation and recreation. With more than 5,000 members region-wide, WABA serves bicyclists throughout the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area, including the District of Columbia and parts of Maryland and Virginia.
Contact
Send a compelling cover letter and resume to jobs@waba.org with “20×20 Campaign Organizer” in the subject line.
No phone calls please.
Position available immediately. Applications accepted until the position is filled.
WABA is committed to providing equal employment opportunity for all persons regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, marital status, arrest record or criminal convictions, political affiliation, sexual orientation or gender identity, disability, sex, or age.
What is something that all bicyclists have in common?
Someone had to teach us how to ride.
Whether it was a parent teaching you in a driveway, a sibling taking you to the park down the street, or a League Cycling Instructor helping you cross something off of your bucket list, someone took the time and patience to help you learn something new.
League Cycling Instructors (LCIs) are trained by the League of American Bicyclists to teach bicycle education and safety skills and promote happier, more confident cycling within their communities. They are exemplary bicyclists who are passionate about what they do and eager to share theIr love of bicycling with others.
Does that sound like you? Check out this FREE training opportunity (a $500 value) and start making a difference in your community.
2020 Transportation Leadership Safety Training
WABA is partnering with the Northern Virginia Regional Commission (NVRC) and Alexandria BPAC to host the 2020 Transportation Leadership Safety Training. The goal of this program is to increase bicyclist and pedestrian safety, and reduce crashes throughout Northern Virginia by training Instructors who will be leaders in their communities.
2020 Transportation Leadership Safety Training
Pedestrian Safety Training*
March 18th & 25th, 7:00pm – 9:00 pm
Gain pedestrian safety knowledge and skills by completing this four-hour class over two evenings
Smart Cycling*
March 7th, 2020 10:00am – 4:00 pm
Participants will learn the importance of bike safety and traffic knowledge while performing advanced bike handling skills and hazard avoidance maneuvers. The course includes an on-street group ride, where participants will learn the ins and outs of lane positioning, defensive cycling and how to communicate with motorists.
LCI Seminar
April 3rd, 2020 5:00pm – 9:00pm
April 4th, 2020, 8:00am – 9:00pm
April 5th, 2020 8:00am – 3:00pm
The LCI Seminar teaches candidates comprehensive bicycle safety curriculum, including bicycle handling skills, traffic law, riding in inclement weather how to safely plan and lead group rides, group facilitation and management, etc.
* prerequisite for LCI Seminar
Who can apply?
This training is open to Northern Virginia local government, state, regional staff, police, faculty/teachers and residents active in their communities and committed to improving bicycle and pedestrian safety. Recreational and/or commuter bicyclists are encouraged to apply. Applicants should have experience riding in traffic, on trails and are comfortable riding in various weather conditions.
Registration deadline – January 22nd, 2020
Key Requirements
Participants must attend all applicable training dates and complete approximately 50 hours of work, both outside and within the training activities. Training will take place in a classroom setting, outdoors and on city streets and trails.
Must have a local government or lead organization mentor that will help you identify outreach events that support bicycle and pedestrian safety efforts in the region (i.e. WABA, Alexandria BPAC, FABB, BikeArlington).
The ability to ride a bicycle confidently.
Participants must commit to doing two community pedestrian and bicycling safety outreach events by September 15th and January 20th and report back to NVRC.
Only interested in the pedestrian training or Smart Cycling?
There are limited spaces available. If you are a safety advocate or work in training, education or local state government, please contact Debbie Spiliotopoulos at dspilio@novaregion.org.
Are you an LCI willing to help out? Apply to be a mentor!
Mentors assist new LCIs in completing their outreach requirements and reporting back to NVRC.
Mentors are:
Affiliated with a program or organization that supports pedestrian/bicycle safety or outreach to vulnerable road users/bicyclists/pedestrians operating in Virginia
Connected with outreach efforts in high crash areas and directly work on events with needs for LCIs
Committed to helping LCI reach outreach requirements
Committed to communicating outreach efforts and outcomes to NVRC for grant reporting for 2020 and into future grant years
Can provide a list of potential events or activities for new candidates to work on
Project Partners
Thank you to all the key partners in this project, including the Northern Virginia Regional Commission, the League of American Bicyclists, Alexandria Bicyclist Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC), the Fairfax Alliance for Better Bicycling (FABB), Inova Hospital, the City of Manassas, City of Fairfax, Prince William County, Arlington County, Fairfax County, Loudon County and the City of Alexandria.
A decade ago, we didn’t have a single protected bike lane in the region. Our trail planners weren’t talking to each other. We didn’t have a robust bikeshare system, and we couldn’t take bikes on Metro during rush hour.
But our donors had faith and hope, and generously stepped up to help build a region where getting out of your car and on a bike is not just an option, it’s a joy.
Will you join them today? We are relying on you to build a better connected, more beautiful region. Let’s build something special together.
As it got darker this year, you might have noticed a small group of people gathered around a red tablecloth, wielding bright pinpricks of light. They’re Bike Ambassadors, and they were “lighting the night” — that is, handing out free bike lights to anyone who needed them.
This summer, you might have seen friendly green-shirted Trail Rangers, clearing trails of debris, filling potholes, distributing maps and information, making DC’s trails a more delightful place to walk and ride.
You might see someone’s bike with a vintage WABA sticker on it at the grocery store bike rack, or someone wearing one of our new t-shirts at a red light.
And year-round, you might have been at a community meeting with a WABA staff person, making connections between neighbors and asking hard questions of our region’s decision makers.
Your donation doesn’t just mean more bike lanes and trails, it means more nice folks out in the world answering your questions about biking.
Because we send email to a lot of people, but we still can’t communicate with everyone who bikes and walks and drives in the region.
So with your support, we show up, in person, with bells on (literally, in the case of our Trail Rangers). We’re eager to talk to everyone about whatever is on your mind: How to tackle your first commute by bike; where, exactly, one accesses that tricky trail entrance; helmet hair strategies; and so much more.
Your gift today means more connections with people who are curious about biking, more myths busted, more questions answered. It means more people trying something new.
Good things come to those who work really hard for many years with thousands of people contributing along the way, right? My work as a community organizer at WABA means that I bridge the gap between you, who wants a better place to bike and live, and our regional decision makers. And because of you, we have a lot of progress to celebrate in Montgomery County.
Last year, we celebrated the adoption of the most ambitious and comprehensive bike master plan in the country. That means leaders in Montgomery County took three+ years of our emails and phone calls and meetings and input to heart — the transportation department is literally rearranging itself to be friendlier to biking and walking.
That wouldn’t have happened without your past investment, which is changing how our communities are built, street by street.
This year, we get to celebrate a major expansion of our bicycle network, including the Mid-Atlantic’s first protected intersection, right in downtown Silver Spring. Whether you’re biking, walking, scooting, or driving, the intersection is safe, intuitive, and predictable.
Here’s why I’m jazzed about it:
It’s setting a national standard in how to safely mix road users.
There’s a permanent bike counter, so every time you roll past you can see how many people came through before you, that day and year.
There’s a low-stress connection to the Metro, a giant bus terminal, and (soon!) the Purple Line.
It gives me the chance to use words like “gold standard” and “visionary,” which, to be honest, doesn’t happen all that often.
It’s part of a network of protected bike lanes, making it actually useful.
And above all, it’s the first of many. Your financial support today means that we can push the County to keep it coming next year in Bethesda, White Flint, Wheaton, Takoma/Langley.
Ask people about their favorite bike rides an you’ll hear it over and over—the weeping willows along the Mount Vernon Trail, the wide open green spaces and leafy shade along the Anacostia River Trail. We love biking along our rivers. But trying to cross those rivers on a bike is a different story. Your options are limited, and all variants of one flavor: sidewalk. A couple are mostly OK, most are too narrow, at least one is terrifying. None are what you’d call 21st century bike infrastructure.
That’s all about to change. Thanks to many, many years of support from people like you, WABA has successfully advocated for a number of new and improved bridges. Here are a few of them:
Thousands of you spoke up to support the The Long Bridge. You showed up when it mattered, and now we’re on track to build a brand new, car-free bridge between DC and Arlington. We still have a lot of work to do to make sure that it gets designed well and built on time. Donate today to make sure it happens.
The Arboretum Bridge will connect two of the region’s most beloved greenspaces: the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens and the National Arboretum. The Anacostia River Trail opened the Aquatic Gardens to car-free visits, and this bridge will do the same for the Arboretum. Make a gift today to help us keep the pressure on!
The Frederick Douglass Bridge is mostly a highway project (boooo), but includes two great bike paths over the river. The bridge fills a gap in the Anacostia River Trail and provides a much needed bike connection between Ward 8 and downtown. Paired with the Long Bridge and recently installed protected bike lanes through Southwest DC, it also means you’ll be able to ride from the Custis, W&OD, and Mount Vernon Trails in Virginia to Anacostia Tributary Trail network in Maryland, almost entirely separated from cars. Not bad, eh?
The WB&A Bridge over the Patuxent river brings us one important step closer to a continuous trail between DC and Baltimore. WABA and other advocates have been pushing for this bridge for decades. Construction starts in April. Want to ride your bike to Baltimore? Make a donation today to close the remaining gaps in the corridor.
A few others to keep an eye out for: A new bridge at the zoo tunnel in Rock Creek Park; a wider sidepath on the East Capitol Street bridge; a new bridge over Route 29 on the W&OD Trail, and (still a ways off) a bridge connecting DC’s Fort Lincoln neighborhood to the Anacostia River Trail.
There’s a lot to like about these projects—they connect communities, they open up new, low-carbon transportation options to thousands and thousands of people.
But maybe you’re like me. If I’m honest with myself, what’s most exciting is simple:
Back in November, I was in a room full of people, maps, and markers at the Anacostia Community Museum. It buzzed. “What if we put in a miniature park with trees at this turn so drivers have to slow down?” “Can we put in contraflow bike lane here so the kids riding to the park can do it safely?” “What if we made this street in front of a school one way, rather than cut-through to the highway?” “Can we paint a mural in this intersection?”
We want to make the answer to all of these questions a resounding yes. Can you help?
Here at WABA, we hear the same question from all over the region: Why does it take so long to make streets safer? The answer is predictable, of course: someone needs to study it, to plan it, seek public input, find funding, do the engineering—the list goes on. In DC’s Ward 8, where I do most of my work, you can add a century of racist urban planning to list of barriers to safer streets. And while the bureaucratic process plods on, people keep getting hurt just trying to get where they’re going.
Our meeting last month was about Tactical Urbanism, which is the idea that we don’t need to wait to make streets safer and more liveable. With some cheap tools—paint, plastic, potted plants—you can quickly make places for people to bike and walk and cross the street; you can test out ideas and build public support for longer term, permanent fixes.
With help from our corporate partner Spin, we brought together tactical urbanism experts, residents, ANC commissioners, and advocates from across the city to workshop some dangerous intersections and stretches of road. In the spring, with your investment today, we’ll be out there with power tools and paint.
If you’re anything like me, turning a bucket of paint into an overdue crosswalk sounds like a fantastic way to spend a weekend. Make a donation today to help make it happen! I’ll send you a note when we schedule the builds in the spring.
Can you write a good subject line? Find the emotional core of a bureaucratic document? Find just the right audience and message for an advocacy action?
We’re looking for an enthusiastic writer and careful editor to join our communications team. You don’t need to ride a bike to apply, but you should be interested in engaging with the intersections between transportation, social justice, and the environment.
The Team
The WABA Communications Team is a three person shop: we have a Communications Director, a Communications Coordinator, and a Data Services Coordinator (part time). WABA’s programming is extensive and varied. Our job is to connect people to the work that’s most relevant to them. That means:
Providing communication strategy and implementation support to our internal teams.
Ensuring that actionable, relevant content gets to members, supporters, the press, and the public.
Maintaining a consistent, appealing brand across all WABA platforms—digital, print, and in-person.
Managing WABA’s Constituent Relationship Management database (Salesforce) to make it work for staff, members, and supporters.
The Position
We are a flexible team and try to align work responsibilities with our individual areas of expertise and enthusiasm. Generally, the Communications Coordinator’s responsibilities include:
Writing and editing: create and edit engaging, relevant content about WABA’s work.
Organization-wide comms support: Support content development, email marketing, event registration, press, design, and social media for the WABA’s Advocacy, Programs and Fundraising teams.
Social media: Provide quick, relevant, and friendly responses to social media enquiries; monitor relevant ongoing social media conversations, and ensure that WABA content is broadcast on social media channels
Press: Write, edit and distribute press releases and media advisories; direct press inquiries to appropriate staff and occasionally field them.
Communications calendar: Use WABA’s communications calendar to keep WABA’s audiences informed and engaged, but not overwhelmed.
Design: Occasional graphic content development consistent with WABA’s visual identity.
And more! WABA is a small office and everyone ends up helping out with things like event staffing, stuffing envelopes, loading our youth bike fleet into the van, and tidying up.
Qualifications
Core skills:
You’ll need to be able to:
Edit meticulously
Write action-inspiring content on a deadline
Project manage content in a detail-dependent environment
Participate in public conversations—on social media and in the press—with accuracy, nuance, kindness, and an eye for social justice.
Useful experience and skills:
If you have the experiences or skills listed below, let us know. You don’t need them to be considered for the position, but you should be eager to learn.
GSuite / Google Apps / Gmail for Business
The Salesforce CRM platform and associated email marketing, advocacy, and events tools. (WABA currently uses Predictive Response, Phone2Action and Click & Pledge, respectively)
WordPress
Adobe Creative Suite
Basic HTML and CSS
Digital photography and video
Benefits
Full-time employment.
Expected salary range is $38,000 to $41,000
100% employer-paid health, dental, and vision insurance.
Generous vacation, sick and personal leave.
Committed colleagues and a fun working environment.
403(b) retirement program with 5% employer match after one-year of service.
Optional voluntary accident and disability insurance programs.
About the Washington Area Bicyclist Association
Making bicycling better through advocacy and education, the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) promotes biking as a healthy, low-cost, and environmentally-friendly form of transportation and recreation. With more than 5,000 members region-wide, WABA serves bicyclists throughout the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area, including the District of Columbia and parts of Maryland and Virginia.
Contact
Send a cover letter, resume, and two writing samples to jobs@waba.org with Communications Coordinator in the subject line. If you have design experience, feel free to share a portfolio as well.
No phone calls please.
Position available immediately. Applications accepted until the position is filled.
WABA is committed to providing equal employment opportunity for all persons regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, marital status, arrest record or criminal convictions, political affiliation, sexual orientation or gender identity, disability, sex, or age.
Just like that, another year is nearly over and the 2019 Adult Educationclass season has come to an end. The WABA Education team is hard at work reflecting upon the past year and making resolutions for the next. This year, over 600 participants joined a WABA class to try something new, build confidence and experience more joy and less stress!
They took the first step towards achieving their goals, why shouldn’t you? Whether you’re looking for a more sustainable commute, exercise that is fun and outside or to finally knock something off your bucket list, learning to ride safely and confidently is the key to biking happy.
Check out some of the highlights from the 2019 season below and mark your calendars! The 2020 Adult Education season will be back with even more classes next spring.
Welcoming new bicyclists
This year, our team of staff and LCI Instructors led 20 Learn to Ride classes in DC, Montgomery County, Arlington and Alexandria.
Over 320 participants attended Learn to Ride classes and 80% of them were riding successfully by the end of the three hour class.
WABA hosted three Youth Learn to Ride classes in Alexandria and 23 youth learned to ride their bike without training wheels!
In June, WABA hosted a Spanish language Learn to Ride class in partnership with Casa Chirilagua, a Latino community and education organization in the Arlandria neighborhood of Alexandria.
In August, WABA partnered with PSI Family Services to offer a week-long Learn to Ride camp for adults with developmental disabilities.
In total, over 235 new bicyclists are enjoying our region’s trails, paths and bike lanes. Great job everyone!
If you or someone you know would like to take the first step to learning to ride a bike, sign up to receive emails about our upcoming classes! We’ll be sure to let you know when the 2020 schedule is out. WABA Learn to Rides classes are fun and intuitive—you, too, could be riding confidently by the end of class!
Building confidence
This year, 120 participants made #betterbicycling their goal by signing up for a Confident City Cyclingclass! Whether riding in traffic or on a trail, proper etiquette and bike handling skills make for a safe and enjoyable ride.
WABA hosted 19 Confident City Cycle classes in DC, Montgomery County, Arlington and Alexandria.
On August 6th, WABA held a bike rodeo at the National Night Out celebration at Lincoln Park! Kids and adults alike rode the obstacle course, which featured hazards, twisty turns, and even a stop sign!
Booz Allen Hamilton hosted a Commuting 101 ride that encouraged their employees to incorporate bicycling into the daily commute. The group explored routes between the three Booz Allen offices in DC.
WABA partnered with JUMP Bikes to host a Confident City Cycle class on e-bikes. Participants learned about the difference in speed and reaction time between regular bicycles and those with electronic assist and tried their hand at a number of different drills.
Bike education doesn’t stop after you learn to ride. Want to make every day Bike to Work Day? Bring an Everyday Bicycling Seminar to your office and give your coworkers the gift of safer, less stressful riding.
Exploring our communities
Looking for a new route? Interested in learning how to get around the city by bike? Community Education Rides depart from all over the region, exploring city streets, trails and everything in between.
In September, WABA hosted a family-friendly Community Ride with Casa Chirilagua entirely in Spanish! We rode up the Mount Vernon Trail for a picnic at Gravelly Point.
In October, WABA and Capital Bikeshare celebrated Women’s Bike Month with a tour of DC’s most iconic statues of women.
WABA and JUMP hosted a winter community ride where participants learned the importance of layering, seasonal road conditions and visibility.
WABA Adult Education classes are local (currently offered in DC, Montgomery County, Arlington and Alexandria), inexpensive and most importantly, they’re a fun time! Sign up for a class and take the first step to #betterbicycling.
We can’t wait to see you out there!
Help us get more folks on bikes – will you make make a donation to WABA today? Your tax-deductible donation means more bike lanes, safer streets, healthier people, and connected communities.
