Kidical Mass, Buffalo
Location
Green Options Buffalo proposes to hold a series of "Kidical Mass" bicycle rides throughout Buffalo, NY during the summer months. Kidical Mass rides are opportunities for kids and their adults to get out and really enjoy the city in safe, group bicycle rides to and from local kid-friendly destinations. Kidical Mass works to promote sustainable transportation and bicycling awareness.
About You
Section 1: You
First Name
Justin
Last Name
Booth
Website URL
Organization
Green Options Buffalo
Country
United States, NY
Section 2: Your Organization
Organization Name
Green Options Buffalo
Organization Website
Organization Phone
(716) 851-4052
Organization Address
65 Niagara Square #607, Buffalo, NY 14202
Is your organization a
Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization
Organization Country
United States, NY
Your idea
Name Your Project
Kidical Mass, Buffalo
Country and state your work focuses on
United States, NY
Describe Your Idea
Green Options Buffalo proposes to hold a series of "Kidical Mass" bicycle rides throughout Buffalo, NY during the summer months. Kidical Mass rides are opportunities for kids and their adults to get out and really enjoy the city in safe, group bicycle rides to and from local kid-friendly destinations. Kidical Mass works to promote sustainable transportation and bicycling awareness.
Website URL
Innovation
What makes your idea unique?
Kidical Mass is a fun and enjoyable way to bring environmentalism, community activism, and active lifestyle choices to area youth and their adults, as well as to increase awareness of the bicycle as a viable means of transportation to the general population. It's a great way for a family to spend the afternoon together and a great way to get better acquainted with their neighbors and their own community.
Organizing Kidical Mass rides throughout the summer months will help Green Options Buffalo bring our message of "healthy, environmentally sustainable, community friendly transportation" to kids and families across our city.
Green Options Buffalo is working directly with the national Kidical Mass effort.
Do you have a patent for this idea?
Yes
Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
What impact have you had?
Green Options Buffalo has gotten Complete Streets legislation passed on the citywide and countywide levels locally, ensuring that when roadways are being worked on in our region they are being "completed" so that they serve ALL users, including bicyclists and pedestrians.
Green Options Buffalo has had over 275 bicycle racks installed across the city of Buffalo over the last 2 years.
Green Options Buffalo has operated the Recycle-A-Bicycle program in over a dozen local schools, community centers and institutions - teaching youth how to build and maintain their own bicycles from used parts, as well as bicycle safety and the environmental impacts of transportation.
Green Options Buffalo has operated the Buffalo Blue Bicycle program for over half a decade, lending a fleet of refurbished bicycles free of charge to members at the University at Buffalo, Buffalo State College, the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus and across the city.
Green Options Buffalo is part of the Safe Routes to School National Partnership, working to make infrastructure improvements to better enable elementary school students to walk and bicycle to and from school.
Problem
Since the rise of the automobile, our culture has been increasingly oriented towards motorized transportation. This orientation has significantly contributed to the amount of carbon in the Earth's atmosphere, encouraging global climate change. It has played an integral role in the obesity rates exhibited in our country, as many short trips that would have otherwise been made by walking or bicycling are now made in an automobile. It has shaped our landscape design to suit a mode of transportation only accessible to a class of citizens with the economic means to own and operate a private automobile. Buffalo, being the 2nd poorest city in the country, having abnormally high obesity rates, and suffering from a post-industrial environment, desperately needs to move towards alternative modes of transportation which are economically feasible, provide users with an active lifestyle, and are environmentally sustainable.
Actions
Green Options Buffalo is starting monthly "Kidical Mass" rides throughout the summers to help encourage bicycling as a mode of transportation and recreation. Kidical Mass rides are free, group bicycle rides for kids and their adults to and from kid-friendly locations. They teach participating youth and adults, as well as motorists, that bicycling is a safe, healthy, enjoyable and viable means of transportation. The rides promote safe cycling practices, community engagement, and environmentally sustainable transportation.
Green Options Buffalo will be organizing and promoting a series of Kidical Mass rides in Buffalo during the summer months. The Rides will be guided and safe cycling gear, such as helmets, bells, horns, and attire) will be provided to participants. Media exposure will be sought to maximum the impact of the rides.
Results
Participating youth will learn how to safely commute by bicycle, along with the benefits this mode of transportation has to offer. They will gently be encouraged to become responsible bicycle commuters, while enjoying a group bicycle rides on beautiful summer days.
Participating adults will learn how to safely commute by bicycle as a family and will re-discover the joys and benefits of cycling.
Motorists, either witnessing the ride first hand or learning about it through media exposure, will be encouraged to better appreciate the bicycle as a viable means of transportation in Buffalo.
What will it take for your project to be successful over the next three years? Please address each year separately, if possible.
A short-term method of measuring success will be through participation. The long-term signs of success will be in displayed in how the people of Buffalo view and engage in bicycling as active transportation.
The first year will be the most challenging, as we will need to work out logistics and focus a lot of efforts on promotion. Increased efforts during the second and third years will be focused on fine-tuning the rides to best suit participants and promote/increase ridership.
What would prevent your project from being a success?
Success of Kidical Mass rides in Buffalo depends on support. Both economic support and community support will bring this program to the streets.
Economic support is necessary for recruiting experienced cyclists to instruct the participants in safe cycling practices and guide the rides safely to and from their destinations. It is also needed for promotional activities and to provide participants with safe cycling gear.
Community support is necessary to help popularize the rides and gain positive public exposure for bicycling as transportation.
How many people will your project serve annually?
101‐1000
What is the average monthly household income in your target community, in US Dollars?
$1000 - 4000
Does your project seek to have an impact on public policy?
Sustainability
What stage is your project in?
Idea phase
In what country?
United States, NY
Is your initiative connected to an established organization?
Yes
If yes, provide organization name.
Green Options Buffalo (local) & Kidical Mass (national)
How long has this organization been operating?
More than 5 years
Does your organization have a Board of Directors or an Advisory Board?
Yes
Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with NGOs?
Yes
Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with businesses?
Yes
Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with government?
Yes
Please tell us more about how these partnerships are critical to the success of your innovation.
Ongoing partnerships with local media outlets will help us gain public exposure.
A partnership with the Police Athletic League will assist us with providing bicycle helmets to participants.
A partnership with a local printer/graphic designer will assist us with developing and printing posters to promote the scheduled rides.
Partnerships with Trek Bicycle Corporation and 2 local bicycle shops will assist us with providing other bicycle safety gear to participants.
Partnerships with fellow community-based organizations will help us spread the word and gain participants.
A partnership with a local environmentally-friendly clothing company will help provide us with safe bicycle attire.
A partnership with Buffalo Micro Parks and other local cultural destinations will be of benefit as ride destinations.
What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization?
1) Obtain experienced bicycle ride guides who can effectively instruct and lead safe and rewarding experiences. These guides need to be trained in bicycle safety and familiar with the Buffalo streetscape.
2) Obtain bicycle safety gear (such as helmets, bells, horns, and attire) for participants.
3) On-going, effective promotion
The Story
What was the defining moment that led you to this innovation?
Realizing that a lot of our staff have children and how much we all get out of taking them on summer bicycle rides. These Kidical Mass rides will help to bring together a number of cycling families in the Buffalo area and build a stronger cycling community as our kids grow.
Tell us about the social innovator behind this idea.
Kidical Mass was born in April of 2008 in Eugene Oregon. The early morning brainstorm was a combination of wanting to get more kids and families excited about riding and wanting to put together a little event to celebrate Ted White coming to town (White is creator of, Return of the Scorcher (1992), a documentary about bike culture that first coined the term “critical mass,” and, We Are Traffic (1999), a film that chronicles the often misunderstood and controversial ride). We wanted to do something different than the traditional Critical Mass ride and Shane coined the term “Kidical Mass” (though he’s sure it has been used before). Shane Rhodes — who manages the Safe Routes to Schools program for a Eugene-area school district and has been active in the bike advocacy world for 15 years says “The bike movement has grown up, and now it has kids!”
We want our rides to be comfortable for families just starting out and biking on city streets for the first time but we don’t shy away from traffic just because kids will be riding. There is comfort in numbers, not just on a group ride like this but also in the day to day world of riding in the city. A ride like this is meant to help families feel that comfort by having a group to ride with and hopefully they will incorporate it into their daily transportation choice.
How did you first hear about Changemakers?
Personal contact at Changemakers
If through another, please provide the name of the organization or company
Alexis Ditkowsky of Ashoka contacted Green Options Buffalo directly and requested we apply
 | Alexis Ditkowsky said: Hi Justin, You mentioned in your entry that you were hoping to launch Kidical Mass Buffalo in the summer. I was just wondering how far ... about this Competition Entry. - 690 days ago read more > |
| Green Options B... updated this Competition Entry. - 717 days ago |
| Green Options B... submitted this idea. - 718 days ago |
