Does bike advocacy at the Capital look like the state of California?
Historically, bike advocacy in the state of California has been driven by professional, white men of European decent. Partly because of concerted efforts by some leaders among advocates, and partly from grass-roots growth, the range of people engaging with their elected leadership seems to have expanded dramatically over the past decade.
The California Bike Coalition is sponsoring a state-level advocacy day in Sacramento on April 28 & 29 and has scholarship opportunities. They have scholarship opportunities and would like especially to help get people who are underrepresented in advocacy to attend.
The registration page has a way for people to sponsor attendees who cannot easily afford the registration fee by donating.
Why does this matter?
I’ve harped on this before, and a few people have asked why this matters.
As of the 2010 Census, California’s ethnic makeup is 42% non-Hispanic White, 38% Latino, 15% Asian, 7% African American, 2% Native American or Alaskan, and 1% Pacific Islander, with another 5% (including myself) identifying as multiracial.
We need to invite the full range of our diverse society to the table if we wish to grow advocacy.
Go and do good things!