50
Bicycle Ambassadors Join Bike Maryland
Free
Bicycle Ambassador Training Workshop – January 25, 2012 – Port Discovery
Contact:
Carol Silldoff, Bike Maryland Executive Director
410-960-6493
Katie Gore, Bike Maryland Bike-MINDED Coordinator
410-262-2818
Marla
Streb, Bike Maryland Bike-MINDED Coordinator
415-260-3991
Maryland,
January 18, 2012
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE: On Wednesday, January 25, 2012, non-profit Bike Maryland is
training 50+ new Bike-MINDED Program Ambassadors to promote bicycle safety in
Baltimore City and throughout Maryland. As part of a two year old partnership
between Bike Maryland and the Maryland State Highway Administration, the Bike-MINDED
Program Ambassador Training will be the first effort of this magnitude in
Maryland to train bike safety educators in an effort to increase rider, driver,
and walker safety while reducing crash and fatality rates.
Over
the last two years, bicycle commuters within Baltimore City alone have
increased by 41%.
Bike Maryland and the Maryland State Highway Administration are working hard
to recruit and educate Ambassadors on safety policies for youth and adult
cyclists, as they take to the trails and roads. Ambassadors will be prepared
to go into community and recreation centers, schools, and the workplace in an
effort to educate Maryland cyclists on bike safety helping to reduce bicycle
crash and fatality rates. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration, in 2009 there were 630 US bicyclist fatalities (down from 718
in 2008.) Like
drivers on the roads, cyclists of all ages will now have the opportunity to
participate in this safety course which will greatly impact bike safety in
Maryland.
With an increase in youth and adult cyclists on the roads, Bike Maryland has
made the Bike-MINDED Program Ambassador training a major focus within its
mission.
Participating
Ambassadors will take part in a free training workshop to help prepare them to
work with and teach the broader community including cyclists of all ages, as
well as, walkers and drivers, about bike safety. Ambassadors will work
side-by-side with Bike Maryland’s Program Coordinators for a series of
community workshops, as part of their training, before heading out on their
own. Each Ambassador is awarded throughout the program for their volunteer
efforts as they help to increase bike safety and education throughout
Maryland. Alongside Bike Maryland, Ambassadors will work to promote safe
bicycling for fun, fitness, and transportation with a specific focus on youth
bicycle safety classes in Baltimore and adult commuter workshops throughout
Maryland!
Bike-Ambassadors
are volunteers, educators, and enthusiast who are working to bring better
bicycling to Maryland. Carefully selected for a love of bikes and an
enthusiastic personality, Bike Ambassadors work to teach youth and adult
bicycle safety.
The
first Bike-MINDED Ambassador Training Workshop will take place:
January 25, 2012
FREE Bike Maryland Ambassador Training Workshop
Two Sessions: 12:30-4 p.m. or 5:30-9 p.m.
Location: Port Discovery Children’s Museum, 35 Market Place, Baltimore, MD
21202 – Directions and parking here
<https://www.portdiscovery.org/generalinfo/directions> .
During this free Bike Maryland Ambassador Training Workshop – you will learn
how to teach youth bike safety and adult commuter workshops that are part of
the Bike Maryland Bike-MINDED Program <https://bikemd.org/page.php?id=359>
(https://bikemd.org/page.php?id=359).
A meal will be served. Space is
limited. Click here to register (https://www.doodle.com/q9kb3m6wk76hcfnq)
and
then fill in your name, check the time you are available to attend
the workshop and click on save.
For more information on the Ambassador program and a list of Bike-MINDED
partners, click here <https://bikemd.org/page.php?id=359>.
INTERESTED IN BIKE MARYLAND HOSTING A FREE WORKSHOP FOR YOUR COMPANY, SCHOOL,
or COMMUNITY GROUP? Have a Bike Maryland instructor come to you! Support
alternative modes of transportation with an adult commuter or youth bike class
at your place of work, school, community center, place of worship etc….
Please contact us at www.bikemd.org to
schedule a workshop.
Mission
and who we are:
Bike
Maryland is a non-profit whose mission is to promote cycling, increase safety,
improve conditions, and provide a voice for bicyclists in Maryland. We do this
by advocating at state and local levels for stronger bike-friendly legislation;
by providing workshop trainings free to the community; by hosting fun and safe
bike tour events for cyclists of all ages; and by increasing the infrastructure
needed to make cycling a feasible form of everyday transportation.
For
more information please visit www.bikemd.org