Education Sub-Committee Meeting

Minutes from March 31, 2008 

Present: Mark Abraham, Paul Hammer, Grace Johnston, 
Melinda Tuhus, City of New Haven CAO Rob Smuts (for discussion item #2)  

<>#1
 ECC brochure – we agreed this was a good idea, as has been discussed 
previously 

            Content – to include (possibly not all) mission statement,
 history, website, how to join, how to donate, committees, services (like
 route assistance, bike escort service) and a seasonal insert with calendar
 listings; each item very brief (Mark will send out initial draft to 
subcommittee for feedback, then for presentation at April ECC general meeting)

            Cost – to print at least 2,000, through grant funding, printer
 underwriting, ads or a combination (Mark will follow up with Mike Piscitelli
 re: our grant proposal submitted several months ago; Paul will research ads
 and printer underwriting)

            Production – Mark will oversee; will check with advertising 
agencies regarding possibility of pro-bono collaboration on concept design
 and printing.

            Distribution – bike shops, train stations (including along 
Shoreline), festival activities

            Goal – to have it ready by mid-June for Int’l Festival and beyond

<>#2
City’s summer cycling event – Mark and Rob reported that Barbara Lamb and 
Mike P. are spearheading this, to be designed as a one-day family-friendly 
cycling event and festival, which could include a bike jamboree and arts/culture.

 <>#3
Bike Jamborees – ECC has already gotten requests for bike jamborees from 
Edgewood, the Hill and Quinnipiac East neighborhoods, all of which we’ve 
done in the past. Paul proposed that we help people help themselves, i.e.,
 not just keep providing all the person power and expertise for these 
events, but train volunteers from the neighborhoods who want to have jamborees,
 while still providing technical assistance (esp. repair work). We all agreed 
this was the best option, and thought the best way to do this is to train 
such volunteers “on the job,” before, during and after one of our jamborees.
 We might look into trying to hold a jamboree in conjunction with the Int’l 
Festival. We’ll bring this up at the general ECC meeting and see if someone
 wants to make contact with festival on this issue, see how people feel about
 it, and if anything has already been coordinated with them.<>We also agreed
 that families should pay $5-$10 for helmets, partly to replenish the funds,
 but mostly to create a value for the helmets that might make kids more 
likely to wear them (or their parents to make their kids wear them). Also 
that having neighborhood partners is key to the success of the jamborees, 
and that we (and our partners) have to do more publicity to promote them.


#4
Other Outreach – Grace will write a draft of an op-ed for Bike to Work Day,
 May 16; Melinda will review. We all agreed to speak to all the reporters 
we know, to start giving them information and encouraging them to cover biking
 events. Paul will check out various video PSAs that we will then try to get
 running on various channels. 

<>#5
Long-Term Planning -- Paul suggested to think big but start small; i.e., think 
about how we might reach out to schools and community organizations to promote
 bicycling. He suggested Fair Haven would be a good place to focus, with all 
its schools and after-school programs, and some school-affiliated people who 
are already bike-friendly. A strategy for approaching the schools will be 
discussed at the next subcommittee meeting.