Prescott, Arizona –February 21, 2010 -In late March, ambassadors from Prescott, Arizona will have the opportunity to travel to Amsterdam in the Netherlands and on to Sevilla, Spain to meet with top officials. Their goal is to find pertinent solutions for making Prescott more bicycle friendly. The trip is being coordinated by One Street, an international bicycle advocacy organization based in Prescott. The European Cyclists‘ Federation, host of the international Velo-city conference in Sevilla, is sponsoring part of the students‘ fees, but the ambassadors still must raise significant funding to cover their travel costs.
A fun event at the Raven Cafe in Prescott on Tuesday March 1st from 5:00 -7:00pm will help to raise the needed funds. The evening will include silent auction, raffle and beer specials with proceeds going to the travel scholarships.
The ambassadors are students in or are connected to a course at Prescott College called The Bicycle: Vehicle for Social Change. The course includes teaching others how to ride safely and repair bicycles, as well as making the case for bicycling to influential government officials in Prescott. This trip will help the students better understand why some government officials have discovered that bicycling is good for their cities. Learn more about the trip and how to contribute here.
“I am thrilled to connect my students with officials from around the world who have embraced bicycling as an enrichment for their cities,” said Sue Knaup, One Street‘s executive director and the teacher for the Bicycle course.
Starting in Amsterdam, they will meet the advocates and officials who helped make it a top-ranked bicycle city. They will then travel to Sevilla to participate in the international Velo-city conference and meet officials from around the world.
The location of Sevilla for this conference will be particularly inspiring because just three years ago very few people bicycled, much like Prescott. But after three years of bicycle initiatives, the city boasts six percent of all trips made by bicycle. These experiences in Amsterdam, Sevilla and with conference participants will give the ambassadors a wealth of ideas and resources for their work to make Prescott more bicycle friendly.
The ambassadors would like to thank the trip sponsors who have ensured that at least a few can attend: Ironclad Bicycles, the European Cyclists‘ Federation, Hicks Dental Group, One Root, the Raven Cafe, and New Belgium Brewing Company.
For more information, please contact Sue Knaup, Executive Director: +1- 928-541-9841, sue{at}onestreet.org