The nonprofit has an opportunity to tell the story of how the organization adapted to tremendous external changes in the last year.
As in-person bicycle events were cancelled in 2020 due to the state governor's COVID restrictions, the organization needed to pivot to provide new programs to better serve the community. Cascade Bicycle Club conducted strategic planning to inform programming and operations during the COVID period, and prioritized its racial equity goals. The board and staff discussed how to better engage the community in the development of programs, and encourage a more inclusive bicycling environment. Cascade has been actively working on our Racial Equity Plan for several years that guides us toward several racial equity outcomes we seek to achieve -- and we acknowledge that we have more work to do both in our organization and with the broader community. However, we are excited and energized by the work we are doing, including: Working with the King County Helmet Law Working Group to decriminalize helmet usage and minimize unnecessary contact between police and people who bike in King County, as Black, Indigenous, and Latinx riders, as well as people experiencing homelessness, are more likely to face citations for not wearing a helmet than white riders. Amplifying the voices of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color organizations, such as Peace Peloton and Northstar Cycling Club. Creating a racial equity toolkit, which we use to run new and current programs through in order to analyze how outcomes impact equity and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities. Establishing workplace culture, workplace equity, and toolkit subcommittees of our Racial Equity Committee. The workplace equity committee is working to achieve racial equity in internal recruitment, hiring, contracting, and onboarding / advancement methods through the elimination of implicit or explicit bias. It has reviewed our staff handbook, our employee performance evaluation, and the Equal Opportunity statement in our job descriptions, and meets with HR on an ongoing basis to evaluate hiring practices.