Bike Hunt Stories Show the Power of Bicycles and the Struggles of Nonprofits

Over the past few months, I’ve been posting excerpts from my recently published memoir, Bike Hunt, to our Defying Poverty with Bicycles blog because each story shows how this simple machine can change a person’s life. From the bright-pink girl’s BMX bike in Miami that I named Peaches to Silver in San Antonio, these bike hunt stories capture the power of bicycles.

All have the label “Bike Hunt” so you can easily find them. Click here to find all nine tagged posts.

But Bike Hunt is about more than giving away bikes. It is based on the disturbing time I spent as director of a national nonprofit where bad group behavior took hold of people I knew to be caring, passionate bike advocates. I capture my experience at that nonprofit along with my encounters with other nonprofit leaders facing similar distress. I wrap up the book with my analysis of what happened, having had ten years to recover, learn, discuss, and think it through.

I often hear from readers that they loved the bike hunt stories throughout the book, like the ones I shared on the other blog. Readers of this blog, however, will find solace in the deeper story about nonprofits and their common struggles. You can buy Bike Hunt through any online book vendor worldwide (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc.) or order it through your local book store. We also have copies for sale at www.OneStreet.org.

Bike Hunt would make a perfect Christmas gift for anyone who loves bikes and is passionate about changing our world for the better.

Sue

Bicycle Memoir Reveals Disturbing Group Behavior

A new memoir, called Bike Hunt, uncovers disturbing patterns in bicycle advocacy and other nonprofits. In the early 2000s, Sue Knaup believed she had landed her dream job as director of the Thunderhead Alliance, a national bicycle nonprofit. Though she had escaped abuse as a child, her ambition obscured her descent into workplace abuse. Over the ensuing five years, she discovered she was not the only nonprofit leader struggling against bizarre manipulations.

Ten years after her board fired her without cause, Ms. Knaup has published her memoir capturing not only the disturbing group behavior she encountered, but her own role in allowing the abuse. Her first years at Thunderhead are thrilling as she compares her successes to her previous jobs in nonprofits. All the while, a system of manipulation is laid out by one particular board member as he slowly gains support from others within Thunderhead as well as the bicycle industry. Meanwhile, she watches in dismay as bicycle nonprofits across the United States are crippled by similar group behavior.

As she fights for her job, Ms. Knaup’s “Bike Hunts,” searching for then giving away used bikes, become her lifeline back to her former, courageous self and the world. Recollections of her daring as a San Francisco bike messenger, river guide, and hitchhiker remind her of a time when no one could bully her. Her previous experience in the animal rights, environmental, and special populations movements help her decipher how her time at Thunderhead went so terribly wrong.

The day after she surrenders the fight, Ms. Knaup founds One Street, an international nonprofit serving bicycle organizations with kindness and respect.

Bike Hunt is a tragic love story of an enchantment with and sacrifice for a magical machine. In the end, it is a story of hope and resilience for anyone who has ever let themselves slip away into ambition.

“Sue Knaup’s Bike Hunt is at once a compelling memoir, a narrative of discovery and political activism as well as a look at bicycles as you haven’t seen them before,” said Thomas Cobb author of Darkness the Color of Snow and Crazy Heart.

“Knaup’s story is deeply moving—sad and funny and full of moments of insight. She has the rare talent to see with clarity where meanness or dishonesty have prevailed, and her adventures are a thrilling read,” said Elaine Greensmith Jordan author of Mrs. Ogg Played the Harp. 

Buy your copy of Bike Hunt through booksellers worldwide or at www.OneStreet.org. All proceeds support One Street’s service to bicycle nonprofits around the world.

Could Christiania Be a Kind Communities Model?

Following the Velo-city conference in mid-June, I traveled to Denmark to visit a few communities with potential for becoming models for One Street's Kind Communities program. Surprisingly, the one community I thought would not make the cut was the only one that did – Christiania.

For those not familiar with Christiania, it is an autonomous community started in the 1970s when random squatters jumped the fence of an abandoned military base in downtown Copenhagen. Since then, people who chose to live there have cooperated so that their current population of 850 can live amiably together.

Unfortunately, this includes drug dealers. During my visit and wonderful discussions with long-time residents, including one of the original founders of the bike shop, I learned why this problem is so entrenched. The original squatters were adamant about keeping this taken land separate from Danish and even European laws including allowing the sale and use of drugs, now restricted to hash and pot. Since then, residents have realized this was a mistake as they endure the violence and degradation around the drug dealing area they call Pusher Street right at the main entry.

Even after purchasing the land from the city in 2012 and thus legitimizing the community, city officials have allowed the drug trade to continue there in order to keep it contained and away from other neighborhoods. When I heard this, all I could think was that Christiania is being used by the city, not respected as a true neighborhood where such a problem would garner serious assistance toward a solution.

Even so, the residents and leaders of Christiania continue their efforts to abolish the drug dealers who have stained their reputation. Their concerted effort, including working with the drug dealers themselves, actually added to my realization that this community could indeed become a model for Kind Communities.

What do you think? Have you had experience with Christiania? Do you think it could make the cut? Please read more about our Kind Communities program at www.OneStreet.org then email your thoughts to sue{at}onestreet.org.

Sue

First Kind Communities Models

When we launched our Kind Communities program at the start of this year, we knew it would be a long haul. Researching and capturing elements that lead to kindness in communities could be a rather nebulous target to reach for. With the status quo to displace people in favor of profitable projects and to level old neighborhoods to build speedways, talking about kind places was sure to bring only blank stares.

Wrong! I have been thrilled by the response. Nearly everyone I have spoken to about Kind Communities gets it. They have either lived in such a place and miss it terribly or they have been angered by the lack of kindness in their own communities and have envisioned similar changes. A common comment is that few people talk to each other anymore, not even neighbors. Others note the loneliness of living in isolated places where houses are far apart and driving is the only way to reach community services.

During my recent trip to Washington, D.C., I met with staff at the nonprofit development firm Community Preservation and Development Corporation (CPDC). A few minutes into my introduction to our program, they jumped in to tell me about the success they’d had at one of their affordable housing projects—Edgewood Commons. After a horrible murder, CPDC took the opposite approach from the normal lock down. They engaged the tenants as experts for solving their community's problems.

Two years later, they have dozens of active tenant groups teaching classes, starting businesses, and keeping their community safe. They captured their success in this white paper including the steps they took to engage residents. CPDC is also looking at ways to bring similar processes to their other developments in the D.C. area, including bicycle initiatives so residents can obtain their own bicycle as well as career training in bicycle businesses. Can you imagine how excited I was to connect with them?

After that meeting and follow up calls, I convinced myself that CPDC is a special case and to lower my expectations again. Then I asked a Japanese friend who lives here in Prescott, whether he had any connections in Okinawa. Okinawa had made our list of potential models because citizens control the economy through local trade and their culture is to take care of each other. Within a few days, we were sitting down with Mitsuko, a friend of his who is from Okinawa and now living in Prescott.

I couldn’t take notes fast enough to capture her explanations on how the Okinawan people developed their kind culture and have preserved it through too many forced take overs by foreign nations, including the U.S. until 1972. Now, though Okinawans’ ancestors have closer ties to China and Indonesia, the ruling government of Okinawa is Japan, and the U.S. still has tens of thousands of military personnel on bases there. Through all this, including unimaginable horrors during World War II, they have preserved their culture of kindness toward everyone. I will meet with Mitsuko again this weekend to continue our discussion. She’s so excited about our Kind Communities program that she has offered to help me connect to more models around the world.

Now I can’t help but look at our list of potential models with a sense of excitement for what I will discover next. Here are the next likely for my outreach:

·         Nantes, France –focus on fun, citizen engagement, and honesty about their past. Video from Velo-city 2015: https://vimeo.com/97097924

·         Paqueta island in Rio de Janiero. Brazil – funny video of bicycles and car-free island: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C4lNCLcfa8

·         Worcester, Vermont – citizen-led, community lunches every Wednesday, central gathering place, online forum for sharing things, community pride. 1,000 population.

·         Villages and tribes that are unlikely to identify themselves as anything special. I’ve got some calls in to our local tribe here in Prescott.

I also have my eye on communities that seem to be trying to rebuild into kind communities, either after disasters or simply to recapture a sense of community they once had. Here are some from that list:

·         Christchurch, New Zealand - http://www.regeneratechristchurch.nz/ Earthquakes hit in 2010 and 2011. Started this entity in 2016.

·         Greensburg, Kansas – called their rebuilding after the 2011 tornado “green” and focused on energy-efficient buildings. Now locals are grumbling, but there still seems to have pride in their effort - http://www.npr.org/2014/04/29/307913565/kansas-town-destroyed-by-tornado-spreads-blame-for-lack-of-growth

·         Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada – efforts at engaging local artists and business owners: http://www.cnbc.com/2016/08/09/zappos-ceo-tony-hsieh-what-i-regret-about-pouring-350-million-into-las-vegas.html oddly begun by the millionaire CEO of Zappos.

·         Key West, Florida – seems to be a kind community, residents trying to organize to stop reckless developers and preserve old community including affordable housing and bicycle access.

We’re looking for more potential models to add to our list so we’ll have a broad range to learn from as we compile case studies and resources to help all of you shift your own communities back toward kindness. Here is our current list of criteria (sure to be refined as we move forward):

• Residents feel secure and affordable housing is not threatened;
• Well-used community center including workshops with tools to share and classes led by residents;
• Improvements, projects, and activities organized by residents;
• Businesses owned and operated by residents (few if any outside chains), most necessities served (grocery, hardware, clothing, staples, etc.), social enterprise?:
• No charity services;
• Residents care for each other, none marginalized;
• Community goals and changes serve as many residents as possible, especially those near the margins, without doing any residents harm;
• Streets are all traffic calmed with pedestrians and bicyclists prioritized;
• Easy access to affordable transportation, especially bicycles, bikeways, and affordable bicycle repair.

As you can see from our Kind Communities webpage, we believe that such a backdrop of kindness will enable significant improvements for bicycling, for everyone, no matter their ability, age, or income level.

Do you know of a kind community that could be a model for this program? If so, please offer it in the comments section.

Sue