Bosnian Project Exceeds Expectations

I’ve recently returned from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) where I was honored to work with some of the brightest and most effective community activists I’ve known. If you’ve read our previous newsletters or seen our GoFundMe page for the project, you’ll know that such success was not certain. The activists are the ones who are making the admirable changes for their communities. Our wonderful donors are the ones who made it all possible. Thanks to all of you!

As I traveled around BiH with my colleagues from Center for Environment (CfE), I was stunned by how far ahead all the campaign leaders were. I had asked each to meet with their officials prior to our visit to find out their reaction to the requested community change. Not only had they met with their officials, officials in most of the cities were already helping move the campaigns forward. Some even joined us on our visits… Read the rest and find a link to the photo journal from the trip here.

Bosnian Project Helping Nonprofits Needs Help

For the past four years, I have had the honor of working with activists in this war-battered country. Along with my colleagues at the Center for Environment (CfE), our partner in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), we have guided activists from all over BiH to improve their communities through bicycling and environmental campaigns. Each campaign helps build their organization and prepare for the next.

Now the project needs many people to step up and help. Our funder for the project could only provide half of the funds we need for the next phase of the project. So we launched a GoFundMe Charity fundraiser to fill the gap – please donate and share the link.

The war ended 25 years ago and in its shadow, corruption, despair and poverty have thrived. People are still leaving, but not these activists. They are fighting back by causing positive change. These are the toughest and most committed activists I have ever worked with. Let’s show them we appreciate their commitment to creating a country they are proud of, where all Bosnians can choose to bicycle, where they would like to live and raise their families.

We need your help to make this happen. Even small donations add up toward our goal. Your donations are tax-deductible.

Please also invite others to donate by sharing and forwarding the GoFundMe Charity page. Thank you!

Sue

Social Change through Bicycles and Healthy Organizations

The publication of my memoir, Bike Hunt, gave me the opportunity to present at various venues and through various media about the power of bicycles for improving our world. Even though, or perhaps because Bike Hunt covers my struggle toward that goal, the book offers the perfect backdrop for intense discussions on this topic.

The bicycle is the greatest machine ever invented because it provides so much for so little. With simple pedal strokes it will transport a person six times faster than walking and can carry hundreds of pounds. It is easy to make and available in all parts of the world. When people choose to travel by bike, they not only improve their own physical health, but the health of their communities by reducing emissions and noise. And yet, in most countries, bicycles are only used for fewer than ten percent of trips.

Central to my presentation are the many disturbing barriers to bicycles being used as a tool for social change. Since the 1950s, the U.S. bicycle industry has presented bicycles as toys. On top of that, their push to sell bicycle helmets has stigmatized bicycling as far more dangerous than it actually is. Though car occupants suffer 25 times more head injuries than cyclists, the car industry would never dream of promoting helmets for their customers. Then there is Hollywood with its portrayal of cyclists as dorks. So it’s no wonder bicycles are forgotten by social movements (see my last post on Civil Rights) and even the environmental movement.

The other barrier is one that is faced by all nonprofits – group dysfunction. In Bike Hunt, I delve into many of the causes of this, including power grabs and infighting. Unfortunately, because our bicycle movement is so fragile and undermined by our bike industry and other stigmas, bicycle nonprofits cannot withstand the forces of group dysfunction like nonprofits in other movements.

I show in Bike Hunt and my presentations how to overcome these barriers first by recognizing them then stopping them at the slightest hint. If you have run into these sorts of struggles or more, please read the book and visit www.OneStreet.org to tap into the resources there.

Sue

Human Progress Is Neither Automatic nor Inevitable, MLK

Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, my favorite holiday because the man it honors would expect us to work for good on his day rather than take an actual holiday. I like to start this day by flipping through a huge volume of his writings, stopping to read random passages. I did that this morning and found some good ones, but there is one simple quote of his that I have fixated on this year: “Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable.”

My fixation on this MLK quote actually began months ago. In my job at One Street, I answer calls for assistance from leaders of bicycle advocacy organizations all over the world. Since last fall, I have had the great pleasure of working with several extraordinary nonprofit leaders in some of the most battered areas of our world including Bosnia, Puerto Rico, and DR Congo. In spite of great odds against them, whether a recent war or hurricane, or marauding armed gangs, these nonprofits have become beacons of hope in their communities. But just like them, I have had to recognize the infection of human malice that has crippled and even destroyed other nonprofits that have contacted me for help.

Martin’s quote is imbedded in his book from 1958, Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story, where he describes the accomplishments of the Civil Rights Movement up to that point, but shows that much more must be done. I think that he was rightfully afraid that their successes would cause complacency. But even more than that, I believe that Martin had seen both the extraordinary potential of humans to overcome malice as well as the insidiousness of that malice. He knew all too well that backing off even slightly would allow of flood of brutality back in.

Over my more than forty years of working with nonprofits, I, like Martin, have come to realize that our species will not reach a point where we care for each other and halt brutality without a great effort.

I discussed this with a friend of mine recently and, instead of simply agreeing, she described a scene where a child is building a tower with building blocks. He places each block with care choosing his next to ensure his tower will reach the greatest height. Then another child enters the room and kicks the tower over. I tried to butt in here to bemoan the human tendency to destroy things built for good, but she corrected me. The second child did not kick the tower over in order to destroy it or even to harm the first child. He did so simply because he could, because it was easy.

Working to improve our world and help others is difficult. Harming it and others is easy. We must keep Martin’s quote in mind as we commit to this difficult task and always remember that human progress will never be automatic nor inevitable.

Sue

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