Bicycle Friendly Community Press release

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"Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Supports League's Bicycle Friendly Communities Campaign"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 17, 2002
Contact: Patrick J. McCormick
Communications Director
League of American Bicyclists
Phone: 202-822-1333
Email: Patrick@bikeleague.org

Washington, DC - The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recently awarded a grant of $250,000 to the League of American Bicyclists to support the development of the League's Bicycle Friendly Community Campaign. "We're thrilled to partner with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation on this important initiative that will help increase the numbers of active communities through the wonderful activity of bicycling," said Elissa Margolin, Executive Director of the League of American Bicyclists.

The Bicycle Friendly Communities Campaign is a national grassroots effort to increase the number of trips made by bike, reverse the trend of sedentary lifestyles and improve community design across the country the most effective way possible-town by town, city by city. Municipalities that apply for Bicycle-Friendly Community (BFC) status receive an abundance of resources and technical assistance, as well as positive press exposure, to help them make local bicycling better and to encourage residents to bicycle for fun, fitness and transportation.

The 1995 Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey found that 25% of all trips are made within a mile of the home and 40% of all trips are within two miles of the home and 50% of the working population commutes five miles or less to work. A Rodale Press survey found that Americans want to have the opportunity to bicycle to work instead of driving, with 40% of those surveyed saying they would commute by bike if facilities (such as secure bicycle storage, showers and changing areas, and improved bike lanes) were available.

By increasing the number of bicycle trips, the League's Bicycle Friendly Community Campaign will combat the alarming trend of overweight and the sedentary lifestyle linked to approximately 300,000 deaths annually. Some 61% of adults in the United States were overweight or obese in 1999; 13% of children aged 6 to 11 years and 14% of adolescents aged 12 to 19 years were overweight in 1999. About 40% of adults are completely sedentary and engage in no leisure-time physical activity at all. "Overweight and obesity costs our nation $117 billion in health care and personal costs annually. The bicycle is an excellent antidote to this epidemic because it provides efficient transportation and recreational opportunities while helping to improve the health and fitness of our communities," said Margolin. The League will roll out the BFC Campaign at the Pro Bike/Pro Walk Conference, September 3-6 in St. Paul, MN.

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The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (www.rwjf.org), based in Princeton, N.J, is the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care. It concentrates its grantmaking in four goal areas: to assure that all American have access to basic health care at reasonable cost; to improve care and support for people with chronic health conditions; to promote healthy communities and lifestyles; and to reduce the personal, social and economic harm caused by substance abuse - tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs.

For more information on the Bicycle Friendly Community Campaign, visit www.bikeleague.org. The League of American Bicyclists promotes bicycling for fun, fitness and transportation, and works through advocacy and education for a bicycle-friendly America. The League represents the interests of the nation's 57 million bicyclists. With a current membership of 300,000 affiliated cyclists, including 40,000 individuals and 600 organizations, the League works to bring better bicycling to your community.