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National Alliance for Hispanic Health Makes Improvements for Bicyclists
An employee at the National Alliance for Hispanic Health and a certified League Cycling Instructor (LCI), Edgar Gil Rico led a commuting seminar at his office in Spanish. The one-hour workshop covered the benefits of bike commuting, what to do before you ride, how to choose a bike, how to choose a route, riding visibility, and more.
Rico didn’t stop there, though. He went beyond the walls of Hispanic Health and has hosted a number of Spanish-language bike education classes in his community, most recently with Bike Arlington and the Shirlington Employment and Education Center.
We hear a lot of inspiring news through our Bicycle Friendly Business partners and Rico’s efforts truly illustrate business’ impact on the community. Hispanic Health, located in Washington, D.C., applied to our BFB program in Fall 2011.
As all applicants do, they received feedback on what they could do to make their workplace and community even better for bicycling. The business didn’t waste any time in implementing the suggestions.
First, they requested information from the D.C. Department of Transportation and invited a representative from GoDCGo to talk about Capital Bikeshare. As a result, Hispanic Health now encourages employees to ride by subsidizing Capital Bikeshare memberships for its employees – 12 of their 22 employes take advantage of the benefit. In addition, they purchased helmets for all and provided a short educational workshop on city cycling.
Next, Hispanic Health invited Megan Van de Mark, then Washington Area Bicyclist Association‘s Bike Parking Program Coordinator, to assess their office for bike rack installation. A location was identified near the entrance of the building and Hispanic Health got their business neighbor’s approval. WABA provided the rack and installation free of charge!
Employees of the business also participated in the National Bike Challenge!
National Alliance for Hispanic Health will soon be reapplying to the BFB program and we tip our helmets to the incredible progress they’ve made already in becoming an even better Bicycle Friendly Business.
Are you interested in applying for Bicycle Friendly Business designation? Click here for more details on the program.
Alison Dewey
League Program Manager, BFB & BFU
Dewey joined the League in 2008. For four years prior to that, Dewey worked for Massachusetts- based Landry’s Bicycles and served on the board of the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition. Dewey has a MA in International Relations and Communications from Boston University and is a graduate of St. Olaf College. She spent three years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal.
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