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Slow Roll Chicago is hiring a Ride Season Manager, to start immediately. Interviews will be held tomorrow, Wed, Mar 28 from 9am to 3pm. Please share widely with your network. Anyone interested should email Oboi Reed their resume and 2 references at [email protected]. Please send by 7pm CT today (Tue, Mar 27), in order to be considered for an interview tomorrow. Here is the job description: slowrollchicago.org/ride-season-manager

Romina Castillo: "Not a goodbye, but a hasta luego!"

From the desk of my dear sister Romina Castillo:

Dear Slow Rollers,

Three years ago, I met these two guys who were mobilizing people across Chicago through community bike rides. Their mission was to use the transformative power of cycling to make our neighborhoods better. I was sold by the idea right away and ever since, I have dedicated much of my free time helping Slow Roll to organize and manage the rides, coordinate partnerships, and build new relationships.

Even good rides must come to an end, and it is time for me to step down from my leadership role with Slow Roll Chicago.

For the last few years we have built together a city-wide movement, and I am forever grateful for the support and friendship of the Slow Roll Chicago community. When I had the opportunity to take on more responsibilities within this organization, I quickly realized that Slow Roll Chicago is not the people leading the rides, but the community of riders who show up every ride from different parts of Chicago and beyond. Slow Roll is not a small group of individuals, but a network of partners and allies. Slow Roll is every and each one of you who have trusted us, who have invited us to ride in your neighborhoods, and who have joined us through this journey in one way or another. You all have created the motion to keep Slow Roll rolling, and—for this reason—I am confident that Slow Roll has enough power-by-people energy to keep moving forward.

While I am stepping down in my role as Interim Executive Director of Slow Roll, you will still see a lot of me. I will remain as Slow Roll’s ally and supporter. I will continue to work with partners that are striving to improve our neighborhoods, advocate for mobility justice, and develop more equitable decision-making processes with regards to pedestrian and cycling issues.

I would encourage you all to support Slow Roll Chicago now more than ever. This transitional period will be challenging, but critical for shaping the long-term direction of the Slow Roll movement.

A shout out to the two guys who made this possible to begin with, Oboi Reed and Jamal Julien. They helped me discover a passion for community organizing and cycling, and both my professional and personal lives have been positively impacted by the movement they created.

I would not have been able to keep a riding season together without my Slow Roll partner in crime Dan Black. He has been such an anchor and a leader for the organization. I am incredibly thankful for having had the opportunity to work alongside Dan.

To all of you I say: this is not a ‘goodbye’, but a ‘hasta luego’ (see you later).

Let’s roll!

Romina N. Castillo

Slow Roll Chicago is hiring a Ride Season Manager, to start immediately. Interviews are next Wed, Mar 28 from 9a-3pm. Please share and anyone interested should email @theycallmeoboi their resume and 2 references at [email protected]. Here is the job description: http://slowrollchicago.org/ride-season-manager/

Please join with us tomorrow to demand racial justice in Chicago and the end of racial profiling of Black cyclists at the Chicago Police Department. Show up and stand with us at the next City of Chicago Mayor's Bicycle Advisory Council meeting tomorrow: 3-5pm, Wednesday, March 7 City Hall, 121 N. LaSalle St., Room 1103 Wear all Black and arrive early. To learn more go to chi.streetsblog.org and search for an article entitled “CDOT Will Let Equiticity CEO Speak About Racially Biased Bike Ticketing at MBAC”.

‪Defining and operationalizing Equity, from last week at the @worldbikeforum in Lima, Peru. Check out our accurate perspective on authentic, sincere Equity.‬ To see full video, check out the @equiticity YouTube channel. (at Lima, Peru)

Yo! Look who we found in Lima, Peru at the @worldbikeforum, our Afro Mexican Brother Waymond H. Smith from the Southside of Chicago.

@theycallmeOboi first met Mauro and rode with his @siclas Medellin movement in 2015. And, ran into him again here at the @worldbikeforum in Lima, Peru. Our bicycle movement is global and growing. Bikes as vehicles for social justice, let’s ride... (at San Isidro District, Lima)

Reppin our movement in Lima, Peru at the World Bicycle Forum. We ride bicycles for freedom around the world. (at Lima, Peru)

From the Southside of Chicago to NYC to around the world to LA, our family @kjroseeffect is repping the movement well. We ride bikes to make our neighborhoods better. May the journey continue...

Please consider a year-end, tax deductible gift to the Slow Roll Chicago Capacity Building Campaign. Link in the bio, let’s go...

Olatunji Oboi Reeed: Gone. Hope I make it home...

(Note: Requisite background music for your reading pleasure: Gone by The Weekend (Explicit). Clean version here. Please consider donating to the Slow Roll Chicago Capacity Building Campaign.) Dear Slow Roll Chicago Community: The Slow Roll Chicago Bicycle Movement will always be my home. I am resigning my position as President & CEO of Slow Roll Chicago, effective December 31, 2017. I will continue to support our movement in the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors, focusing my efforts on big picture vision, strategy and fundraising. I am confident Slow Roll Chicago has the solid foundation, as well as the extensive strategic planning and organizational development processes in place, in order to intentionally, deliberately transition from a grassroots organization to a financially sound, adequately staffed and properly managed bicycle advocacy organization, while staying passionately true to our original purpose statement, vision, mission, priorities, strategies and continuing to serve our target audience. Please consider donating to the Slow Roll Chicago Capacity Building Campaign, allowing us for the first time to hire a full-time Executive Director. I am confident that the right person to lead our work in the short term is Slow Roll Chicago's Interim Executive Director, longtime volunteer and ride season manager Romina Castillo. I am confident that the right person to partner with Romina on leading our organization at this time is Slow Roll Chicago's Director of Community Engagement, longtime volunteer and program manager Dan Black. Please contact Romina and Dan regarding all matters related to our 2018 ride season, bicycle advocacy, partnerships and programs. I've recently founded Equiticity, a national racial equity movement, operating at the intersection of equity, mobility and justice in communities of color across the US. Please contact me via email or cell at 773-916-6264 regarding business or organizational matters related to Slow Roll Chicago, anything related to Equiticity, my advocacy work calling on the removal of police enforcement from Vision Zero and my work on establishing bicycle libraries here in Chicago. May the journey continue... This journey started over ten years ago, when I decided bicycles and the activity of cycling were tools in my own healing journey through severe depression. From the Chatham neighborhood on the Southside of Chicago to corporate america to becoming a solo cyclist, only willing to ride on the sidewalk or the lakefront trail. From founding The Pioneers Bicycle Club to unintentionally becoming a bicycle advocate. From living in Brazil to co-leading Red Bike & Green - Chicago. From co-founding Slow Roll Chicago in September of 2014 to receiving The 2015 White House Transportation Champion of Change Award at The White House. From the beautiful struggle to Equiticity, I arrive at this place at this time. Now, moving beyond bicycles and beyond Chicago, I will continue to center my work around exercising the inherent power which exist in Black and Brown communities throughout our country. I will execute a full suite of burn/build, inside/outside strategies to ensure the dismantling of structural racism and white supremacy, as the root cause of all injustice experienced by people of color in the US. I will work to hold accountable those institutions which commit acts of structural violence against people of color. I will call for the explicit, intentional eradication of implicit bias and paternalism at mainstream organizations such as Active Transportation Alliance, as well as government institutions such as the City of Chicago Mayor's Office, City Hall and the Chicago Police Department. I will fight for the removal of police enforcement from Vision Zero, both in Chicago and nationally. I will establish community-based, community-owned models of shared mobility and emerging transportation technologies, controlling the planning process around how these are delivered in our cities and our neighborhoods. Together, people of color will achieve racial equity, increased mobility and racial justice in our society. Or, I will die trying. Gone. Hope I make it home... Let's ride,

Olatunji Oboi Reed Co-Founder, Slow Roll Chicago [email protected] 773-916-6264 Please consider donating to the Slow Roll Chicago Capacity Building Campaign.

Today is Giving Tuesday. Please consider a donation to our Slow Roll Chicago Capacity Building Campaign. We are raising funds to hire a full-time Executive Director, re-establish our bicycle loaner fleet and purchase professional and online services. Link in bio. Donate, share and let's ride...

Giving Tuesday Fundraiser: Slow Roll Chicago Capacity Building Campaign

Donate to The Slow Roll Chicago Bicycle Movement's Capacity Building Campaign

Slow Roll Chicago is a bicycle movement. We ride bikes to make our neighborhoods better. This is why we exist. This is why we ride.

Slow Roll Chicago’s vision is equal bicycle usage across the City of Chicago with respect to race, income and neighborhood. We envision bicycles as a form of effective transportation, contributing to reducing violence, improving health, creating jobs and ultimately making our neighborhoods more livable. Slow Roll Chicago’s mission is to connect a diverse group of people who utilize bikes and the activity of cycling as vehicles for social justice and social change, transforming lives and improving the condition of our communities by organizing community bicycle rides, advocating for bicycle equity and implementing cycling-related programs throughout Chicago. Slow Roll Chicago’s target audience is people of color, low- to moderate-income people, primarily serving neighborhoods on the Southside and Westside of Chicago.

Slow Roll Chicago seeks to address the problem of bicycle inequity in Chicago. This problem is exemplified in the inequitable distribution of bicycle resources in Chicago, as well as the exclusion of people of color and low- to moderate-income people from the broader Chicago cycling and transportation advocacy communities. In addition, Slow Roll Chicago seeks to contribute to reducing violence, improving health and creating jobs in our neighborhoods. Low- to moderate-income, communities of color are the most adversely, disproportionately impacted by many forms of inequities, such as lack of access to mobility, healthcare disparities, unemployment, poverty, poor education, poor quality of life, lack of access to healthy foods, and disproportionately impacted by police violence, traffic violence and interpersonal, gun violence.

The Work

Signature Ride Series: Slow Roll Chicago’s primary thrust as an organization is our Signature Ride Series, riding weekly during our ride season from May to September. Each ride is neighborhood-based and hosted in partnership with community-based organizations. Every ride is thematic and explicitly designed to serve as a vehicle for social justice and social change. The rides incorporate neighborhood outreach, community partners and a route to express a mobil story on bikes. The ride highlights the beauty or the challenges which exist on the South and West sides of Chicago.

Bicycle Advocacy: Slow Roll Chicago advocates on behalf of communities of color and low- to moderate-income communities for three public commitments here in Chicago from local, state, and federal policymakers:

Bicycle equity as the equitable distribution of bicycle resources (funding, protected bike lanes, Divvy stations, other infrastructure, programs, services, etc.) to communities which need them the most and which can benefit from them the most. In Chicago, these are communities of color and low- to moderate-income communities on the Southside and Westside of our city.

Community ownership of the transportation planning process, creating meaningful community engagement opportunities for neighborhood residents to express an authentic voice in the decision-making process surrounding transportation infrastructure projects in their neighborhoods.

Respect for the current needs, culture, and history in neighborhoods today, in order to achieve greater engagement and investment from residents who live there now.

The Strategy

Community: Create community by connecting communities across racial, geographical and social divides.

Culture: Build an equitable, diverse, and inclusive bicycle culture in Chicago. Establish a vibrant bicycle culture in communities of color and low- to moderate-income neighborhoods on the Southside and Westside of Chicago.

Context: Host neighborhood-based, thematic, community bicycle rides in partnership with community organizations. Host group bike rides as vehicles to explore the beauty and the challenges which exist in our neighborhoods.

Clarity: Express in consistent, inspiring and clear terms who we are, what we do and why we do it. Slow Roll Chicago is a bicycle movement. We ride bikes to make our neighborhoods better.

The Slow Roll Chicago Capacity Building Campaign

After being founded in 2014, Slow Roll Chicago is currently undergoing an extensive strategic planning and organizational development process. For the first time, Slow Roll Chicago now has an Interim Executive Director, longtime volunteer and ride season manager Romina Castillo. This online, crowdfunding campaign is primarily focused on intentionally, deliberately moving Slow Roll Chicago from a volunteer-driven, grassroots organization to a financially sound, well funded, adequately staffed and properly managed organization, while still staying passionately true to our original purpose statement, mission, vision and continuing to serve our target audience.

The $85,000 Goal

Staffing: Hire a full time Executive Director with a competitive salary and benefits.

Professional Services: Contract for professional services, such as accounting, legal, branding, printing and travel.

Online Services: Purchase online services, such as website domain registration, website hosting, email newsletter, file storage, productivity software subscriptions and accounting software subscription.

Loaner Bike Fleet and Accessories: Re-establish our full fleet of 100 loaner bikes and accessories (helmets, lights and locks), as well as the the necessary parts, tools, equipment and supplies to manage the loaner fleet and our ride series.

Equipment & Supplies: Acquire the necessary office equipment and supplies to effectively manage Slow Roll Chicago, our full ride season, our bicycle advocacy work and other strategic projects.

The +$150,000 Long Term Stretch Goal

Three-Year Roadmap to Financial Sustainability: We are not content with the annual grind of fundraising and being susceptible to the evolving priorities of traditional philanthropy. While we certainly respect the philanthropic and business community and their support of our movement, we are intensely interested in serving as the controllers of our own fundraising fate. To this end, Slow Roll Chicago is developing a three-year roadmap to financial sustainability. This roadmap will include, though not limited to, the creation of a for-profit social enterprise with two vital aims: financially support Slow Roll Chicago and generate job opportunities in our target neighborhoods.

Additional Staffing Capacity: Our movement exists to transform lives and improve the condition of communities. We ride bicycles to reduce violence, improve health and create jobs. Inspired by this intent, we are actively working to grow the organization’s capacity in order to effectively develop, organize and execute our weekly Signature Ride Series. Our movement is complementing our citywide strategy with a hyper-local, neighborhood-focused, concentrated engagement strategy. In addition, our movement will grow our bicycle advocacy work and campaigns, both citywide and at the hyper-local, neighborhood level. Our weekly Signature Ride Series, hyper-local engagement strategy and increased focus on bicycle advocacy are all centered around creating a bicycle culture where none previously existed and significantly increasing bicycle mode share in communities of color on the Southside and Westside of Chicago. This long term goal requires additional staffing capacity at Slow Roll Chicago, such as a Ride Season Manager, Community Engagement Manager and an Advocacy Manager.

Storage & Transportation: We are currently searching for both storage and transportation for our loaner fleet of bikes, helmets, lights and locks. Our storage needs include a secure space, about 3,500 square feet and 24/7 access. We also are in need of a box truck (approximately 20 feet) to transport our loaner bicycle fleet to our community bike rides. We manage and distribute our fleet of loaner bikes and accessories in order to provide bikes to our target audience, reducing the barriers to the activity of cycling and allowing for full participation in our community bicycle rides.

Physical Headquarters Space: Slow Roll Chicago is working to establish a multi-use, office headquarters as the long-term physical home of our movement in a predominantly low- to moderate-income community of color on the Southside or Westside of Chicago. Working with a number of business and community partners, our HQ building will serve as a bicycle community center and home to our bicycle advocacy coalition.

Slow Roll Chicago is an IRS 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. All donations are tax-deductible.

Donate to The Slow Roll Chicago Capacity Building Campaign.

Thank you and happy holidays,

Oboi, Jamal, Romina and Dan The Slow Roll Chicago Leadership Team

708-831-3570 [email protected]

#Donate

We are proud of @slowrollchicago being a finalist at the @deltagreatlakes @delta.emerging.leaders BOOST pitch fest tomorrow, Tue, Nov 14 at 7pm. We have the opportunity to win an important grant award for our movement. Please support, purchase tickets, attend the event and spread the word. Visit this website to show support and purchase tickets: http://bit.ly/2w4WtJ8 Thank you, see you tomorrow evening!

We ride bicycles on the Major Taylor Trail tomorrow (Sat, Oct 21), let's ride...

Please join our @slowrollchicago community at our 2017 Season Finale Bike to Mole Ride in partnership with @uplatincenter this morning, Sat (Sept 30) at 10:30am. We are also looking for Squad help, please let me know in case you may be available to help on Squad. Check out our website for more ride details at: slowrollchicago.org/schedule

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