Halifax Regional Municipality has supported community-based bicycle promotion, events and education through Bike Week and other projects for numerous years. These events have grown in number and attendance and become annual traditions with great opportunities to meet others and explore our communities by bicycle. With the Halifax cycling network continuously growing and with goals to get more people cycling, we're exploring ways we could better support community groups to celebrate cycling, not just for ten days in June, but all year long.
With that in mind, we're transitioning Bike Week to the Get There By Bike (GTBB) Community Events program, which aims to support sustained promotion and education for cycling throughout the year, as well as incorporate community events within our broader cycling promotion initiatives. Extending and expanding Bike Week events and activities over the entire calendar year benefits all GTBB partners by:
- acknowledging that cycling can be a year-round form of transportation;
- ensuring that each event is as accessible to as many people as possible;
- providing greater flexibility for event organizers; and,
- ensuring that we have adequate staff capacity to best support organizers.
Call For Applications
The municipality’s ability to initiate the GTBB Community Events program in summer 2020 was hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has severely limited and in some cases, restricted social events and gatherings. In light of these restrictions, we're inviting organizers to apply for financial assistance for initiatives that promote and celebrate cycling but adhere to public health directives from the Nova Scotia Health Authority.
With COVID-19 restricting common methods of gathering, we're seeking new and innovative proposals from non-profit and charity organizations for initiatives that connect individuals in a manner that both supports the promotion of cycling and encourages public safety. We are looking to provide financial assistance to projects that:
- help build knowledge about and interest in cycling
- support safety and accessibility
- encourage individuals to use new all-ages-and-abilities cycling infrastructure
- promote cycling’s health, economic and recreational benefits
- support social marketing approaches to encourage behavior change geared towards cycling
Submission Details
Please submit your completed form to bike@halifax.ca by Friday, October 9, 2020. The selection process will be conducted amongst a review committee, with final decisions to be made three weeks after proposals are submitted. All successful projects must be completed by March 31, 2021.