The Outspoken Cycling Club bylaws define that board members may be establish advisory committees to further achieve the mission of the club. Here are the committees that have been established for the year 2024. Any members interested in joining the below committees are encouraged to contact the Board at info@outspoken.cc.
This committee will drive all the logistics, training, and fundraising to enable Outspoken’s annual participation to AIDS/LifeCycle ride in June. The committee will support participant in building cycling skills through a progressive training series, bike repair and safety classes.
The purpose of this committee is to oversee the club’s brand, improve our online presence, implement a solution for digital asset organization and collaboration platforms to better manage events, meetings, and communication within the club. This committee will also develop graphic content to support digital events (e.g., fundraising/membership milestones. Determine social platforms we want to be engaged in. Finally, it will lead discussions and direction on club official sport gear (e.g., jerseys, hoodies, t-shirts, etc.), determines process for getting feedback and finalizing decisions, and seeks solutions to make gear available to members.
The Club Membership and Diversity committee seeks to ensure that the membership of the club represents the breadth and depth of the queer community such that any queer or allied person can see that Outspoken is a place where they are welcome. This committee will oversee the management of membership, including Heylo and membership payments. This committee will aim to make finding and joining the club frictionless.
Additionally, in part through these diversity efforts, the committee aims to grow membership 50% in 2024, and an additional 25% each year after that. This growth will resolve a critical mass issue, and ensure that both riders and ride leaders are plentiful to keep the programming of the club running smoothly. This committee will be a key stakeholder in the effort to publish and maintain the website, and our public communication to new and prospective members. This committee will also work closely with the efforts to develop organizational partnerships.
Our committee’s mission is to coordinate and organize rides for the club. The committee’s main tasks include: (a) Local club led rides, (b) Organize participation in select major regional rides, (c) Plan multi-day destination rides in our region and elsewhere. The committee will work closely with other committees, to generate a cohesive and compelling riding calendar for the club. While any OCC member may propose and lead a ride, the Ride Committee will create a space open to all members to discuss ride possibilities and coordinate planning efforts.
The purpose of this committee is to provide an accessible ride experience that is open to all who have a desire to cycle but are limited by ability, time or other mitigating factors. Initially the committee will discuss routes using some of the existing routes we already have.
The Ride Leadership committee seeks to better support volunteers who do the important work of leading rides for the club, and ensure that the ride experience is safe and enjoyable for every member. This committee will establish best practices and publish materials that will make leading rides easier, and enable members who wish to become ride leaders with the skills and knowledge necessary to be successful.
The committee will build these materials from the best practices and lessons learned over the first few years. Exactly what material is created (documents, videos, online tutorials, etc) will be established by committee members who have had success and struggle leading rides for the club.
Focus will be on ensuring equity and inclusion for new and less-experienced riders. No rider left behind.
This committee’s goal is to onboard at least 5 new ride leaders in 2024 with the materials and support we create, and iterate on these from feedback over the riding season as those new leaders use the skills. In October of next year, all new ride leaders will be asked to give feedback on this experience, and that will help inform the committee’s work for 2025.
Additionally, the membership will be encouraged to give feedback on the rides that they take and specifically asked to talk about how the ride was led. This feedback will only be used to find new opportunities to improve ride leadership, it is not intended as an evaluation of any individual.
