Do you love biking in Waterloo Region? Or have you biked in other parts of the world and wish you could do it here too? Want to help us make it easier to cycle safely?
CycleWR is an entirely volunteer-based organization. We have new volunteer roles in summer 2019 and are excited to bring more people, passion and energy into our organization.
How CycleWR Works
CycleWR is run by a volunteer steering committee that sets goals and campaigns based on member and community feedback. Steering committee members lead specific volunteer teams that help meet our organizational goals and execute campaigns.
Ways to volunteer
Below are five ways you can volunteer with CycleWR. If you’re interested, email hello@cyclewr.ca, or attend a drop-in volunteer info session:
Saturday, July 13 — 12:30PM to 2:30PM
Seven Shores Cafe (10 Regina St N, Waterloo)
Thursday, July 18 — 6:00PM to 9:00PM
Arabella Park (740 Belmont Ave W, Kitchener)
1. Ride with an elected official
We had a great time on our Rides with Candidates last year. Help us keep up the momentum by showing more city councillors, MPPs, and MPs the good and bad of cycling infrastructure in your neighbourhood or along your commute.
CycleWR will help you connect with an appropriate representative, and provide any other resources you might need! At the local level, we could especially use tour guides who live/work in Kitchener’s wards 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6; Waterloo wards 1, 2, and 6; and throughout Cambridge and the townships.
See if your councillor’s already done a bike ride: view all the ride reports on our blog.
Email hello@cyclewr.ca to coordinate a ride.
Learn more about guiding a ride with an elected official
2. Keep track of municipal agendas
In our two-tier municipal system, it’s hard to keep track of the budgets and projects for all eight municipalities. We’re looking for people to help track what’s going on at the Region, the three cities, and the four townships.
We need someone to subscribe to email updates or set monthly-ish reminders to check meeting agendas. Then, if there are any bike- or pedestrian-related items, summarize them for our steering committee so we can share the news or see if a greater response is needed.
You could also keep an eye on EngageWR for surveys that people who bike should be responding to.
Learn more about being a municipal agenda tracker.
3. Represent CycleWR at events
We attend a lot of events to make sure we’re connecting with and hearing from all kinds of people who cycling in the region. We’re looking for people to help us provide a welcoming presence at the CycleWR table/booth at indoor and outdoor community events.
Events volunteers engage the public in conversation around CycleWR’s goals and campaigns, and help to take photos and collect stories for #HumansWhoCycleWR. This summer we’ll be at bike infrastructure launch parties, neighbourhood events, arts events, cycling socials and more!
Learn more about being an events volunteer.
4. Create bike-themed graphics
We’re looking for graphic designers and artists to help us create graphics for use in various media. We are looking for a diverse group of creatives, and each graphic design volunteer will work on projects or tasks that suit their interests and skill set.
Some projects we’re working on include: t-shirt designs, social media graphics, website graphics, flyers, and posters.
Learn more about being a graphic designer for CycleWR.
5. Post cool stuff on social media
We’re looking for some social-media-savvy people to help us amplify local cycling initiatives and maintain a consistent, useful presence on our social media channels.
We’re assembling a content curation team who will scour the internet for news, resources, and local events related to cycling and cycling advocacy, and then draft tweets, Facebook posts, and Instagram posts for us.
Learn more about being a content curator.
We’re also looking for a moderator or two to help us make our Facebook group an engaging and civil place to talk about biking in our community.
Learn more about being a Facebook group moderator.
If you’d like to help out in any other way, get in touch with us and share your ideas! Email us at hello@cyclewr.ca.
Don’t have time to volunteer but still want to help?
Two more ways to help:
1. Send us a donation to help pay for things like website hosting and event supplies.
2. Subscribe to our mailing list so we can let you know when we have an event coming up, or when it’s time to submit comments on municipal plans or show your support for cycling at a council meeting. We won’t share your contact information, and there’s a link to unsubscribe in every email.