This article is the twentieth in a series profiling the varied and amazing nominees for the 2009 Alice B. Toeclips Awards, which will be presented to five winners at the Alice Awards & Auction on March 7th. We won’t be able to profile everyone, so read the nominees’ descriptions online. This profile was written by BTA correspondent John McLaren.
The 2008 Ecos Bike Commute Challenge team, led by Francine Chinitz.
Francine Chinitz is the driving force behind her company’s participation in the annual Bike Commute Challenge. BTA staff who organize the annual Challenge know that the program is simple, but the magic is in the people who take it on at their workplaces and make it great. Chnitiz epitomizes that greatness. In four years, the number of riders from her company, Ecos, has nearly tripled.
“Participating in the Bike Commute Challenge is a great way for Ecos to show that we really care about our community,” says Chinitz, an Alice Award nominee.
So far, she has been achieving her goal of getting a higher percentage of co-workers each year to take the Challenge. In 2005, the first year Ecos participated, 20 employees took the Challenge. In 2008, Ecos placed 9th out of 242 companies in its category. Out of 78 employees, 50 logged at least one ride, 26 of whom were first-time riders.
In August, the month before the Challenge, Chinitz goes into high gear promoting the event by sending e-mails about the Challenge and biking resources. Environmentally-minded Ecos supports her by providing Challenge posters designed by Ecos’ marketing department, prizes, employee loaner bikes, free breakfasts, public recognition, and a celebratory party for staff in October.
While the challenge is in progress, Chinitz posts weekly updates of the rides logged by each employee and the current ranking of the company based on the tabs kept by the Challenge website. Last year a co-worker helped Chinitz make chocolates with a bike design that were given out with thank you notes at the celebration party.
Chinitz definitely practices what she preaches. She has been a regular bike commuter since joining Ecos eight years ago, traveling 3.5 miles from her home to the firm’s downtown office.
Her determination to get nearly everyone involved paid off last year as employees commuted from as far away as Vancouver. She organized friendly competitions with another Challenge team, the Energy Trust of Oregon, and formed competitive inter-departmental teams. She also encouraged veteran riders to volunteer to be bike mentors for the novice bikers.
During the 2007 competition, Chinitz arranged for Ecos to donate one dollar for every bike trip logged in September by Ecos participants to the BTA, which sponsors the Bike Commute Challenge and raised $206. She did it again last year, and her efforts netted a $571 donation to the BTA.
Ecos is gaining a reputation for expertise in energy efficiency and sustainability in its consulting work with many major businesses. Chinitz, who serves Ecos as project coordinator for Industrial Efficiency, embodies the company’s mission, “making a world of difference,” company officials say. She is known less formally around the office as the “Biking Queen” – a leader with a growing number of followers in the world of bicycle commuting.
