About The Bicycling Ambassadors…

Mayor Daley’s Bicycling Ambassadors are a group of bicycle safety and education specialists who have been reaching out to all Chicagoans since 2001.

Education is a key component in accomplishing the goals of the City of Chicago’s Bike 2000 Plan, and the newly released Bike 2015 Plan, which seek to improve the quality and safety of the bicycling environment in the city.

Mayor Daley’s Bicycling Ambassadors work toward the
following objectives:

• To increase the number of trips madeby bicycle,
• To reduce the number of bicycle-related injuries and
• To help all users – bike riders, motorists and pedestrians – better share roads and off-street trails.

To accomplish these goals, the Ambassadors appear at events city-wide to reach as many Chicagoans as possible with bicycle safety education. Ambassadors talk face-to-face with Chicagoans and give presentations to kids, teens and adults by participating in existing community events. They work in teams and travel by bicycle to events all over the city.

Mayor Daley’s Junior Ambassadors

Junior Ambassadors are a team of teenagers who work with the Bicycling Ambassadors to spread bicycle safety messages for six weeks in the summer.

Sponsored by the Chicago Park District, the Junior Ambassadors work with Mayor Daley’s Bicycling Ambassadors from late June through early August. During the Junior Ambassador season, many events focus on peer-to-peer education. Chicago Park District day camps serve as the primary vehicle for this type of outreach.

To become Junior Ambassadors, the teens complete a 16-week after-school bicycle safety and repair class offered by After School Matters, a not-for-profit agency that offers Chicago teenagers an opportunity to learn job skills and apply those skills at different summer jobs. As Junior Ambassadors, the teens have the opportunity to share the bicycle safety information they learned with thousands of children and adults throughout Chicago.

The Junior Ambassador program is the only peer-to-peer education program of its kind.