Times change, and we are changing with them! Since we formed in 2015, Edmonton grown immensely. We have gone from painting sharrows to recognizing that, in order to become a beautiful, inclusive city, we need to create more paths and places for its people. We’ve seen successes such as $100 million to build better sidewalks, crosswalks, and more across the City,  improved visions for complete streets like Whyte Avenue and 132 Avenue, and safer speed limits in our communities. 

More and more Edmontonians are talking about parking, mass transit, and zoning. Our elected Council and our municipal public servants are progressing towards delivering a city that can smartly densify and build stronger communities. Though things aren’t perfect, they are getting better! With all these successes, active transportation is becoming safer year-round, with Edmonton becoming a friendlier place to walk, roll and cycle for all.

We have been reflecting on our role – and our ability to deliver change.

Over the coming months, Paths for People will be reprioritizing our efforts to focus on our long-term sustainability. Over the past 3 years, we have largely operated as a working board. This means most of our advocacy, community programming, and communications is produced by a team of 8 volunteers, seriously limiting our capacity to deliver high quality advocacy campaigns and programming opportunities to our members and the greater Edmonton community.  

We have attempted board restructuring, grant applications to bring in more resources, and more to make a “working board” more sustainable. But the funding landscape for non-profits has changed dramatically in the last few years; grants we’ve historically relied on are no longer available and have not been replaced. To continue consistently and sustainably delivering high-quality, impactful advocacy, the organization requires the skills and commitment of paid staff. This requires a significant change in the Paths for People’s financial model. 

In order to focus on developing new opportunities to bring in funding and ensure the work we are doing is within the capacity of our current working board model, the Board decided at our June Board meeting to scale back activities for a temporary period.

What exactly does this mean? 

• No community programming in the coming months, other than bike month programming, Al Fresco and a potential community ride in August to a festival.
• No new major advocacy campaigns, though we will continue to be involved with advocacy around Whyte Avenue renewal, other neighbourhood/corridor renewal, and downtown pedestrianization.
• Seeking to hire a temporary contractor that will focus on revenue generation through grant applications, donation campaigns, and/or casino applications.
• Carrying on our board nominations process in a reduced manner.

We recognize that we support a network of advocates across Edmonton who work towards building safer, more livable streets. Through this temporary pivot in our operations, we intend to build the sustainable foundation we need to carry on our operations to run advocacy, events, and more into future years. There is still important work to be done!

How long will this pivot last? We’re not sure! But, the next board term (September 2023-August 2024) will focus on this.

What can you do in the interim? Currently we have a small list of monthly donors who contribute funds to support the administrative work and operating costs of Paths for People. If you would like to contribute, we would welcome your support via our donation page at pathsforpeople.org/donate/. Additionally, if you have experience with communications and/or non-profit funding (grant writing/fundraising/casino applications), consider applying for our board, more on this here (Closes June 15, 2023).