It is with mixed emotions that I have decided to move on from my time at the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. As I prepare for my last week and upcoming challenges, I can’t help but think back over the time I’ve spent on staff here and feel grateful to so many.
I first started at the SF Bicycle Coalition as an intern in 2014. I remember walking into our former 10th-floor office and seeing dozens of bicycles hung up on the wall. “These are the people I want to work with,” I thought to myself.
Charles in 2014, when he first started at the SF Bicycle Coalition.
Cut to over four years later and I feel so incredibly proud of the work that I’ve been able to do with those same people and so many others. From siting thousands of sidewalk bicycle racks as bicycle parking coordinator to chanting for Market Street on the steps of City Hall just this week as senior community organizer (we won by the way), we’ve accomplished so much together.
None of the work that I’ve been able to be a part of would have been possible without you, our members. Whenever I’m asked what the best part of my job is at the SF Bicycle Coalition is, the answer is easy: working with our membership. Thank you for your advocacy, partnership, and friendship as we’ve taken on project after project, and I can’t wait to see what you all continue to make happen.
So where am I going? I’ve accepted a position to do on-street outreach as a member of the SF Homeless Outreach Team. As a San Franciscan, I can no longer stand by or just volunteer my time while our most vulnerable neighbors just barely hold on. This is a decision years in the making and I’m excited to wholly dedicate my time to working on the issue of homelessness which has so clearly reached crisis levels in this City.
As a final favor, I need your help in making sure the SF Bicycle Coalition’s advocacy remains strong as ever. We are hiring community organizers and we need someone great to lead victories for protected bike lanes citywide and real grassroots solutions to our city’s transportation problems.
See you in the bike lane,
Charles Deffarges
