Travel by walking or bicycling has a wide range of health benefits, from lowering the risk of obesity to all-cause mortality. Although the benefits of bicycling are well-known, there are various disparities and inequities seen in participation levels and safety in underserved and underrepresented communities (e.g., racial/ethnic minorities, women, low-income, youth, LGBTQ+). Community coalitions and universities have the potential to play a large role in reaching underrepresented populations and establishing equitable programming. The purpose of this study was to understand why equity is or isn’t prioritized throughout bicycle coalition and universities’ programming efforts. Methods: A volunteer sample of bicycle coalitions (n=71) and universities (n=51) were surveyed to identify common themes from the participants’ responses regarding why or why not equity was prioritized. Results: Common themes among coalitions and universities who ranked equity first, was awareness of the inequality present in their communities, identified equity as an important element, and planned to prioritize equity in their programming. Common themes among those who ranked equity last was the lack of awareness, knowledge, and demand for equity-related issues. Conclusions: Equity is a concern for coalitions and universities. Implementation of different resources has the potential to increase equitable programming in both community and university settings.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.