Today, we’re sharing a story from Ethan Abbott, who is the Project Manager of Baltimore Greenway Trails Network at the Rails to Trails Conservancy. We wanted to take this chance to share how our connections to partners in the community make our work possible.
The more I live and work in Baltimore, the more I realize just how important your resources are. Working in Baltimore often means living and dying by your ability to leverage your resources to the best of your ability. When I talk about resources, I’m referring to one thing and one thing only – other people. It’s all about who you know and who you can count on, whether it’s city residents, community groups, volunteers, or other local nonprofits. Without these relationships, our work isn’t possible.
I started working at Rails-to-Trails in March 2020, right at the beginning of the pandemic. Not the easiest thing to do during a quarantine, especially when your work involves community outreach, maintaining a coalition of invested stakeholders, and creating new partner relationships. Still, I wasn’t too bothered by this, because I knew that I already had relationships with a plethora of people in Baltimore, which helped me move with more finesse - this included Bikemore.
Working with Bikemore was easy because we knew each other through my work at Baltimore City Recreation & Parks - we were simply friends working in a new capacity. We hit the ground running with our collaborative efforts. Last November, Clarissa, Jed, and I began discussing the different ways that we could capitalize on the momentum and the groundswell of support in this Southeast corridor of the Baltimore Greenway, while still being cognizant of the COVID-19. As we thought about potential programs, our conversations were filled with uncertainties like, “Can we have a programming event around this? Maybe a socially distant guided bike tour? Do social distancing guidelines still count if we’re going to be outdoors?”
In the end, we safely hosted two VIP bike tours last November that showcased the progress along the eastern corridor of the Baltimore Greenway, and pushed our local leaders to action. Local community and business leaders, Maryland State Delegates, and Baltimore City Council members joined us on these rides. Bikemore, through their relationship with Lime, brought e-bikes for the guests to use at no additional cost. This year, we continued our joint programming through community group rides in South Baltimore along the Gwynns Falls Trail, a group ride along the Jones Falls Trail with Blue Water Baltimore, and hikes in Herring Run Park with Friends of Herring Run Parks and Impact Hub. Some of these were existing partners, and some were newly formed relationships, but all critical to helping us push forward our mission.
I also want to highlight how pivotal these relationships can be even when you’re not directly involved in the work that your partners are doing. Rails-to-Trails wasn’t involved in the Lake2Lake project and traffic-calming installation at 33rd & Hillen, but we’re grateful for the groundwork it lays for the larger connection that we advocate for with the Baltimore Greenway, which builds upon this concept as it aims to connect the city’s prominent park systems together. The work done by Baltimore City’s Department of Transportation, Black People Ride Bikes, Graham Projects, and Bikemore is a tremendous accomplishment and will serve as a model for Rails-to-Trails as we continue to engage local communities and work with community partners.
Throughout the past two challenging years, these partnerships have been what make my work possible. It’s essential that we cherish our people - whether that’s individuals, nonprofits, businesses - and recognize what they bring to the table and what we’re able to learn from them.
Rails-to-Trails can’t keep advocating for the Baltimore Greenway without continual support from our coalition of partners like Bikemore. Bikemore can’t continue to be the transportation advocates they are today without the continual support and collaboration of organizations with similar or overlapping goals.
If there’s one takeaway, let it be this: None of this work is done in a vacuum. None of this work can be done in a vacuum, and more importantly, none of this work can be done without you - the people. Remember just how powerful of a resource a person can be, and I implore you to take this mindset to heart if you haven’t already.
Today, I’m asking you to show your support for our work and start a donation today - even $5 a month allows Bikemore to keep advocating alongside us and host programming where Rails to Trails can bring the vision of the Baltimore Greenway to neighborhoods around the city.
By Ethan Abbott
