(by Erin Maddrey, Charlotte Magazine)

Why is bike-commuting growing more popular? It’s cheaper. Parking is easier. It’s exercise. And it doesn’t pollute the air...

In March 2015, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation created a $600,000 Cycling Fund at Foundation for the Carolinas. Its purpose is to encourage connection and coordination among local cycling organizations, develop new educational cycling programs, and support events such as safety classes.

The fund’s first grant created a bicycle program director position within Sustain Charlotte, a nonprofit organization that raises awareness about sustainability challenges and presents possible solutions to those challenges. The director position was filled by Jordan Moore. Moore made his bicycle his primary mode of transportation shortly after he graduated from UNC Charlotte in 2003. He says he’s ready to change perspectives about cycling, hoping to overcome common assumptions that cycling is only for upper-class people and that it’s unsafe to do here. 

“[My job is to] keep people safe [and] provide people with a better quality of life,” he says. “If we can do this, we could be the premier [cycling] city in the Southeast.”

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