Montreal, March 19, 2025 - Vélo Québec is pleased to announce the launch of its new program, the VÉLOSYMPATHIQUE academy, one of the most popular 29 projects selected in the second call for projects under the Action-Climat Québec program. With this new initiative, those living, working and studying environments that are furthest removed from cycling culture will benefit from better support to offer their citizens, employees and students the winning conditions to adopt cycling for leisure or transport.
The VELOSYMPATHIC academy is a continuation of the VELOSYMPATHIC movement, the certification and coaching program for communities, organizations and campuses in effect since 2015. In this new iteration, certification will continue to be offered to the most advanced environments that wish to continue their progress and respond ever better to the needs of their cycling clientele. Their efforts will continue to be evaluated by a committee of expert judges and recognized by certification. Adjustments will be made to application fees, now also applicable to candidate communities, and to feedback reports. The next round of certification will take place in autumn 2025, with a deadline for applications of October 10, 2025 for communities and November 14, 2025 for organizations and campuses.
Recognizing that the certification process can be demanding for communities that don't yet have a structured approach to developing their cycling culture, the academy will offer them personalized support, from setting up and leading a cycling committee to defining a short action plan, via a brief diagnosis and peer mentoring. Significantly new, the academy will also offer these communities co-financing to support the implementation of their action plan, and facilitate their access to a catalog of products and services, such as bike racks, consulting services, training courses or kiosks and workshops. Details will be announced in the coming months.
Finally, the academy will be supported by communities of practice, enabling communities, organizations and campuses respectively to come together and exchange best practices, following the example of the The bicycle, solution and destination« symposium» which in October 2024 brought together some 300 professionals for two days of presentations and workshops. In addition, we will be offering webinars and reference tools to equip the community. Subscribe now to our professional newsletter The bike lane to make sure you don't miss out on any of this rich program.
The VÉLOSYMPATHIQUE Academy is funded by the Quebec government as part of Action-Climat Québec, a program coordinated by the Québec Action Fund for Sustainable Development which stems from the Plan for a Green Economy 2030.
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