New resource: mobilizing community delegations

Image: Kate and Jamie promoting the new resource at the Cycle Hamilton AGM (November 2025)

Earlier this year, I was part of an amazing campaign that mobilized 43 people to speak up and convince Hamilton’s city council to continue funding our beloved bike share system. Community members sharing their stories through in-person, virtual, and written delegations made all the difference. Prior to the delegations, city council nearly voted “no” on continued funding - choosing to defer the vote instead by a narrow margin. After hearing the delegations, councillors provided unanimous support!!

Honestly, I still feel energized from the whole thing months later, and I was thrilled when Cycle Hamilton asked campaign co-lead Kate Whalen and I to capture the campaign in a toolkit for other community groups to use. That toolkit is now available on the Cycle Hamilton website.

We didn't want to make just any old toolkit, so it’s formatted as an interview between Kate (Kate Whalen Coaching & Consulting) and myself. Kate shares her experience and reflections on the campaign, and we link to campaign resources like communications templates and the slide deck from our delegation training workshop.

Image: Cycle Hamilton’s community delegation workshop

Looking back on it, I think one of the most important things the campaign did was actively invite people to join in. We didn’t just send out an email or social media post encouraging people to sign up to delegate. I mean, we did do that, but we also identified voices we thought council should hear from, did individual outreach, and let people know why we thought their participation was important. We also acknowledged that delegating can be an intimidating and confusing process, so we hosted a fun community workshop where we took people through the steps of signing up, preparing a delegation, answering questions, etc.

A few of the people involved in supporting cycling in Hamilton at the 2025 Cycle Hamilton AGM

This campaign was memorable not only because of the positive outcome, but because of the amazing community of people who came together. For me, it was awesome to work with Kate Whalen and I am grateful for her leadership and hard work on the campaign. A big thanks to Abbie Little and the Cycle Hamilton Board for helping us create the campaign toolkit, and of course to everyone who came out to delegate! Lastly, thanks as well to city staff and the team at Hamilton Bike Share. So many people showed up to share positive stories because you run a highly valued public service. Thank you for the work you do every day to help us get around and ride bikes more.

If you're trying to mobilize delegations around upcoming city budgets, or just interested in learning more about delegating, check out the toolkit. And feel free to reach out with any questions!

Image: “I delegated to council and made a difference” stickers that I printed at the library to celebrate everyone’s involvement in the campaign.

*Note to self - next time, take more pictures of everyone on delegation day!