Melody Moody

Melody Moody’s passion to make Mississippi more bike friendly is contagious. As the new executive director of Bike Walk Mississippi, the 29-year-old has big plans for Jackson and the state to adopt more accessible means of transportation.

“We just want to make (biking) a safe, fun thing people of all ages can do,” she says.

On August 1, BWM relocated its offices from Oxford to downtown Jackson on Capitol Street. Moody says the organization wants to tackle some of the state’s big issues such as obesity, but she mostly just wants to see the Jackson community come together and “get on the same page for where we truly want to be.”

In addition to lobbying for bike-safety legislation–like the state’s newly enacted law mandating that vehicles stay three feet from cyclists–BWM promotes initiatives such as Safe Routes to School, a program that encourages students to walk and bike to school.

Moody has more than 10 years of community development experience. Prior to her new position, Moody was the development director at the Neighborhood Christian Center, a non-profit organization that works with inner-city youth. She is the creator and organizer of “Pickin’ and Paddlin,’” an annual outdoor festival at Mayes Lake and fundraiser for NCC. She is also the co-founder of the Jackson Bikes Advocates, an organization that promotes bike safety and hosts monthly community bike rides in the city.

Moody earned her bachelor’s degree in biblical studies from Belhaven University in 2003 and her master’s degree in international development from Eastern University in Philadelphia, Pa., in May. Originally from Kings Fort, Tenn., Moody has lived in Jackson for the past 11 years.

“I really think that Jackson has some sort of magnetism to it that can’t really be explained,” she says. “I mean, you see people that choose to live here, that have their choices of the cool cities all over, and when they choose Jackson I think it’s all about the community. I have friends who come and visit all the time and they’ll say ‘Wow, I don’t experience this sort of community, everybody coming together and supporting each other.’ It’s just the people, the community, that’s definitely why I stayed.”

In 2005, The Jackson Free Press named Moody a “Young Influential” for her involvement in the arts and raising awareness of non-profit organizations in the city.

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The Mississippi Free Press produced this story through the MFP Solutions Lab, supported by the Solutions Journalism Network. This series digs into Mississippi’s systemic issues and sheds light on responses to them in other communities. Beyond just reporting on problems, these stories interrogate their causes and inspect potential solutions.