Today, I’m not going to give you an opinion. I’m changing it up some. Spouting my mouth off gets old after a while. However, I’m still dedicated to updating this website every Friday. If these past few months have taught me anything, it is that the momentum doesn’t stop at the Hub and people are very eager to hear about what we are doing.
Today (actually right now) I’m heading East to New York City. I’ll be arriving there tonight for the 2nd Annual Youth Bike Summit. Two of us went last year to the first one and had a great time. Since I’ve gotten more involved in the past year I decided I should head out to the conference. I’ll be going with Carlisha to get some learning going on.
In the past year we have really been improving our youth programming. Since the last conference we have built a new workshop for our kids with new work benches and educational diagrams painted on the walls. We have trained a new breed of volunteers and have been super spoiled by having great folks helping us out week after week with our youth.
This past summer we ramped up our youth rides. Where we were doing one annual ride previously, we begun monthly rides with youth throughout the summer. They went well and we are looking toward weekly rides this summer.
This past summer and again last December we teamed up with great groups around the metropolitan area and were able to get over 150 bikes to youth under 8 years old that otherwise wouldn’t have been able to own a bike of their own.
Our partnership with Detroit Community Schools has grown. We have completed two semesters with students at their school earning bikes with teachers we provide. Hopefully things will only continue to grow there and in Brightmoor in general.
Carlisha and I will be meeting with folks that have done similar programs and other things we (or other groups) have yet to try in Detroit. I’ve heard of cities having youth bike ambassadors, bike busses to schools, and other ways to get youth involved in biking.
Carlisha will be in the unique position to share her experience here at the Hub. Carlisha came to us in our Youth Earn-a-Bike program, became a mechanic in training, returned to work in our retail shop and is now on the collective. Just last Saturday I met one of her younger brothers who came into Earn-a-Bike himself. He already had a good understanding of bikes which were all taught to him by his older sister. We have to be doing something right and now Carlisha can help guide and sustain that.
The ideas we come back with may not be able to be done by the Hub alone. We continue to focus on youth and provide the best programming we can each year. But hopefully with the work we do more youth will get involved in Detroit cycling and eventually create their own solutions to problems in their own neighborhoods.
Here’s to youth empowerment!
see ya’ll when I get back,
jason x