Keeping up With The 412 Youth Zone

Image of winter riders weathering frigid temperatures, photo courtesy of the Frigid Bitch Alley Cat race.

Students can Earn-a-Bike with Positive Spin

The reboot of BikePGH’s Positive Spin youth cycling program in 2016 ushered in many updates to the curriculum. This update came with a renewed focus to meet the needs of young people aging out of foster services.

Starting with a BikePGH partnership with ACTION-Housing at My Place, we were able to implement a realigned curriculum and provide brand new bikes and commuting accessories for graduates of the Positive Spin Earn-a-Bike program.

Mona and Roscoe (pictured left to right) recently earned their bikes though BikePGH’s Positive Spin earn-a-bike program this past fall.

The Positive Spin update now serves 412 Youth Zone, providing safety training and high-quality bikes to some of the most vulnerable young people in our city. These young people are at a crucial stage in their lives; on the brink of adulthood, they are in great need of building a stable life but need support and a strong foundation in order to do so.

By 2017, Positive Spin had 39 graduates. But we did not stop there. This winter we held a few follow up classes with graduates to help continue to build on safe riding skills, bike maintenance, confidence building through civic awareness.

Winter Classwork


Ayesha McGowan, photo courtesy of aquickbrownfox.com
In January, we led a winter cycling classed that focused on tips and tools needed to continue biking in the winter time. With February being black history month, we focused on the black, POC, and women pioneers of cycling. Students who attended got a chance to learn about people like Marshall “Major” Taylor, Nelson Vails, Katie “Kittie” Knox, and Ayesha Mcgowan.

 

In March we will work together to create a simple maintenance instructional video that we can use as a teaching tool, in a peer-to-peer style mentorship. Finally, come April, we hope to kick off the spring cycling season with an awesome alumni group ride.

Hear directly from a participant who earned a bike:

I participated in the bike Pittsburgh program through the program that had available to the youth of the 412 Youth Zone. I’ve been riding a bike since I was four, so the idea of someone teaching me the fundamentals of bike riding seemed redundant. However, I found that some of what was taught was actually really useful and not common knowledge. Before, I had sparingly, if ever, used the bike turn signals, and never really had a concrete understanding of which one was which.

I learned that I made everyone on the road safer and mitigated my liability in a potential accident by using them. They emphasized the importance of a helmet (which according to them, exponentially increased my chance of survival in the event of an accident resulting in head trauma). They were conscious of the fact that we were not kids, but young adults, and treated us as such.

All of the instructors were personable, patient, and kind; especially the program manager, Julie. We went on a couple bike rides, and I discovered paths that I had not previously thought of taking or even knew existed. They showed me how much more secure a U-Lock was over a cable one. No one is taking a bolt cutter to those things! Some of them are even made of titanium!

We had fun and the staff made the class a great environment to be in. I would definitely recommend Bike Pittsburgh to the next person. It’s easy, fun, and constructive way to earn a bike.”  -Breon

With BikePGH’s Positive Spin bike fleet expanding and new partnerships being made there is no doubt that eventually we’ll be able to share safe cycling education and mentorship to every Pittsburgh Public School all over the city.

Want to help our Positive Spin program grow?

Donate at bikepgh.org/give

Shout out to our Partner Organizations Thick Bikes, The Wheel Mill, Specialized Bikes, and Healthy Ride Bike Share who help make BikePGH’s Positive Spin program possible.


 

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