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Bikesplorations: Teens Taking the Lane

Explore, Empower, Envision.

Leader

Karyn Williams

Location

Willoughby Street Brooklyn, NY 11201

Impact areas

About the project

Velo City will run 2 leadership and career development program  in the Soundview neighborhood in the Bronx and at the De Kalb Market in Broolkyn that offers teens opportunities to ride bicycles while getting involved in issues affecting them and their built environment.  Teens will then propose a design solution.  Participants embark on training where they explore three fundamental areas of active design principles: active transportation, food access, and public space.   Participants begin with community mapping and surveying activities to identify issues in their community. The program will be run by three trained urban planners and 2 youth bike mechanics.  Bikesplorers will also learn about how the built environment is designed and can impact health outcomes in a community.

The Steps

Velo City will be recruiting ten youth aged 14 - 19 for our program in the Bronx and ten students in Brooklyn.  An application process will be used to select students who are passionate about making an impact in their communities and who know how to ride a bike. 

 
Before the summer begins we will need to tune up the 12 bikes that we have for the students.  Getting ready for the summer will also include buying tools, spare parts, and bike helmets for our participants.  We would also like to purchase a bike trailers for transporting our supplies.

Why we‘re doing it

Physical inactivity and unhealthy diet are second only to tobacco as the main causes of premature death in the US. We see that New York City’s low-income communities are most adversely affected. The obesity rate among low-income preschoolers in Brooklyn is 13%. How does the design of streets and sidewalks or land use relate to the rate of diabetes or asthma in a neighborhood? We will make these connections and our teens will explore possible design interventions. For this program, our focus will be on the NYC District Public Health Office catchment areas of the North and Central Brooklyn and the South Bronx, communities that stand to benefit most from active design and transportation interventions. Velo City wants to empower communities by training local teens to influence and speak about the changes to the built environment that are taking place in their communities whether those changes are a new bike lane, a new commercial development, or changes to public transportation.

$5,533.00 / $5,533.00