Soundview Park Bikesplorations

The South Bronx has the highest asthma, obesity and diabetes rates in New York City. Particularly alarming is the prevalance of these health outcomes in children. Many South Bronx youth live near busy highways which places them at higher risk for developing asthma and other chronic diseases in their lifetime. The high obesity and diabetes rates have been attributed to lack of activity due to a limited number of open spaces where children can safely play. The problem is compounded by a lack of affordable fresh food options. The built environment in this community is producing poor health outcomes which must be reversed.

1) Velo City will reach out to Soundview community-based partners to inform the curriculum, determine the scope of Soundview program and recruit youth participants for the summer program through a competitive application process. Feb - May 2011 2) Velo City will create the curriculum based on discussions from the initial outreach period. May - June 2011 3) Velo City will fundraise and organize promotional events to advertise the summer program. April - June 2011 4) Velo City will select Bikesplorations Soundview 2011 youth participants. - Mid/End of June 2011 5) Start Date - July 9, 2011 6) End Date - August 20, 2011

Velo City works through a three E policy: Explore, Empower, Envision. Thus, the Soundview Park Bikesplorations summer program will offer high school students from the surrounding Bronx neighborhood an experiential, community-service learning opportunity to explore the connections between active design, environmental justice and health outcomes by bicycle. Our cycling-based curriculums are designed to empower participants through education - about the area's history, planning policies and concepts, and the work of various community-based groups - as well as by providing access to innovators in the built environment fields working within their community through guest lectures. And lastly, our programs culminate with a project that encourages students to draw upon all they have learned to envision solutions which they share with their community at an open house and bike tour.