When I was recently attended Bike!Bike! Southeast 2017 in Alexandria, VA, I discovered this District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) mandatory bike riding curriculum Program for 2nd graders while biking to the conference. I am in the process of learning more information from the Miriam Kenyon, Director of Health and Physical Education for DCPS about this initiative.
Probably no surprise, but the District of Columbia has lots of programs for kids. An example of two nonprofits specializing in this area are Gearing Up Bicycles (GUB) and Phoenix Bikes that utilize the bicycle reuse model. I had the opportunity to visit GUB at the conference, and was duly impressed. At Positive Spin we have had third party organizations running such programs, including BOPARC with several kids learning life skills, and more recently Chestnut Mountain Ranch with 3 at-risk boys, however, the reality is that to run these programs properly with maximum benefit to the community, the best route to take involves a committed dedicated effort with paid staff. BOPARC discontinued their program because, ironically, it became too successful and they lacked the capacity.
We are looking for competent Board Members or Ex-Officios, with the right skill sets, who can commit to making such a program happen.
-Jonathan
On 2017-04-28 13:00, Christiaan Abildso via Bikeboard wrote:
We started riding to Mountainview ES again yesterday, had 6; had 13 today including 2 new riders from the top of South Park and all grades 1-5.
Fun times!
"When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking." -Sir Arthur Conan Doyle