Attending Youth Bike Summit

Fingers crossed that the current winter storm warning for the East Coast won’t prevent me from spending Valentine’s Day in a bicycle education programming paradise: the Youth Bike Summit in New York City!

I can’t think of a better way to spend this Friday and a three-day weekend. Not only do I get to meet and network with other people from all over the country who share a love for bicycles and working with youth, I also get to present about the great programs that we have here at Cascade.

Partnering with Liz Jose from WE Bike NYC, I will give a presentation entitled "Who Are Cyclists? Engaging Pre-Teens and Girls".

Liz’s organization is all about empowering women and girls, while Cascade’s Basics of Bicycling program, Bike to School and summer camps educates and empowers pre-teens. We’ll talk about the specific benefits that each of these groups can get from bicycling, and how our respective programs are set up and run.

I’ve been perusing the titles of the rest of the workshops happening at the summit, and it looks like I’ll be having a mighty difficult time choosing which ones to attend. Workshops range from "First –Aid & Fitness for Cycling’ to ‘Girl Scouts on Wheels" to "Raising Money for Awesome Ideas’ to ‘Engaging Homeless Youth" to a whole array of other topics.

Liz Johnson (my fellow Cascadian attending the summit) and I will have to divide and conquer to be sure we talk to everyone and absorb all of the amazing youth bicycling knowledge and energy that we can!

Check out the program here and keep an eye on the website over the weekend to watch live streams of the Keynote Presentation and selected workshops. 

We'll report back upon our trip about the many things we've learned.