Create a Commuter at Portland Youth Builders
Participants practice placing bikes on bus racks.
On September 26th, we kicked off our 11th Year of Create a Commuter with a fantastic workshop at Portland Youth Buildersin SE Portland. Their mission is to support young people who are changing their lives to become self-sufficient, contributing members of their community.
We had 20 young adults sign up for the workshop, all eager to become bike commuters to their job training program at Portland Youth Builders. During our opening circle, we asked all of the participants to share with us what career they were hoping to go into. The responses that we received were as unique as the youth were, with professions ranging from cosmetology to sheet metal installation, bike mechanic to welder.
Lucky for us, the weather cooperated, and it was dry enough outside to take the entire group out on two neighborhood rides. They were able to practice shifting, rules of the road, navigating traffic, and powering up hills. Several of the youth hadn’t ridden a bike in over 10 years, but they saddled up and did a great job. They were very impressed with themselves when they completed the second ride, which was three miles long!
All in all we had an excellent day, and created a group of enthusiastic new commuters. We look forward to getting the reports back from the agency in a few months about how many of our Create a Commuter participants are continuing to ride their bikes each day.
Photo by Sam Lee