With a growing bicycle culture in Los Angeles, many youth from low-income communities have been playing a big role in the ever growing bicycle culture . How exciting this may be many of these communities lack alternative transportation education, that goes beyond the knowledge of taking a bus. However, with adequate education and organizing, many of our youth have the ability to be well informed of the responsibility one has when riding a bike, such as bike maintenance, safety, and how to advocate for a bike friendly environment in their own communities.
Thus, City of Lights teamed up with LA CAUSA’s Youth Build in January 2012 to develop Lets Ride, a community-learning program that revolved around bicycles as a means of alternative form of transportation. Andy, Miguel, and Brenda, key volunteers from City of Lights developed a curriculum that focused on bike mechanics, bike safety, bike ride organizing, bike related public service announcements, and finally, bicycle advocacy. With this program, we promoted the use of cycling and how to keep the youth of East Los Angeles aware of the hazards when cycling within their community and how to develop into leaders that can advocate for a bike friendly environment.
