As cycling gains popularity in Vancouver as a clean, green mode of transportation, one group isnt being swept up in the momentum.
New immigrants are often reluctant to join the pedal revolution because of the social stigma assigned to cycling in their home countries, said Brent Granby of the West End Residents Association. In a lot of countries its something that, basically, poor people do.
In a bid to get new arrivals more interested in becoming self-propelled, several West End organizations have joined together to create a pilot project aimed at fostering intercultural and intergenerational dialogue through cycling launching this fall.
The Bikes.Community project is an offshoot of the Intercultural Community Garden run out of the Burrard Streets Robert Lee YMCA in partnership with Gordon Neighbourhood House and King George Secondary. With provincial and federal funding through Welcome BC, Bikes.Community will outfit 25 West End children in grades 6-12 with bicycles and lead them through a series of bike building, bike repair and intercultural workshops over four months. Half the reserved spots are for immigrant children and half of those will have arrived in Canada in the last three years.
Another partner organization, Pedal Energy Development Alternatives (PEDAL), the collective behind Main Streets Our Community Bikes, will lead four day-long bike building and bike safety workshops for participants to take place once a month from October to January. As well, Granby said Bikes.Community will include monthly potluck dinners for family and friends of participants to encourage intercultural and intergenerational dialogue and a link to the existing Intercultural Community Garden project. Now in its second year, the Intercultural Community Garden brings immigrant adults together with established community members to grow and share food in the West End.
A good way to talk to immigrants is through their children, said Granby. Both programs are part of an ongoing effort in the West End to engage immigrants in sustainability, fitness, health and community-building initiatives.
The YMCA has planned to hold a bike drive on Sept. 29 to secure bikes for program participants, but Granby believes the project could yield hundreds of unused bicycles for the organization.
He estimated the communal bike locker in his West End condo building holds at least 10-15 rides that rarely see so much as a spin around the block. Hes willing to bet the same is true for most other buildings in the neighbourhood.
Participants in Bikes.Community will get to pick their rides for the duration of the project. The rest will go to PEDAL, which refurbishes and sells used bicycles to finance after-school and summer cycling safety programs for kids. PEDAL also donates 10 bikes a month to low-income individuals.
Registration for Bikes.Community is open now to kids in grades 6 through 12 who live in the downtown peninsula. Those interested in participating or donating bikes should contact the YMCAs Robert Aucoin at 604-673-6172 or [email protected].
