Bicycle-Powered Youth Connections and Transformation Program

Support for foster and systems-impacted youth

Central LA

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

The Olympic zone is a 2.3 square mile area located in Central Los Angeles/Koreatown that has been identified by the City of Los Angeles Mayor’s Office of Gang Reduction and Youth Development (GRYD) as one of 23 GRYD zones, or areas where youth who are already system-impacted face an elevated risk of gang involvement. Youth engaged in gang activity are often swept up in the school-to-prison pipeline, and without intervention face a mortality rate three times greater than that of their peers. They risk other negative outcomes such as substance abuse, mental illness, and difficulty entering the workforce. Interlocking socioeconomic inequalities present additional obstacles to success for youth living in the Olympic zone who have been identified as at-risk of joining a gang: according to Bresee Youth Center, 77% come from families that are extremely low-income and 99% are youth of color, many from families with histories of complex trauma related to immigration and generational poverty.

Through the Adopt-a-Bike program, Re:Ciclos refurbishes bikes abandoned on the LA Metro system and cycles them back into the hands of community members facing socio-economic barriers to mobility. We do this through partnerships with orgs such as LACAN and Homeless Healthcare LA who engage unhoused populations, as well as IDEPSCA and the Garment Worker Center which engage immigrant populations. Through these partnerships we have distributed over 100 bikes in less than a year.
Our programming is highly impactful and we plan to take it a step further by bringing in youth from Bresee’s GRYD program, which operates on the same block as Re:Ciclos, to intern with us. We have had a number of youth interns in the past, including from Bresee’s program, and are eager to build on the success of those past internships. The GRYD program currently lacks capacity to support youth in building job readiness and connections with adults in the community that give them sustainable alternatives to gang involvement. Through learning the trade of bike repair as well as the logistics of implementing community programming, our student interns will:
Be provided with a compelling and accessible alternative to gang involvement 
Obtain a sense of social responsibility
Connect with and learn from our teachers as well as inspiring community leaders 
Attain hard skills and references for their resumes
Strengthen STEAM skills by learning about the 6 simple machines
Repair a bicycle of their own to take home

Within the year interns will develop a sense of connection and purpose in their everyday lives that leads them away from gang involvement and towards positive personal and systemic change. The technical bike repair skills they learn will also bring abstract STEAM concepts into real-world application helping to improve current academic performance and, with it, self-confidence. 
As our program expands we envision current interns becoming future Re:Ciclos staff who will grow the program in years to come. Their firsthand experience as interns in our program will provide them with invaluable insight and ability to create even more impactful programming for future youth interns. 
In the long term, we expect connection to mentors and meaningful work will improve mental health outcomes, foster resiliency and lead to a population of at-promise youth who are able to break cycles of poverty, violence and trauma as they grow into the next generation of leaders working for a more just Los Angeles.