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Bike Club outlines youth programs, trail projects and headquarters; councilors ask for data linking programs to safety and attendance
Summary
Bike Club representatives briefed the UED committee on after-school and in-school cycling programs, trail projects and a new headquarters under construction at Beals Park; councilors asked for compiled program data and ways to route student-collected infrastructure observations to planners.
Bike Club (presented by Emily Damick, director of programs and research, and colleague Cassie Dickerson) gave an extended briefing on year-round programming that includes after-school clubs for fourth through eighth graders, third-grade in-school PE bike-safety lessons, a bike-mechanic program for Tulsa Met high school students, adaptive mountain-bike programming, trail construction and maintenance, summer camps and a youth race team.
Damick said the organization operates in most council districts (with an exception noted in District 8 at the time) and runs 37 elementary and middle-school clubs serving more than 600 students. She said the group provides 20-plus weekly meetings annually for clubs and that staff collect research-quality pre- and post-surveys measuring mental well-being, health behaviors and bike skills; the club has collected more than 600 surveys so far and expects to compile post-season data in the next few months.
Damick described Bike Club’s new headquarters under construction at Beals Park (adjacent to Union Ave and near Highway 75), which will include office and classroom space, a community bike shop area and direct access to trails. She invited councilors to the Bike Club rally on May 14, a capstone group ride that typically involves hundreds of students, volunteers and faculty.
Councilors thanked Bike Club staff and asked for more quantitative evidence of program outcomes. Councilor Rauchner and others asked when the organization could provide compiled post-survey data; staff said middle-school post data are complete and elementary data will be complete after the May rally and offered to provide a report in a few months. Councilors discussed opportunities to surface Bike Club’s route and sidewalk-audit observations to city planners and suggested youth advisory roles to channel student infrastructure feedback into the GO Plan and capital projects. Several councilors highlighted the economic and tourism benefits of trails and asked staff to work with planning and INCOG on economic-impact metrics.
No committee action or vote was recorded; the session was a program presentation and Q&A.
