STORIES FROM OUR BIKE CLUBBERS

Do you ever wonder what our program participants have to say about what we do? We recently asked some of our favorite middle schoolers to share their takeaways from a semester of our afterschool Bike Club program at Bret Harte Middle School. We loved hearing about their most memorable moments and what skills they’re taking with them now that the school year is over.

YOU'RE INVITED TO OUR FIFTH-ANNUAL BIKE-A-THON!

🚲 Join Us for the Fifth-Annual Bike-a-Thon! Cycles of Change is excited to be hosting our fifth-annual Bike-a-Thon around Lake Merritt! This annual event brings together cyclists and community members of all backgrounds to ride in support of Cycles of Change’s transportation justice and youth empowerment programs.

🌟 Get Involved: Leading up to this event, community members and Cycles supporters will sign up to secure pledges from their networks on a one-time or per-lap basis. Then, on Sunday, June 23, participants will have one hour to ride around Lake Merritt as many times as they can.

🚴‍♀️ Pedal for a Purpose: Ride with us to make a difference in our community! Your pledges directly support our initiatives. Let's cycle towards another 25 years of supporting Cycles of Change’s various bike equity and bike education programs and a more equitable future together! 🌈🌍 #PowerOfThePedal

WAYS TO GET INVOLVED

Sign up to ride for the Cycles of Change Bike-a-Thon! The Bike-a-Thon event will be June 23rd starting and ending at Lake Merritt Ampetheater in Oakland from 10:00AM-2:00PM. The ride around the Lake Merritt start at 11am and ends at 12pm - we will also have Cycles schwag, bike smoothie, raffles, community and more!

Riding in this event is a great way to build community, have fun, and make a difference! Support Cycles of Change as we work to grow transportation justice and bike access in East Oakland communities of color and have a blast while you're at it!

We ask that you commit to finding at least 10 donors to pledge a donation for every lap you complete in an hour OR a total of $500.

Once you've filled out our rider form, we will be in touch about getting you started with our campaign page and rider digital toolkit. We can't wait to roll with you!

🚲 Sign up to be a rider: Whether you enjoy a leisurely ride along the water or are a full-speed ahead racer, there is a place for you as a Bike-a-Thon rider! As a rider, you will reach out to your networks to secure pledges on a per-lap pledge anywhere from $1 and above per lap or one-time flat donation. Then, on June 23rd from 11:00am - 12:00pm, you will have one hour to ride around the lake as many times as possible, and collect pledges accordingly. All pledges will support Cycles of Change’s mission of making cycling more accessible and equitable in our home communities. If you’re down to ride for this year’s event, please fill out our Sign-Up Form! How do you make a pledge? HERE! (for an instructional video) or HERE! (for an instructional PDF).

🚲 Want to join our campaign without having to ride? We gotchu! You can start your own campaign, on our behalf, here on our GiveButter page to reach out to your network to support this campaign!

🚲 Volunteer on event day: still want to be part of the action, but without wheels? We could use your help on the day of the event. Reach out to us @ fundraising@cyclesofchange.org to see how you can support us on June 23!

How can you make an even bigger impact? Easy! Share our campaign and encourage your friends, family, neighbors, acquaintances, boses to make a flat donation by clicking on the Donate button on our campaign page or text-to-donate RECOMMIT24 to 53-555 for a direct link - try it!

Every donation ensures communities continue to pedal forward!

WE CARE FOR YOU, YOU CARE FOR US!

🚲🌱 Rooted in Resilience: Cycles of Change’s work is deeply rooted in a community with a resilient history. Our staff and neighbors hold stories of segregation and immigration, redlining and displacement, racial profiling, and overcoming language barriers. Despite these challenges, we remain optimists and seekers of opportunity. We extend gratitude and compassion to our family—both blood and chosen. Our community is loving and strong, and we wouldn't be here without it.

💚 Community Love and 🌍 Strength in Unity: We understand that survival and thriving require a village. Our village includes backyard cats, chickens, and passionfruit vines at The Bikery. It includes teachers and administrators who champion our students and neighbors who support our events. It includes youth popping wheelies and families picking them up from school. It's loved ones from coast to coast and around the world standing beside us in our fight for liberation.

🌟 Celebrating Collective Care: This year’s Bike-a-Thon celebrates the collective care that fuels our work. Join us in celebrating our village and deepening our commitment to sustainable impact for years to come. Together, we pedal towards a brighter future! 🌍🌈🚴🏽‍♀️

YOUR SUPPORT MAKES AN IMPACT

To date, Cycles of Change has taught more than 50,000 of Alameda County’s youth our bike safety classes! Cycles continues to pedal forward with our middle and high school Bike Clubs and connect over 200 low-income East Bay residents with free bicycles, helmets, lights and u-locks each year through our Upcycle program. Our community bike shop, The Bikery, is collectively-run by Oakland-based mechanics and educators of color, and continues to provide our community with an average of 500 bikes per year! Power to the pedal.

OUR IMPACT

Drive Your Bike: Our Drive-Your-Bike program delivers a comprehensive bike safety curriculum that includes skills drills, rules of the road, safety checks, and group rides to over 7,000 students per year, approximately 10% of whom are learn-to-ride students who are entirely new to cycling.

Bike Club: Our afterschool Bike Clubs introduce middle and high school students to bicycles as healthy, safe, affordable, and joyful means of mobility and recreation by taking students on weekly pedal-powered adventures through their communities.

Bikery: The Bikery is Cycles of Change’s non-profit, community bike shop that offers used bikes and repair services at affordable, sliding scale prices to remove economic barriers to cycling.

Mariposx: Mariposx is a weekly bike mechanic workshop open exclusively for women, trans, and femme people, and aims to create an empowering space built by and for WTF individuals who are seeking connection and empowerment through bicycles.

UpCycle: Our Upcycle program partners with social service providers serving houseless, formerly incarcerated, and under-resourced communities to bring bikes and bike education to those who need it most, at no cost to participants.

CORPORATE MATCHING

Many companies offer corporate matching for any contributions to 501(c)(3) organizations. Check your company intranet or benefits for details on the company matching process. Here is some information you may require for company matching:

Org: Cycles of Change

Cycles of Change EIN: 11-3821114

Address: 1246 23rd Street, Oakland CA 94606

We would appreciate taking the time to check as this is the single most effective way to double (or more) your impact.

JOIN THE CYCLES OF CHANGE POWER PEDAL SUSTAINER CIRCLE

Do you love Cycles of Change’s mission and want to take your involvement to the next level? We’d love for you to join our Cycles Pedal Power Sustainers, a growing and dedicated group of amazing humans who are committed supporting Cycles of Change in expanding equitable bike access across the East Bay. With a monthly contribution of as little as $5, you can deepen your commitment to Cycles’ transportation justice and youth empowerment work while becoming a part of the Cycles Pedal Power Sustainers community and gaining access to special Cycles stories and perks!

Consistent and reliable monthly donations allow us to support ten thousand East Bay residents every year. Join the Cycles of Change Sustainers Circle and play a crucial role in expanding ridership in communities of color in East Oakland and beyond! Join the Power Pedal Sustainers Circle today!

ABOUT CYCLES OF CHANGE

In order to ensure this sustained impact and presence in our community, we need YOUR help!

Cycles of Change started as an afterschool a bicycle education program founded in July of 1998 as part of the Roosevelt Village Center, a community-based partnership aimed at reversing the root causes of youth violence. In introducing a dual-component program of mechanics workshops and bicycle-based adventures, our mission was to promote cycling as a primary means of safe, enjoyable, accessible, inexpensive, healthy, and sustainable transportation for as many East Bay residents as possible. Operating out of a large middle school in East Oakland’s San Antonio district, the program was quickly successful in engaging neighborhood youth with its exciting program of adventure rides and hands-on mechanics. Cycles has grown steadily to become a well-known presence in our local area, providing beginners’ ride safety training, advanced bicycle adventures, bicycle restoration workshops, and environmental science programs for hundreds of East Bay youth at school sites and community centers in Oakland, Berkeley, and Alameda.

In 2007, Cycles of Change started a community bike shop in partnership with the Alameda Point Collaborative. It was named Best Bike Shop in the East Bay Express; and in 2008 Cycles was highlighted in the SF Guardian’s Best of the Bay awards. Cycles’ bike education programs have been featured in the SF Chronicle, Oakland Tribune, KRON, Alameda Sun-Times, and numerous small publications. Cycles of Change has received multiple awards from the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, the Community Heroes award from the GGNRA’s Crissy Field Environmental Center, and the Innovators and Best Practices awards from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

In September of 2009, Cycles of Change started the Bikery, a community bike shop located less than half mile from the East Oakland school where we started. The Bikery offers used bikes for sale, full service repairs, earn-a-bike programs for youth and an adult commuter program, the Bike-Go-Round/Upcycle. Our office is also located here as well.

2024 Cycles of Change Bike a Thon: Collective Care and Love

Ride with us, ensuring our sustained impact and presence in our community!

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