Children and teens in North Portland’s New Columbia neighborhood will soon see a vacant lot transform into a park where they can learn and test their bicycling skills.

Families in the Cully neighborhood will get lessons in how to repair bikes.

This coming summer, 150 kids living in low-income areas will receive refurbished bikes, new helmets, and safety classes.

All of this is because the Community Cycling Center is busy helping people living in low-income, diverse communities safely ride and maintain bikes.

With a $78,625 grant from Metro, the center studied the cultural and socioeconomic barriers to bicycling in some of Portland’s poorer neighborhoods. Now, the center is using the study’s findings to leverage additional funding and roll through barriers to riding a bike.

The center received additional funding from several local groups. Bikes Belong awarded the center a $10,000 grant to create a community bike hub in New Columbia as early as next summer. Cyclists will be able to hone their bike handling skills and have access to tools to keep their bikes tuned and rolling.

The center also received a $3,000 grant from Central Northeast Neighbors to support a group of cyclists, Andando en Bicicleta en Cully, from Hacienda Community Development Corporation. The grant will fund clinics to teach Cully neighbors how to maintain and repair their bikes.

Home Forward, ODS and the Bike Gallery also contributed to the project.

Metro applauds the Community Cycling Center and its partners for helping give more people the opportunity to ride bikes, which improves health and the quality of our air.

Learn about Metro grants that support active transportation and improve air quality 

Learn about the Community Cycling Center

Read the Understanding Barriers to Bicycling report