The Pittsburgh Youth Cycling Educator Forum brought together dozens of leaders, coaches, and teachers from across the region

On March 7th, the 2nd Annual Pittsburgh Youth Cycling Educator Forum at UPMC Neighborhood Center in East Liberty brought together dozens of leaders, coaches, and teachers from across the region to share inspiration and ideas about getting young people learning on two wheels.

Kudos goes to Laura Brienza from Bike ECS and Neil Walker from Cycles and Change for spearheading this forum with help from BikePGH’s education manager, Ted King-Smith. With a diverse group of 30 educators and leaders coming from across the region and state, people were clearly ready to roll up their sleeves and get to work.

Educators and representatives from BikePGH, Bike ECS (Environmental Charter School), POGOH, Pittsburgh DOMI/Safe Routes to School, Bike the Burgh, Ride Like a Girl, Little Bellas MTB, Complete Streets at Pitt, Kidical Mass PGH, Montessori Walk and Roll, Ruach Bicycle Club, Pittsburgh Faison Elementary School, Pittsburgh Interscholastic Cycling League (PICL), The Neighborhood Academy, Pittsburgh Youth Leadership, Communicycle, The Outdoor Inclusion Coalition, and more!

The event kicked off with welcoming remarks from Laura Brienza from Bike ECS, Neil Walker, and Brother Lloyd from POGOH bike share. Ted King-Smith followed with a presentation about teaching for BikePGH as a League Cycling Instructor. The events keynote presentations featured Mike White founder of Ruach Bicycle Club speaking about their team’s groundbreaking first season of mountain bike racing as part of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Cycling League (PICL). Next up Bridget Whyte from PICL spoke about how the league is helping to start new teams in middle and high schools across the region. Lastly, Marcus Shoffner from the Outdoor Inclusion Coalition spoke about how the recently launched Thrive Outside Initiative in Pittsburgh will help to connect students in schools with access to more outdoor education opportunities such as bicycling, climbing, hiking, and camping.

Keynote presentations were followed up by time to network and mingle and an open discussion on the future of bike education in Pittsburgh. Notable were powerful remarks from Mark Rubenstein and the young people from Pittsburgh Youth Leadership and Ron Snyder from The Neighborhood Academy on the value of cycling to transform young people’s lives by teaching resilience and determination. There was a strong interest among attendees to stay connected and create a stronger network to create more educational opportunities in the region. We’re excited to see how this network develops and look forward to sharing more updates on all the impactful work these educators are doing in Pittsburgh and beyond!