Bike New York is a non-profit with an incredibly diverse mix of outreach programs to help get more people riding bikes. Free bike education throughout all five boroughs? Check. Organizing the annual Five Boro Bike Tour? Check. Educating cyclists about the ins and out of urban cycling? Check.
This week the organization announced a new program in collaboration with Kryptonite and NYC’s Department of Transportation that is providing refurbished used bikes, new helmets and bike locks to asylum seekers and immigrants who have recently arrived in New York. The program is being facilitated by Bike New York’s Recycle-A-Bicycle program.
The goal of the program is giving access to a car-free mode of transportation to those with limited means as they become established in their new home.
“They can’t go on subways and buses—it’s too expensive” if they arrived with little money, Kenneth Podziba, the president and chief executive of Bike New York told the New York Times. “A bicycle will give them the freedom to see the whole entire city.”
Bike recipients will also have access to learning how to ride if needed along with instruction on traffic laws, all in their native language.
“We believe that there is this transformational power of cycling that will not only support their resettlement and integration but will help them thrive,” Podziba said. “Once they can look for employment, bikes will help them get to their employment and get to job interviews. Maybe they have family who’ve also come but don’t live in the same area where they are. They could visit them. Right now it’s an uphill battle for them. We just want to make things easier.”
Natascha Grief is Bicycling’s Health & Fitness Editor. She got her first bike shop job before she was old enough to drink. After a six-year stint as a bike mechanic and earning a couple pro-mechanic certifications and her USA Cycling Race Mechanics license, she became obsessed with framebuilding and landed an apprenticeship with framebuilder Brent Steelman in her hometown of Redwood City, California. After that, she spent several years working for both large and not-so-large cycling brands before switching gears to become a NASM certified personal trainer. She’s honed her skills as a trainer and coach for over a decade, while also teaching Spin. During the dumpster fire that was the year 2020, she opened a fitness studio and began contributing regularly to Runner’s World and Bicycling as a freelance writer. She joined the editorial staff of Bicycling in 2022.
