MORGANTOWN — The 10 largest cycling nonprofits in the United States have come together with a goal of getting kids more active and instilling a love of riding.
And they picked Morgantown as the starting line.
By Aug. 31, all 10 — Free Bikes 4 Kidz, Little Bellas, National Interscholastic Cycling Association, PeopleForBikes, Project Bike Tech, Safe Routes Partnership, The League of American Bicyclists, Trips for Kids, USA BMX Foundation, USA Cycling — will have a presence here as part of a Youth Cycling Coalition pilot project.
Greg Corio, assistant vice president for outdoor youth advocacy and initiatives at WVU, said Morgantown beat out 32 other cities, including Oakland, Calif., Charlotte, N.C., and Bentonville, Ark., for the honor.
Corio noted Bentonville was the obvious choice as Walmart has spent hundreds of millions on cycling and recreation infrastructure in an effort to recruit and retain employees for its corporate offices.
“If they did it in Bentonville, everyone would say, ‘Yeah, you’re successful. You got more kids on bikes, cause you’re in Bentonville, where all the money is,’ ” Corio said. “If they can do it here, they can do it in any town across the country.”
And that, he explained, is the goal. To create a model in Morgantown that can be replicated elsewhere using the collective social impact model created at Stanford University.
What exactly that model will look like is yet to be seen. Corio said the initial hurdle will be getting all the agencies comfortable working with one another.
But several have already hit the ground rolling.
For example, Project Bike Tech is a two-year, accredited program for high school juniors and seniors with a fully vetted curriculum aimed at teaching students their way around a bicycle, preparing them for careers in the outdoor industry.
“We’re anticipating our first Morgantown graduating class coming out of University High School this coming fall,” WVU Science Behind the Sport Director Andrew Hoover said. “They’ll have a professional certification and be direct workforce ready.”
The nonprofit groups represent a wide range of focuses, including recreation, competition, transportation or education. Some are open to all ages while some cater to specific age ranges.
So what can the city do to help?
Stay tuned.
“We’re quick to admit that there are more questions than we have answers,” Hoover said. “We’re very much, as part of this pilot endeavor, flying the plane while we’re building it. We hope to answer that question together.”
