Free Bikes for Portlanders in Need
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[Note: July 5th, 2023, we have wrapped up this program and hope to offer similar programming in the Fall. We currently are unable to offer free bikes.]
We’re excited to announce that Bikes for Humanity PDX was selected to receive funding to grant free bikes to folks in Portland in need through the City’s Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund. By the end of Spring 2023 we will have given 100 bikes to Portlanders on low incomes, with disabilities, in recovery, in foster care, or otherwise in need of support to get a quality bike as a tool for fun, exercise or transportation.
Who is eligible?
We work with over a dozen organizations that provide housing, recovery, rehabilitative, and other social and medical services to identify individuals who can benefit from a quality bike as a tool to increase their quality of life. Are you an advocate, case worker, or individual in another capacity hoping to connect an individual with a free bike? Please reach out to sign them up on our waitlist.
Our program gives priority to People of Color, women and gender non-binary individuals. Are you a low-income individual that fits any of these categories without a caseworker or advocate? We would be open to considering you for a free bike as well.
Reach out to info@b4hpdx.org for more info!
Why free bikes?
We proposed this program for funding as an example of building climate resiliency from a few perspectives:
We need bikes as a carbon-free option for transportation: expanding access to bikes increases the amount of trips made by bike and can decrease the amount of trips made by cars.
We need systems, skills, and resources that get more use out of quality used bikes: the more materials we get out of the waste stream the less reliance we have on new materials, most of which are manufactured abroad and transported with a large carbon footprint. In particular, new bikes affordable to folks on low incomes are not built to last, creating a cycle of waste that systems of reuse could easily replace.
Low-income individuals deserve a positive bicycle experience: too often folks who cannot afford good quality bikes have a negative experience of cycling—riding a bike is a low-cost transportation option, and a low-quality bike or one in need of repair will still get you there. We are here to have that experience be safe, satisfying and fun. If someone cannot afford the gas they need to make it to work, we want the choice to ride their bike to be an easy one by providing good quality, well-tuned bicycles.
The worst effects of climate change will impact Communities of Color, low income populations, and other historically marginalized groups: we want those who have not been included in the bicycle community to be at its forefront—proud of their capacity to get where their going by their own pedal power, of their quality, lovingly refurbished bike, and of their carbon-emission-free form of getting around.
With your support we can grant more bikes to folks in need. We hope to get more than 100 free bikes to folks who need them and can do so with your support. Quality u-locks cost $15, and each bike we grant is one we can’t sell (which are priced around $150-300 sliding scale. You can see our current roster here if you’re looking for a bike for yourself or a loved one.). Please consider contributing to or sharing our year-end fundraiser here!