Shop Talk: Community Cycling Center and Bikes for Humanity

We're just about to sign off for the week to enjoy the holiday (and my daughter turns 19 tomorrow!), but before we take a break I wanted to share the work of people and organizations who are making the season brighter for people in need. I loved talking to shop owners last month for our first Shop Talk series episode. This time I talked to two local nonprofits — https://www.b4hpdx.org/ (Bikes for Humanity) and https://communitycyclingcenter.org/ (Community Cycling Center )— that provide bikes for the community, but have a much different approach. They focus on making bikes more accessible for people on low-incomes and for people who either don't have a shop in their neighborhood would likely never feel comfortable walking into a traditional, for-profit bike shop Bikes for Humanity on southeast Powell started (as Community Exchange Bike School/Exchange Cycle Tours) in 2005 and became an official non-profit in 2015. I spoke to their current executive director, Andrew Shaw-Kitch, who's been with the group since 2014. The Community Cycling Center in the Alberta neighborhood was founded in 1994 and still serves the community with a retail bike shop and several programs including their annual Holiday Bike Drive, that happened just last weekend. I spoke to their marketing coordinator Cole Lalomia and their program manager Nissy Cobb. It was a really fun episode to put together and I think you'll be heartened and inspired to hear from these great folks and learn more about the work they're doing. I've really enjoyed getting the podcast up-and-running these past six months or so. And we recently pushed past 5,000 downloads which is really amazing! Thanks for listening everyone and have a great holiday. This episode was recorded on December 4th, just five days after he filed his paperwork with the city elections office. This podcast is a production of Pedaltown Media Inc., and is made possible by listeners like you. If you're not a subscriber yet, please become one today at http://bikeportland.org/support (bi