This month’s Q&A feature highlights Citizens’ Corporate Sponsorship/Philanthropy Team. Now, learn more about one of the organizations the team recently supported, Nine13sports.
Earlier this year, Citizens made a financial contribution to the Kids Building Bikes program at Nine13sports, a non-profit focused on health and fitness. The organization was founded by former national champion cyclist, Tom Hanley, who discovered that disadvantaged children did not have the means to participate in programs at velodromes and BMX tracks.
Kids Building Bikes is an after-school program designed to get STEM principles, tools and bikes into the hands of underserved youth and build a more sustainable, responsible, and inclusive cycling community. The ultimate goal is to spur economic development on the near Westside by teaching both kids and adults trade skills to fuel the labor force pipeline. Students learn bicycle maintenance, rider safety skills, and rules of the road. By successfully completing the entirety of the program, the students earn their very own brand-new bicycle, helmet and lock.
Nine13sports also runs a Kids Riding Bikes program through which an interactive indoor bicycling simulator utilizes technology to gamify the experience of riding a bicycle. Participants learn how a bicycle can improve both physical and mental health, be used for transportation, explore their community, and improve air quality when used instead of a car.
During the COVID-19 crisis, with a mission of making a positive impact on Central Indiana, Nine13sports pivoted its day-to-day operations. While the organization has been temporarily unable to take its programming into schools, community centers, and parks as usual, it utilized its staff and vehicles to assist with food distribution throughout the region.
Learn more about this local non-profit at https://nine13sports.org/.