Citi Bike Grants To Benefit Harlem Orgs Aiding Youth, Job Seekers

HARLEM, NY — Two neighborhood community groups are receiving grants from Citi Bike to expand access to the bike share neighborhood in Harlem, the bike network announced this week.

The Boys & Girls Club of Harlem and Urban Upbound are two of thirteen New York City-based nonprofits receiving a combined $230,000 in grant money through Citi Bike's 2020 Community Grants Program. The program was designed to address "health and transportation inequities" by funding "programs and activities that increase access to bike share in low-income neighborhoods and underrepresented communities," according to Citi Bike.

The Boys & Girls Club of Harlem plans to use grant money to fund a ten-week biking "awareness and empowerment" program that will help 45 kids maintain physical and mental fitness. Urban Upbound will use the grant to help job seekers at the Jefferson, Clinton and Johnson New York Housing Authority developments with their commutes.

The new grant funding isn't Citi Bike's first time reaching out to Harlem kids to promote biking. Lyft, which owns Citi Bike, partnered with NBA star Lebron James earlier this year to provide free Citi Bike memberships for teenagers involved with the YMCA on West 135th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Junior Boulevard.

Other nonprofits receiving grants from Citi Bike this year are located in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Washington Heights.