About Us
About Youth En Route
Bikes are freedom.
We support you to choose active travel and in the process create youth that are Automonus and Resilient, healthy and connected to their communities.
Automonous
- Agency
- Resiliency
- Improves choices / options
Healthy
- Physical health
- Mental health
- Daily physical activity
- Reduced obesity
Connected to community
- Shared experiences
- Meeting new people
- Less screen time
- Part of community
This is why Youth En Route was created in 2021. We want youth to have the agency to ride a bike to where they want to go.
What we are doing
Riding a bike is more than just transportation. It tackles MUCH more than transportation poverty. Learning to cycle places creates independent, resilient young people with agency, improved health and connections to school and community.
Youth en Route’s goals are based on the five pillars of our charity which ensure freedom, autonomy, and agency in youth.
Our goals:
- Provide accessibility to bicycles, helmets, and locks for youth.
- Teach youth the ability to safely and skillfully ride a bicycle. This means more students with the skills and confidence to choose biking to get where they are going.
- Identify and advocate for safe, calm (preferable 5A) routes to school for most students.
- Build school culture and community around active transportation.
- Provide secure parking including bike racks and proper locks at schools.
Our school based programs follow three streams:
1. Typical biking
Our data tells us that 6.5% of Calgary teens have never been on a bike. We go to schools, targeting PE 10 classes, and teach cycling. We bring everything a teacher needs to offer a cycling unit including bikes, helmets, lesson plans and trained instructors to support learning. We’ve worked with groups as large as 50 students. Over five days, we are able to support skill development so a student can learn to balance, control the bike, use gears and cycle independently. Each week generally ends with a community bike ride of about five kilometres – this is a huge eyeopener From there, we give kids who want to develop more skills a bike, helmet and lock so they can pedal their path in life.
2. Adaptive biking
For special needs teens, riding a bike is more than a physical activity. It can be therapy, behaviour regulation, language development and provide engagement to kids that can be difficult to engage. We work with a wide variety of students and classes, teaching basic cycling skills in smaller spaces like gyms or courtyards. We bring bikes, helmets and experienced staff able to support learning. Exposure to cycling is life-changing for many of these students, opening doors and worlds to activity and movement.
3. Winter biking
Thanks to funding from Alberta Eco-trust, we’ve add winterized equipment to our fleet of bikes. This allows us to take more experienced riders riding in winter conditions. Bikes with studded tires, warm gloves, fenders and lights allow youth to experience winter conditions and understand that cycling can be an all-season endeavour if you’re prepared. This experience is invaluable to empowering youth to consider cycling all year.
Values
We are committed to:
Valuing the opinions of others, especially youth
Using equity as a lens to drive our work to communities traditionally not well-served
Eliminating racism in all forms
Acting responsibly toward the communities in which we work
We take pride in building positive and beneficial relationships between schools/communities and the key civic/provincial resources. We value opportunities to work with partners to make a collective impact or make resources go further.
About our Organization
Incorporated on May 11, 2021 as 13008037 Canada Association. It was registered in Alberta on May 19, 2021 with corporate Access no. 5324493048. We became a registered Charity on July 21, 2022 with CRA business number 758178461RR0001. You can easily make a donation to support our work on our Canada Helps Page.
Staff and Directors
Laura has a BA in Journalism and Communications, and has had many different careers – college teacher, communicator, journalist, sporting goods guru and public education advocate. One constant has been her connection to and support of public education. She’s been on 10 school councils in two provinces. She recognized the simple freedom of getting on a bike to get places is not available to many kids in our city. Which makes it even more frustrating that teens, like her children, that have the opportunity and tools, don’t because it’s somehow uncool. Covid provided the push to get her vision of a new non-profit into reality.
A long time parent advocate, volunteer and community association board member, Larry brings a strong safety and community building perspective to our board. He’s currently the Executive Director of 12 Community Safety Initiative (https://12csi.ca/) that does great work in communities east of Deerfoot Trail. He’s also Past President of the Crossroads Community Association, Board Chair of Cornerstone Youth Centre and board member at Phoenix Education Foundation.
Dimitri loves Youth En Route because it merges four of his favourite things: biking, volunteering, urban geography, and biking! He works as a municipal planner, but has previously worked in the realms of mainstreet vibrancy and bike-share systems.
Born in Mexico and having lived in New York and Canada, Ivan holds a BA in Industrial Design from Mexico City’s UAM, partial studies in Product and Furniture Design at the Centre for Design, Television and Film in Mexico and a Master’s in Planning from the U of C.He has been involved in social entrepreneurship, social innovation, planning and sustainable tourism projects. He has collaborated in different roles with Start Alberta, the Downtown Ambassador Program, the International Avenue BRZ and the 12 Community Safety Initiative, as well as the Victoria Park BRZ. He is currently an urban and regional planner at Township Planning + Design in Calgary, Alberta and enjoys climbing, hiking and biking in Southern Alberta and wherever he can travel to.
A proud albeit often expatriated Calgarian, Shiv is a public and economic policy professional who has worked for both the private and public sectors in Canada, the U.S., the U.K., and France. He is a passionate believer in the ’15-minute city’ and an advocate for sustainable urban mobility, including as Policy Coordinator & Strategic Lead for Bike Calgary and through various civic election campaigns. Shiv holds a BA in International Studies and Economics from Vassar College and the Institut d’études politiques de Paris (Sciences Po); he is bilingual in French and English.
Chris is a retired accountant with more than 40 years of varied financial experience. While working he was an active transportation commuter (biking and walking), now in retirement he is a keen bike rider on Calgary’s many pathways. A lifelong believer in the value of cycling and walking, he is keen to see active transportation adopted by many more of Calgary’s youth. Chris is also a director and treasurer of a significant Calgary-based environmental charity.
Kimberley has been on the Vélo Canada Bikes board of directors since 2014. She is the former president and an active volunteer of Bike Calgary, and a founding member for Bicycle Bells, Vision Zero Calgary and Calgarians For Transportation Choice. She has also contributed to CARSP, Walk21 and was on the Government of Canada National Vulnerable Road User working group. Kimberley first fell in love with biking when commuting 11km to high school.
Stuart is a Forest Lawn High School graduate alumni, born and raised in Calgary, Alberta. He is currently studying to become a teacher at SAIT. Not only is Stuart an an avid vintage bike rider, he loves to partake in races with them and is an excellent bike mechanic too! In his free time when he is not riding, he enjoys to rock climb and volunteer his time with youth in the city, from doing tours in downtown to after school programs. As a bonus, Stuart is MHFA certified and is fluent both in English and Spanish.
Chris is an athletic therapist, strength and conditioning coach, and mountain bike coach with years of experience working with youth programs and running his own coaching business. He is passionate about making cycling accessible and improving communities through better bike routes. For ten years, he commuted to work by bike, a routine that improved his health and saved on parking. In his free time, he enjoys spending time outdoors.
Sam has 14 years of experience in competitive cycling, including road, track, mountain, and cyclocross racing. She spent five years in Belgium competing on the UCI circuit with European teams and has a strong understanding of cycling, from racing and commuting to bike maintenance. Sam enjoys teaching young riders and helping them see how biking can be both practical and fun. In her free time, Sam cooks, hikes, and love to spend time outdoors.
Mario’s journey with bikes began in Chile and grew in Calgary, where he worked as a mechanic and shop manager for over a decade. At Youth en Route, he maintains the bike fleet, leads the Bike Giveaway program, and teaches cycling and repair skills to students. Passionate about community and accessibility, Mario believes bikes can change lives and works to ensure more people experience the freedom and joy of riding. In his free time, he enjoys biking with his daughter, creating art from bike parts, and exploring the city.
Our Partners
It takes a village.
We are looking for groups to partner with. Let’s work together on shared infrastructure, ideas, and equipment – to make all of our funds go further, and get more kids out of cars and using independent, active, and green transportation.
Annual Reports
As well as our year to year reports!
Financial Statements
In order for us to be as transparent and accountable as possible. You can now view our financial statements from previous years!