
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
Our Funders
It takes a village.
- City of Calgary
Youth en Route has been pleased to get a Circular Economy Grant to Support our Kids Bike Trade Up events, as well as a Downtown in Motion Grant to create a big celebration of all things cycling in 2026. - Government of Canada
The Government of Canada has supported Youth en Route with Canada Summer Jobs Grants over the past three summers. - Government of Alberta
Youth en Route has been fortunate to receive funding from the Sport, Physical Activity and Recreation fund in 2024-25.
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.
Our Partners
- Ridley’s Cycle
Ridley’s Cycle hosted the Bicycle Film Festival in August of 2025 with proceeds going to Youth en Route. They’ve donated prizes and supported us from our founding.
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!