Your support makes a difference for kids and communities!
Do you remember when you first learned to ride a bike?
Or what it felt like riding to your friends’ houses after school?
Bike riding continues to give kids freedom and confidence.
And kids riding bikes – safely and confidently – contributes to healthy, vibrant communities.
This year, Bike Newport is asking your support for 401Gives to help more young people ride more often.
401Gives – Rhode Island’s statewide days of giving March 31 and April 1, 2026 – is the opportunity for everyone to support Rhode island’s numerous nonprofits – all working to strengthen their communities.
Biking makes our communities stronger.
When more people ride bikes locally, the air is cleaner, streets are calmer, social connections are easier, and dependency on cars is reduced.
For adults, biking is recreation, exercise and transportation. For kids biking is all that and more – a bike is freedom to explore, to meet friends, and to go places on their own. Riding a bike builds confidence, and introduces kids to the community around them.!
After school and during Summer Bike Camp, kids in Bike Newport programs learn bike skills and ride to special places together – to the beach, to the ferry, to the ice cream shop, the the museums. On their own, they ride in their neighborhoods, visit friends, and explore farther – with the knowledge of how to see and be seen, how to take care of their bikes, and how to interact safely with cars and pedestrians.
We want to be sure that every kid has a bike and knows how to use it –
and you can help!
With your support we give kids the goods to to be physically active – outside in the fresh air!
EDUCATION PROGRAMS
Bike Newport partners with local schools to teach students the skills that make biking fun, safe and practical. For many kids, these programs are their first exposure to bikes, for others it’s the chance to build their skills and explore farther. For all kids, it’s a chance to share knowledge and experience biking safely together.
Through programs like Summer Bike Camp, in-school education, and Ciclistas, young people:
- Learn how to ride safely and navigate their communities
- Communicate their intentions to other people who are biking, walking, and driving
- Build confidence and independence
- Spend more time outdoors
- Form friendships through shared experiences
- Develop a sense of responsibility for, and connection to, their community
At Summer Bike Camp, the campers practice what they learn while exploring the City by bike with their fellow campers. Along the way, they discover new places, see themselves as part of the larger community, and become stronger riders – and young bicycle advocates!
In-School programs take place at school, at our Traffic Garden, at local parks, on our streets, and at Bike Newport’s Community Bike Garage – for students of all ages and abilities – including children with physical, cognitive, and mobility challenges – because biking is for everyone!
The Ciclistas high school program provides bikes, helmets, lights, and bells to new students who are multi-language learners — giving them the equipment and skills to get to and from school, home, work – and the beach! – while they learn about their new community and build friendships
YES – it takes a lot of human and financial resources to run all of our educational programs – resources for the equipment, the trailers, the teachers, the curriculum development, training and certifications. Fully staffed and funded – these programs make a difference!
Kids on bikes see themselves not as passengers, but as participants in their communities.
When kids grow up riding safely and feeling comfortable, they’re more inclined to bike to school and work, visit friends, and choose biking as a way to get around. They become the next generation of people who ride bikes and value safer streets and stronger communities.
Bike Newport teaches safe cycling, advocates for safer streets and infrastructure, and engages the broad community – all to create a safer and more inviting place – so more people will ride.
401Gives – on March 31 and April 1, 2026 – is when people everywhere support nonprofits all over Rhode island – all working to strengthen our communities!
THANK YOU!
❤️ for supporting Bike Newport on 401Gives ❤️
Because when kids ride, communities thrives!
Bike Newport