Santa Cruz Hub for Sustainable Living

The Bike Church is a community bicycle shop and tool collective where people can learn to repair their bicycles with the help of knowledgeable mechanics. Among the tool room and bicycle repair guidance services to program participants, the program also donated bicycles to participants aged 12 and under, and distributed helmets, bike lights, and bike locks to low income and unsheltered residents that rely on their bicycles for transportation. This year, the program expanded it's "do it together" open shop hours, helping approximately 3,000 participants to diagnose and repair their bicycles. The Bike Church helped divert 469 bicycles from the waste stream, getting them back out into the community. This year, the program expanded youth services by opening youth hours on Wednesdays, so youth can work on their bike, earn a new bike, and learn mechanical and safe riding skills. Additionally, Bike Church mechanics supported two Santa Cruz City events, a bike fixing station at Earth Day, and a lights and helmet fitting during Open Street. No one turned away for lack of funds.

This year, the Welcoming Network program assisted asylum seekers and recent refugees. Over the course of the year, the program accepts referrals for new families and we saw other families become self-sufficient and no longer need accompaniment. The program accompanied families over the past twelve months. When we decide to accompany a family, we form a team of volunteers with language skills, and other skills and resources that the family has voiced as their most urgent needs.

The California Field School takes young people on bicycle tours through places that have been pivotal in California history. By connecting with California's diverse communities and landscapes, and exploring social and environmental justice issues past and present, participants gain an unparalleled understanding of their place within the story of California - and the leadership skills and confidence to write the next chapter of that story on their own. The program facilitated two 7-day bicycle trips from San Francisco to Santa Cruz, facilitated a 6-day bicycle tour, and conducted a 2-day bicycle training for the Outdoor Educators Institute.