Webinar: Youth Spokeswomen Mentorship

Last year, we awarded $3,000 in mini-grants to support new and growing programs that engage young women in bicycling.

Next week, we’ll hear how Bike Easy and NOLA Women on Bikes, mini-grant recipients, were able to boost their efforts through their Youth Spokeswomen Mentorship Program. Marin Tockman, of NOLA Women on Bikes, and Virginia Brisley, of Bike Easy, will discuss their partnership in-depth via a webinar on Thursday, August 20, at 1 p.m. eastern / noon central.

The aim of the mentorship program is to increase the representation of women from diverse backgrounds in the bicycling community while cultivating paid leadership opportunities for youth in New Orleans. 

“Our Young Spokesperson Mentorship is one of the best aspects of what we do as NOLA Women on Bikes,” Tockman said. “We had such a wonderful experience with Damu, our latest young woman intern, as she engaged with our community and found her voice through bicycle advocacy. We look forward to creating more meaningful experiences like her’s for more young adults to engage and become the next leaders in our active transportation networks here in New Orleans.”

Dan Favre, Bike Easy’s Executive Director, said the organization understands how important youth voices are in the bike movement and beyond.

“With a history of working with young people in basic bike safety trainings and workshops, Bike Easy realizes how important the youth voice is to our city’s healthy transportation movement,” he said. “The organization knew that our work needs to expand with young people and traditionally underrepresented populations, in general, to represent the needs and concerns of biking culture in New Orleans. The NOLA Women on Bikes Youth Spokesperson Mentorship was an incredible opportunity to work with a great young woman, Damu, on developing her advocacy skills while she helped Bike Easy expand our organizational perspective.” 

Learn more about how you can replicate and leverage this type of work in your community! Register for the 30-minute Women Bike webinar here!