The Goal 5 Bike Project is a plan to knock down barriers to cycling for racialized women, together.
Goal5, as its now more affectionately known, gets comfortable, practical bicycles into the hands of participants in return for their expertise and ideas.
Started in Winnipeg’s Centennial neighbourhood, Winnipeg Trails Association works in partnership with community organizations across the city to combine rapid bicycle distribution with skill-sharing workshops. We turn those skills – and the newfound freedom – into community-led solutions that help us achieve transportation equity.
Participants signed up
Upright, cargo and adapted, cycles delivered
Community improvement projects
Bike repair popups
How to bike lessons
Gardening workshops
Volunteer hours logged
At the heart of the Goal 5 Bike Project is the bike exchange program for racialized women. We focus on increasing access to bicycles, the ability to ride, and the appropriation of the bicycle into everyday usage. In exchange, participants of the program give back to the community by contributing to the improvement of mobility for all through community-led initiatives like traffic calming, bike rack installation, or simply supporting their peers throuigh translation, care-giving, or project management. By doing so, participants are given the tools to support their own everyday mobility while also contributing to improving the bike-ability of their neighborhood.
We are doing this in a multi-pronged way:
Since we began distributing bicycles in summer 2021, 134* women aged sixteen or older living in or close to Winnipeg’s Centennial neighbourhood have already receive a comfortable, practicable upright bike, along with a robust lock, riding lessons (if they want them), and workshops in exchange for as many hours of volunteer time they can contribute over a few months on fun projects. All the bicycles are very comfortable, durable, easy-to-ride and practical for carrying things like groceries and children.
Participants are asked to participate in a research project whose aim is to demonstrate the impacts on issues like climate change, poverty and health, in order to make the case for more programs for everyone. The research is on their household’s transportation habits and transportation needs. They will be asked to complete a survey – one at the beginning of the project and another a few months down the line to share their thoughts about biking in Winnipeg.
*as of Sept 2021; it is growing every day
Are you an Indigenous or newcomer woman (16+) living in the Centennial, Central, West Central, North End, Point Douglas neighbourhood?
The Goal5 Bike Project name refers to one of the seventeen United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (goal number five which is to “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”). It’s a nod to the power of all women, and to one in particular, our late colleague Danielle Moore.
But.. Goal5 is about ALL women. Specifically, it is about what can happen when we have the tools and freedom we need to unlock our wisdom and skill.
That means women’s empowerment and equity is just the start of the big goals we can tackle.
The many reasons, big and small, for this project to happen go far beyond the needs of our participants, but also what we can do with the rest of our city and the rest of the world. We think we can:
In all of this, our priority is to offer program participants the means to take on a challenge, whether to learn to ride themsleves, or to leave a road better than they found it, and in so doing, to feel empowered to change their own lives and those of others. The project is tailored for and relies on collaborations between Winnipeg Trails Association and other local community organizations.. and you can be involved.
We are inspired by our late friend and colleague, Danielle Moore and her passion for connecting and building community. Like Danielle, this project is full of hope, and with cautious optimism, we proceed towards a future full of women on bicycles.
Danielle Moore lived her life full of hope and believed in creating great change for a more just and environmentally sustainable planet. In her 24 years, she touched the lives of countless people across Canada and around the world. She was a courageous leader, champion for justice, and environmental activist always keen to carry the hard work of sustainability forward. Tragically, Danielle’s life was cut short on March 10th, 2019, when flight ET302 crashed in Ethiopia – Danielle was on her way to represent Canada at the United Nations Environment Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya.
Wherever Danielle went, she brought people together to form strong communities based on inclusion, love, and hope. In her blog, she wrote that “in the midst of changing times, in the midst of a looming future, we can also revel in the idea that such a change/collapse can bring upon a new way of life. So I choose hope, and that’s what I hope to share”. Danielle was, and always will be, the embodiment of love and hope. This project is possible due to Danielle’s vision, work and her and her family’s contributions.
The Goal 5 bike program works with community partners to help recruit participants and assess cycling facilities like bike racks, traffic calming planters, staff fleet and specialty bicycles. Let’s talk! Contact us.
Mihiret Kumbi
Programming Coordinator
Dr. Durdana Islam
Research Consultant
Menal Al Fekih
Survey Developer
Anders Swanson
E.D./Mechanic
Leigh Anne Parry
Project Manager
Sadaf Saberi
Mechanics/Surveys
Suzan Gebrezgabiher
Surveys/Translation
Vincent Rara
Urban Designer
Habiba Mahmoud
IT/Communications
Reza Rezai
Artist in Residence
Dan Reihl
Mechanics
Marlow Wilson
Mechanics
Tim Carey
Mechanics
Jennifer Sawatzky
Mechanics
Sam Habte
Mechanics/Surveys
You can contact us by phone at (204) 797-1962 or by email at [email protected]. You can also leave a message in the form and we will get back to you as soon as we can.
