The Better Bike Share Partnership (BBSP) is an effort led by the City of Philadelphia that works to ensure that Indego bike share is accessible to all Philadelphians. The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia is a non­profit advocacy and education organization working as part of the Better Bike Share Partnership to support bike share and biking education. The Better Bike Share Partnership is funded by The JPB Foundation.

To start off the new year, the Better Bike Share Partnership and Indego Community Ambassador Sarah-Ashley Andrews teamed up to raise awareness about suicide prevention and celebrate the ending of Dare 2 Hope’s “iDare 2 Be,” a school program educating youth about suicide prevention through a series of workshops at High Roads Academy in North Philadelphia.

During the 6 week program, Sarah-Ashley dedicated one week to sharing with students how cycling can help heal and also be used as a healthy mental resource.

“Bike Share was used as an example of what healthy living looks like, we dedicated one week of programming to focus on cycling and how to used exercised to help with coping skills and relieve stress,” stated Andrews. She noted that by sharing her story of being a Better Bike Share Ambassador and using bike share with her program Dare2Hope was also a visual way for her students to see how beneficial bike riding can be.

Andrew invited Waffiyyah Murray and Brenda Hernandez from the Bicycle Coalition to share their stories and the work they do for Indego & Better Bike Share.

“A goal of mine when planning out the program was to expose the student to young professionals who had nontraditional careers and helping them explore different career paths and broadening their horizons” Andrew adds “The Students were intrigued and excited to work with both Brenda and Waffiyyah in the near future.”

Better Bike Share sponsored the iDare2Be closing celebration where students and staff gathered for food, program reflections, giveaways and more! We at Better Bike Share, would like to thank our ambassador Sarah-Ashley for all the hard work she puts in the community, raising awareness with youth and contributing to the Better Bike Share programs. We look forward to continuing to help out the community with Dare 2 Hope as well as iDare 2 Be and other organizations and community that need the help all across Greater Philadelphia.