40th Street Artist-in-Residence Program has received a $3,000 SCI-West Community Grant award!

Great news! SCI-West has just informed us that we have received $3,000 to collaborate with Neighborhood Bike Works (NBW). Two of our resident artists have already begun working with NBW, using art as a medium for engagement with youth in particular. This award will help that work to flourish over the next several months, while ensuring a long and healthy relationship between AIR and NBW. This comes at an especially critical time as NBW prepares for several events and can now lean on our professional artists to make sure that the youth remain engaged through the arts.

A little bit about NBW:

The mission of Neighborhood Bike Works (NBW) is to create educational, recreational, and career-building opportunities for youth through bicycling in the Philadelphia area, and to promote cycling as an environment-friendly, healthy form of transportation. 

NBW foresees a future in which youth are empowered by bikes. Bicycles can aid in empowering youth in many ways. Bicycles promote self-reliance and self-confidence by giving youth self-propelled independent transportation giving youth the freedom to travel locally - to school, play, and eventually work. Self confidence and self reliance are also promoted by giving youth the ability to maintain and repair their own bicycle in addition to the accomplishment of having earned a bike through their own work.

Bicycles can be used, by youths and adults alike, to cross boundaries - literally and figuratively. Cycling can enable exploration beyond one's immediate neighborhood. Cycling also cuts across social classes, both recreational and utilitarian cycling enables people to meet others with like interests that otherwise would not be realized.

To advance this vision NBW will form partnerships and alliances with other groups, both in the youth development community and the cycling community.

Learn more at http://neighborhoodbikeworks.org