AARP Awards Bike Friendly South Dallas with Community Challenge Grant

A “Hub and Spoke” program that will provide bicycle repair stations throughout South Dallas is the basis for a 2020 Community Challenge grant that AARP is awarding to the Bike Friendly South Dallas organization.

A network of bike repair stations, along with toolkits, training and other outreach efforts, will make up an expansion of the Hub and Spoke program to be funded under the grant. The program strives to be a lifeline for residents of all ages, especially those unable to afford cars or use public transit. Bike Friendly South Dallas works to enhance accessibility to mobility by teaching bike-riding skills and ways to keep bicycles in good working order. In its grant application, the organization noted that it believes “if you teach a kid of all ages how to fix their bike and ride safely, they will ride forever.”

Bike Friendly South Dallas is one of five Texas organizations – and among 184 groups nationwide – receiving 2020 AARP Community Challenge grants, with more than $2.4 million awarded in total.

“We are incredibly proud to partner with grantees in Texas as they work to make immediate improvements in their communities, encourage promising ideas and jumpstart long-term change,” said AARP Texas Director Tina Tran. “Our goal at AARP Texas is to support the efforts of our communities to be great places for people of all backgrounds, ages and abilities and the coronavirus pandemic has only underscored the importance of this work.”

The Community Challenge grant program is part of AARP’s nationwide Livable Communities initiative, which helps communities become great places to live for residents of all ages. View the full list of grantees and their project descriptions at www.aarp.org/communitychallenge and view an interactive map of all of the Community Challenge projects and AARP Texas’ livable communities work at www.aarp.org/livable.