Note: This transcript was exported from the video version of this episode, and it has not been copyedited

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:15:09
Tina Castillo
We've been finding for the teachers. It's just been incredible. We had one teacher say that they've been teaching for 24 years, and this program has been the most rewarding and impactful program they've ever taught.

00:00:15:13 - 00:00:38:27
Paul Tolme
We are always advocating for protected, bike infrastructure. You know, separated by concrete barriers, for instance, so that, the old paradigm of bike lanes was just a line of paint on the road. And that is not confidence inspiring or, or necessarily safe. So, so now we're always advocating for separated protected bike infrastructure.

00:00:39:00 - 00:01:01:29
John Simmerman
Hey everyone, and welcome to the Active Towns Channel. My name is John Simmerman and that is Tina Castillo and Paul Tolme from Cascade Bicycle Club up in the state of Washington. We're going to be talking about some of the great initiatives that they have underway. So let's get right to it with Paul and Tina.

00:01:02:02 - 00:01:07:12
John Simmerman
Paul and Tina, thank you so much for joining me on the Active Towns podcast. Welcome.

00:01:07:15 - 00:01:09:29
Tina Castillo
Thank you so much. Excited to be here.

00:01:10:01 - 00:01:12:02
Paul Tolme
Great to be here, John.

00:01:12:04 - 00:01:22:00
John Simmerman
Because I love giving my guests an opportunity just to introduce themselves. So, Tina, let's start off with you. Who the heck is Tina?

00:01:22:02 - 00:01:48:09
Tina Castillo
Thanks so much. Yeah. So I'm Tina. Are you she her pronouns? I work at a wonderful organization called the Cascade Bicycle Club. I am one of the program officers with this new statewide bicycle education grant program that we are, creating and administering. On behalf of the Washington State Department of Transportation. What else about me?

00:01:48:11 - 00:02:28:19
Tina Castillo
I grew up, in the Valley. In Washington state. I'm currently in Seattle right now, so very much feel like home here. And like a lot of people learning to ride a bike was, you know, part of my childhood. I had a cheap silver and blue BMX style bike that I just love to ride. And I really fell in love with, you know, doing bike education for young people while I was working in higher education, doing college access and supporting students with, you know, their future goals to, go to college, and become whatever it is they, they want to become and, and help change the world.

00:02:28:19 - 00:02:57:07
Tina Castillo
And I did some volunteering with a really wonderful, small but mighty nonprofit called the Vamos Outdoors Project, which is located in Bellingham, Washington. Vamos, works with, migrant, Latin, a multilingual youth, and, removing barriers to, outdoor recreation. And I was one of the ride leaders, for their, youth cycling program and really fell in love with that work.

00:02:57:08 - 00:03:20:11
Tina Castillo
It was really exciting. And I've always been passionate about, you know, helping connect people to the outdoors. And that's because I, during college, worked for two summers for the North Cascades National Park Service. And so I love spending time outside, and I love it even more when I'm with other people. I enjoy biking, camping, hiking, and eating really good food.

00:03:20:12 - 00:03:22:28
Tina Castillo
So, yeah, a little bit about me.

00:03:23:01 - 00:03:26:10
John Simmerman
I love it. I love it. Oh. You're up.

00:03:26:12 - 00:03:58:21
Paul Tolme
Yeah. Paul told me I'm the media relations manager, and, for Cascade Bicycle Club, I. I have the great pleasure of being able to tell and share the stories of all the great works that, my colleagues like Tina are doing. And Cascade is, was formed in 1970. So we're a 54 year old organization, and Cascade Bicycle Club, and it's long, many decades of existence really is why Washington state is perennially named one of the most bike friendly states in the country.

00:03:58:22 - 00:04:19:28
Paul Tolme
We've been we've been working to promote the joy of bicycling here for decades. And we have, close to 10,000 members. And we're where we have our three pillars. That's we call them education, which Tina is part of the education team. And in addition to the in-school programs, we have all the Learn to Ride programs for people of any age.

00:04:20:01 - 00:04:51:27
Paul Tolme
Adults. And, and that's those are given on a sliding scale basis so that people who are wealthier or can, can pay more for those lessons and, and people who are less affluent can pay less or nothing at all, because we don't want to be anybody to be denied, access to bicycles. And then we also have a huge policy and advocacy program right now in Seattle, our policy teams working with the City council to try to get more funding for bike infrastructure, and that's an ongoing initiative.

00:04:51:27 - 00:05:11:23
Paul Tolme
And we also do the same thing statewide in Olympia. And then we have our community events program as well. Our other pillar, which is the big rides we do, such as Seattle, the Portland, has been going on for decades, and that maybe is one of the best known kind of longest continuous bike rides in the country.

00:05:11:24 - 00:05:40:10
Paul Tolme
Big group ride. We don't put on races. We put on rides because everybody who joins our events is a winner, and everybody who pays to enter one of our rides is supporting our education in our, advocacy work. So that's Cascade Bicycle Club in a nutshell. I came to this group as a former journalist, because I really wanted to use my skills to help this great organization and make Seattle and Washington even more bike friendly and accessible to all.

00:05:40:13 - 00:05:56:04
John Simmerman
Fantastic. So it sounds like the the Cascade bicycle Organization and the formal name is the Bicycle Club. Is it a 501 C3 or is it a five and one C3? C4?

00:05:56:06 - 00:06:25:14
Paul Tolme
Two answers there. Yes, we Cascade Bicycle Club is a 501 C3. And then we have our partner organization called Washington Bikes, which is a 501 C4. And they work in Olympia, or we work in Olympia because many of us wear two hats. And so, yes, Washington bikes is, is the history is there were two organizations in the past, and in the early 2000 teens they merged.

00:06:25:16 - 00:06:41:10
Paul Tolme
And now we have these two organizations, but really working in concert five and one C3, five and one C4, which does, political endorsements. So, Washington Bikes, endorses, bike friendly candidates in the fall.

00:06:41:12 - 00:07:11:01
John Simmerman
Yeah. I wanted to to belabor that just a moment, because it's a it's a good point to, when you look at, membership organizations as well as nonprofit organizations, you as a C3, you're sort of limited on the amount of true engagement you can have from a political perspective. But as a C4, yes, you can endorse candidates, you can do a political forums, you can lobby, you can do work at the state level as well as the local level in that sense.

00:07:11:05 - 00:07:33:11
John Simmerman
So that's fantastic. Well, this is great. I mean, I have my roots, you know, in also bike advocacy, nonprofits and organizations and doing bike ed, programs. So I know that we're going to have a lot of fun, talking about all these great initiatives that you all are doing. And, Tina, you had mentioned a little bit about your passion for for education.

00:07:33:11 - 00:07:49:00
John Simmerman
And, let's let's start with you. Why don't you dive in and talk a little bit about, some of the programs that you all are doing at the, at the school and sort of as that basis, let's pull up the web page here for the statewide school based bicycle education program.

00:07:49:03 - 00:08:14:13
Tina Castillo
Yeah. Thank you. So as Paul shared a little bit of information about, Cascade as the 502 three, one of our pillars of work is education. We teach the joys of cycling, and we teach both young people and adults. I always have to give a shout out to our adult education classes because you know it. It's pretty brave as an adult to learn how to ride a bike.

00:08:14:15 - 00:08:43:12
Tina Castillo
And so it's wonderful that we offer that resource to, our community members. But, we're also a leader in providing really high quality school based bicycle education programs. We do that through two of our flagship programs that we've been operating, for over a decade. And, one of those programs, it's called Let Go that targets elementary and middle school students in grades three through eight.

00:08:43:15 - 00:09:10:26
Tina Castillo
And that has been the Let's Go program. It's, p bike education curriculum unit. What takes place in two classes and it covers basic bicycle education and pedestrian safety skills. And so PE teachers are running it. We do all the professional development training to the teachers, you know, as bike education experts. So let's go is currently running in all Seattle public, elementary schools.

00:09:10:26 - 00:09:41:24
Tina Castillo
And it's been doing so since 2016. And it's been having a really great impact on those students. And it's been really successful. And the other program, our other flagship program is called the Major Taylor Project, which is running in different middle schools and high schools, in King County in Seattle and in Pierce County, Tacoma. And that program breaks down barriers to cycling for youth of color, by offering bike programs in afterschool settings.

00:09:41:26 - 00:10:16:19
Tina Castillo
And their namesake actually comes from Marshall Taylor, who was a black American cycling champion who broke down, racial barriers during the Jim Crow area era in America. So we have these two incredible flagship programs that have been successful, and I share that story because those programs are really serving as our model, as our inspiration for this new statewide, school based, bicycle education program that we are designing as well as and ministering.

00:10:16:22 - 00:10:24:21
Tina Castillo
Thanks to some, really great funding that was passed through the move ahead, Washington, legislation.

00:10:24:24 - 00:10:50:23
John Simmerman
I love it. This is great. Yeah. And and the major Taylor, project, many cities, and states have major Taylor projects and Major Taylor, events. Again, he was, a black, racer, bike racer back in the day when, we had the velodrome and, and so one of one of, arguably one of the most talented, bike racers ever to exist.

00:10:50:25 - 00:11:15:17
John Simmerman
There's this fantastic. Paul, before we hit the the record button, we talked a little bit about, you know, some of the statewide initiatives and things that were going on. And specifically, we talked a little bit about how, the state's, Climate Commitment Act is related to a lot of these initiatives that you are doing. Can you explain that sort of relationship?

00:11:15:19 - 00:11:52:00
Paul Tolme
Absolutely. So our state legislature passed the Climate Commitment Act, which is a polluter pays initiative to bring down carbon emissions in the state of Washington. And then those revenues generated through Climate Commitment Act are disbursed, to programs such as the school based Bicycle Safety Education program, which is just one of the many, initiatives which include everything from, promoting more renewable energy and all of the normal things you would consider as part of, carbon emissions or climate law.

00:11:52:03 - 00:12:20:02
Paul Tolme
But the bicycle education portion of that, funding is the thinking there as we the state, the state legislature really wants to encourage our youth to become lifelong bicycling for transportation, as we know. And as your listeners and watchers know, bicycling is not just a recreational activity. It's not a sport. It's not just, racing bikes are an incredibly affordable, equitable green source of transportation.

00:12:20:02 - 00:12:57:07
Paul Tolme
And that really is part of the heart of Cascade Bicycle Mission. And so the climate Commitment Act is funding this statewide expansion, which is allowing our youth across Washington to learn the lifelong life, essential skill of bicycling for transportation, health, as well. And so, yeah, the Climate Commitment Act is shows Washington State's leadership on climate activism. And, we are grateful to our state legislature, legislators for, including this program within, the funding, that comes from that act.

00:12:57:09 - 00:13:28:17
John Simmerman
Yeah. And I can imagine if the state of Washington is like any other state here in the United States, there are detractors and people who are trying to reverse that, that progress that you all are making. What's sort of the zeitgeist there in the state of Washington, you know, in regards to this particular act as as well as, you know, just trying to change the status quo of drive everywhere for everything.

00:13:28:19 - 00:13:58:19
Paul Tolme
Well, I'll take this scene again. Well, yes, there is an initiative on the ballot in November to repeal the Climate Commitment Act. So we obviously have our position on that. And one of the reasons we want to talk with you and why you're talking to so many, journalists across Washington's. We want parents out there in the community to know that bicycle education is one of the incredible benefits that, their youth and their families are getting, from this act.

00:13:58:26 - 00:14:30:03
Paul Tolme
And so we'll see what happens in November. And the Climate Commitment Act is very new. And so the state, as well as all of the partner organizations who are doing, you know, home weatherization and, and work on, and many of the tribal lands in the state of Washington, we're trying to really inform folks across Washington that, this this act delivers a lot of incredible programing that benefits Washingtonians.

00:14:30:05 - 00:14:31:06
Paul Tolme
Yeah.

00:14:31:08 - 00:14:54:04
John Simmerman
So, Tina, when when I think of, you know, and I remember back to my days of teaching bike ed, you know, to the fourth graders, there, in Hawaii, on on Hawai'i Island, we tried to get out to each of the elementary schools there on the island and, you know, teach them the, the typical safety skills and how to how to break, how to start.

00:14:54:07 - 00:15:15:00
John Simmerman
Sometimes we're even teaching the kids how to ride, because ultimately, in any given fourth, fourth grade class, we realized there were some kids that didn't know how to ride. So I would have instructors help them out. I get the sense that, some of the activities that you are involved with or are very similar. So some of these images that you all have sent my way, bring back memories, good memories.

00:15:15:06 - 00:15:33:17
John Simmerman
Talk a little bit about the sort of the structure of the program. I saw that it was from grades three through eight. Walk us through how you all are working with, you know, the various schools, how many schools are currently being served, under the statewide program thus far?

00:15:33:19 - 00:16:18:09
Tina Castillo
Sure. Yeah, I, I have I just love my job because I get to not only help co-design, you know, a youth, cycling program for elementary and middle school students. But I also really get to manage those partnerships where we cascade as a pass through funder. You know, we're getting this funding from, the Washington State Department of Transportation, and we're, managing this grant process to then award grant funding to school districts across the state to administer this bike education program that we're designing and then get to, you know, report on all the wonderful impacts that this program has been having.

00:16:18:09 - 00:16:42:06
Tina Castillo
And, boy, it has been exciting and it's been overwhelmingly positive. And so to back up a bit further, we're only in our very first year, administering this new statewide program. You know, I was sharing earlier, we kind of got a little bit of a head start because we have these two amazing cascade, you know, flagship programs that are inspiring our program model.

00:16:42:09 - 00:17:13:24
Tina Castillo
But, we have, you know, a few more years to go. Our goal by 2039 is that we're serving 90% of eligible students in the elementary and middle school age, and for the middle school and high school program, the youth development program, their goal is to serve at least 10,000 youth. So in our first year, we have a partnership across, six school districts, and then we are serving those small rural districts because we can't forget about those.

00:17:13:24 - 00:17:42:19
Tina Castillo
They're they're very important to us. This is a statewide program. We want to be a true statewide program where we have a geographic reach and a great, geographic dispersion where I in all corners of the state. And so we're working with ESD 171, which covers like the Wenatchee central part of the state. And we're also with ESD one, they need nine, which is like the northwest corner, you know, Island, Whatcom, Skagit and the Home Counties.

00:17:42:21 - 00:18:06:03
Tina Castillo
And so those eight partners are currently running the statewide elementary, program in over 20 school districts, which covers about 52 elementary schools, 52 elementary schools, and together, those are projected to serve in our first year alone about 8400 students.

00:18:06:05 - 00:18:28:18
John Simmerman
Fantastic, fantastic. And we've been, scrolling through some images here and taking a look at a little, video here of how to navigate the stop and be able to turn. One of the biggest challenges from a, an advocacy perspective is, is obviously, it's one thing to teach the skills to be able to safely ride a bike.

00:18:28:20 - 00:18:52:04
John Simmerman
And for that matter, we even had a pedestrian education program, two that we would teach to first graders of, you know, how to cross the street safely and things of that nature. So that's skills building the other side of it. And Paul, this is going to be for you is from the advocacy side of trying to build safer networks within our communities so that it's actually safe for kids to be able to walk and bike to school.

00:18:52:09 - 00:19:13:24
John Simmerman
So it's safe for everyone to be able to get to their meaningful destinations, all ages and abilities. Can you talk a little bit to what you all are doing as the as the Cascade Club, to be able to encourage and and help facilitate? You know that because you can't build it, that's that's up to the government to build it.

00:19:13:24 - 00:19:26:25
John Simmerman
But you all can can help rally the forces. Talk a little bit about that commitment and what you all are doing to help improve the, the environment that's out there. Yeah.

00:19:26:28 - 00:19:55:02
Paul Tolme
Cascade Bicycle Club, because of our our huge reach, I mentioned 10,000 members as well as all of the folks who participate in our rides. We have a big community of, folks who support us. And so right now, if we're to look at Seattle, our policy team is working with the mayor and the Seattle City Council to, pass what's going to be called the next big Seattle transportation levy.

00:19:55:07 - 00:20:28:17
Paul Tolme
And this, essentially will be on the ballot as well in November. This is the every decade, ask where we, the city asks, taxpayers, do you want to increase your property taxes a little bit to fund many things transportation related, including bike infrastructure? So our policy and advocacy team was very effective in in bringing community groups from across the city to City Hall and letting the City council know that there is great support for more bike infrastructure.

00:20:28:17 - 00:20:57:27
Paul Tolme
Sure. And so fingers crossed that the appropriation that the mayor, the city council are now deliberating $114 million plus, for bike infrastructure in Seattle will be approved by voters in, November. At the state level, we have our, Washington bikes, our 501 C4, which works in the legislature, which really was instrumental in getting this big a state appropriation through.

00:20:57:27 - 00:21:24:13
Paul Tolme
Move ahead. Washington. That was the trans a statewide transportation law passed a few years back, which was the real genesis of this statewide, bike education effort. And so we work closely with legislators. We try to train individuals across Washington to be advocates in their own communities for to be able to speak to their elected officials that the public wants more safe bike infrastructure.

00:21:24:19 - 00:21:48:02
Paul Tolme
Yes. For sure. You really hit it on the head. A lot of people want to ride bikes, including kids, but a lot of people are scared to ride bikes, on the street, unfortunately. And that's due to a lack of, not enough safe bike infrastructure. We've made great strides, strides here in Seattle in terms of the ever growing bike network, but there's still always gaps and we need more.

00:21:48:02 - 00:22:13:29
Paul Tolme
And there are parts of Seattle, especially South Seattle, so prickly black parts of Seattle. Unfortunately, due to redlining and other historic practices, the infrastructure there is lacking. And we are really trying to improve it there. And so, yes, we encourage everybody to get on a bike because every person who rides a boat becomes another advocate for safer bike infrastructure.

00:22:14:06 - 00:22:41:27
John Simmerman
Yeah. And one of the interesting things too. And, actually, I'm gonna pull up her, cool video here. This is actually, Ian Seattle. This is a protected intersection that just recently went in, was is making the news all over the place. I mean, this is this is some encouraging stuff. When we start to see, you know, sort of Dutch level and Danish level infrastructure going in in North America.

00:22:41:27 - 00:23:12:02
John Simmerman
Here's the protected intersection. And this is what we're kind of talking about. And obviously this is sort of, you know, oriented more towards big city types of things. When we talk about, you know, the smaller rural environments. Then we're talking about some destinations, some distances that maybe aren't is great. But then it's a matter of having, you know, some traffic calm streets and some quieter streets and low volume streets so that kids can walk and bike to school and all that.

00:23:12:09 - 00:23:34:27
John Simmerman
Tina, when with your programs and your initiatives, are there any, like sort of outreach programs to, like encourage communities, especially maybe some of those rural communities or some of those neighborhoods, to do like walking school busses or bike busses to be able to encourage, you know, them to, to be able to get to school as a group and practice some of those skills.

00:23:34:27 - 00:23:37:13
John Simmerman
You guys have done.

00:23:37:15 - 00:24:26:28
Tina Castillo
Yeah, that's a great question. As I shared earlier, we're in our first year of program implementation. So there has just been an ongoing feedback loop, right? Ongoing data that's coming in from our partners. And that's because a big part of our sustainability model is providing our partners with a partnership manager. And that's my colleague Dylan, who, provides like excellent technical, support and expertise to our partners to really, meet with them, and provide updates, track progress, and provide any support the our partners may need in terms of any challenges to implementing the program, but also to help kind of troubleshoot what they're hearing from the students, and

00:24:26:28 - 00:24:57:19
Tina Castillo
their families that they're serving. And interesting enough, when we were out in the central part of the state, you know, when I was recruiting partners, really trying to get them interested in partnering with us, for this grant program, the feedback we heard was this message or image of, of cycling, of a bike as a transportation tool wasn't really relevant to some of these communities because, one of the reasons is because of this lack of cycling infrastructure.

00:24:57:21 - 00:25:26:08
Tina Castillo
However, they did know that, cycling has a lot of health benefits. And, that was really interesting for us to learn. And that really helped us shift how we engage with communities that have different, transportation, resources. So that's one thing. The other thing that I, that comes to mind, for us because, you know, we are doing bicycle education and pedestrian safety.

00:25:26:14 - 00:25:54:13
Tina Castillo
There are some parts of, you know, cycling ability to access safe cycling that fall out of our scope. And so in this pilot year, one of the things I'm really trying to focus on is how to navigate this ecosystem of different stakeholders and beneficiaries that are part of the cycling community. And one of those is, the Safe Routes to School Network, which supports the school.

00:25:54:14 - 00:26:25:11
Tina Castillo
It's a federal program. We have it here in Washington state as well. And so I'm, I'm meeting with Safe routes school managers and, directors that provide safe routes programing in those communities that we're partnering with, to basically see how we can collaborate and work together and see where there are gaps where we either this the statewide program or safe routes can help close.

00:26:25:14 - 00:26:47:14
Tina Castillo
And so that's that's an ongoing program, element that I'm working to navigate and, and relying on, you know, my, my colleagues, in these different fields and different parts of our ecosystem so we can make sure that we're, we're covering all gaps to, access to safe cycling.

00:26:47:16 - 00:26:48:15
John Simmerman
Fantastic.

00:26:48:18 - 00:27:13:09
Paul Tolme
Can I add a thought to that, John? Yeah. We mentioned the move ahead. Washington transportation package that passed a few years. And so. And the Climate Commitment Act. So within the, Climate Commitment Act, in addition to our school based, bicycle safety education program and getting funding, safe routes to schools, grants are coming through this, through the Climate Commitment Act as well.

00:27:13:11 - 00:27:40:06
Paul Tolme
So hopefully we will create more of these safe routes to schools in partnership, really leveraging those federal dollars as well as, the legislature created another, Connecting Communities grant program to close some of these gaps between communities so that as a kid, you know, I could I grew up in, in New Hampshire of small towns or a little closer together, we could sort of ride on sidewalks or and on the shoulder of roads back then to the next town.

00:27:40:09 - 00:28:24:03
Paul Tolme
But in rural parts of the state where the distances are greater. And you might you have state highways, for instance, between communities, which often serve as the main streets for some communities. The legislature also, passed a law, essentially a complete streets law, several years back, which our state traffic engineer, Donohoe Chang, who who I know that, you know, is sort of in charge of this effort whereby now, if if a state route is going to have more than $500,000 worth of improvements done, it has to go through a complete streets, scoping and analysis to see the feasibility of adding bike lanes, adding sidewalks, etc. crosswalks.

00:28:24:03 - 00:28:41:27
Paul Tolme
So that's great. We will see. Hopefully the, that that's a relatively new program, but in future years it will pay dividends in, in terms of really connecting our communities more so that they are people can really get around from town to town, community, community. Bicycle.

00:28:42:00 - 00:29:08:26
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. And again, you mentioned Dynamo Chang. He was previously with the city of Seattle. It was like, oh, no, he's leaving. He's leaving Seattle. But he went to the state, which is good. And and the fact that we are seeing some really encouraging stuff, you know, getting on the ground in many of our bigger cities across North America, including Seattle, in terms of protected and separated infrastructure, truly all ages and abilities, infrastructure.

00:29:08:26 - 00:29:37:08
John Simmerman
That's fantastic. It brings me back to Warrington a little bit about some of the more rural communities. And, and and Paul, you just mentioned it there as well, is that I think there's really a great opportunity to try to leverage when we know that federal dollars are coming in, that we say, you know, are we able to, maybe take some of that money and really it's it's pennies on the dollar compared to what we spend in automobile infrastructure.

00:29:37:10 - 00:30:25:22
John Simmerman
When we talk about automobile infrastructure, we're talking in the billions of dollars and trillions of dollars. When we look at the national, scope. But in terms of bike infrastructure, this is cheap. Even though building a separated multi-use path that's 12 to 14ft wide seems expensive when you compare it to automobile infrastructure, it's not for Tina. I wonder if you think a separated, completely separated multi-use path that's like connect ING, the schools, in the parks, in meaningful destinations within some of these rural communities would, would make your all your jobs a little bit easier in terms of being able to, to really connect the dots from being able to do skills education to

00:30:25:22 - 00:30:35:05
John Simmerman
what we really want to see, which is more kids using active transportation to get to school. Is that something that you would see as being something that would be, you know, helpful?

00:30:35:07 - 00:31:00:25
Tina Castillo
I think it would be helpful. And I think that that's really where the school based, bike ed program, the statewide program really includes two programs or two strategies to reach the youth that we're targeting or trying to serve. And so that's elementary middle school and high school youth. So, so the program that I manage, you know, we call it the in class program, that's that elementary middle school.

00:31:00:27 - 00:31:31:19
Tina Castillo
We really see that as a strategy to reach the highest number of students we can. Again, it's implemented in PE classes across, public schools. And we teach the basics of bicycle safety education. Right. And so they're learning those those skills. There are lessons within our curriculum about navigating multi-use trails, and how to make sure students know what to do when they're passing someone, how to pass safely, how to use hand signals.

00:31:31:22 - 00:32:04:25
Tina Castillo
But I think this is where the the second program, the program that takes place in after school setting, and can be located either at a school or at a, community based organization or nonprofit. That program called Youth Development, the Youth Development Program, which again, is modeled after or inspired by the Major Taylor project. In addition to teaching, continuing, bike education, they also do things like, bicycle maintenance.

00:32:04:27 - 00:32:41:08
Tina Castillo
But there's also this emphasis on youth development and social emotional learning and leadership, and really building students confidence and self-efficacy. And that really is, is there to really set students up to become champions of their lives as they grow into adulthood, whether that is going to college to become a lawyer or a teacher, or perhaps wanting to work in government to advocate for better cycling infrastructure, that very much could be a possibility.

00:32:41:11 - 00:33:07:24
Tina Castillo
So our, our strategy, our, our program design really tries to build in how we can kind of bring students through that sort of timeline of third grade, all the way up to graduating high school and continuing to build those bike bike skills, pedestrian skills, but also those other skills that we all need as we grow into adulthood. So yeah.

00:33:07:26 - 00:33:29:26
John Simmerman
What's really interesting too, and I'm glad you really emphasized, you know, that that concept of, building the self-efficacy and the self-confidence that kids have, we see this when, you know, when I'm over in Europe and spending time in the Netherlands especially is, you know, you see kids that are empowered to, to be able to get around their neighborhoods and their communities on their own.

00:33:29:29 - 00:34:12:12
John Simmerman
They're able to, you know, develop those skills, those navigation skills or social skills. It's absolutely imperative, you know, going into that next level. So, Paul, kind of the same framing of the question to you is that, you know, with this opportunity to maybe leverage some of these dollars to be able to, maybe not focus on the roadway, the actual road bed, but getting, you know, leveraging some of these dollars to do completely separated, you know, pathways, that are physically removed and separated, I have this vision, just like in, in the Netherlands, where I can ride from village to village, city to city, and, and go through the countryside and along waterways and

00:34:12:12 - 00:34:43:28
John Simmerman
long, rail rights of way, along canals, etc., and be able to, to do that. Is that something that you think that is, is welcoming within the Washington community to be able to leverage the resources to see that happen? Because when we really talk about an all ages and abilities network, just simply having a bike lane or a wide shoulder or even a protected bike lane next to fast moving traffic is not truly all ages and abilities.

00:34:44:04 - 00:34:52:23
John Simmerman
Do you think that there's an awareness and a level of acceptance is happening now in the state of Washington? Along those lines?

00:34:52:25 - 00:35:30:28
Paul Tolme
Absolutely. The awareness is growing, and you referred to the sort of the return on investment from bike infrastructure is incredible. And so the dollars that it costs to build a protected bike lane is because it's a new expenditure and a lot in Seattle or other communities, it can be somehow seen as costly. But yes, when put in the context of all the benefits that come from it, not just the economic benefits directly, but also the health benefits and the reduced, the improved air quality and the sort of the, the whole holistic all of the benefits of bicycling.

00:35:31:03 - 00:36:07:12
Paul Tolme
The ROI is incredible. And we know that you've you've I've had the pleasure of of riding my bike in the Netherlands and, and other communities in Europe where the infrastructure is there and people use it, not because European were born with bikes in their DNA, but because they've had the infrastructure for decades and it's a cultural norm. And so we're trying to build that cultural norm here in Seattle, in Washington and, and, and folks like you across the country where bikes, they're just a very good tool for transportation.

00:36:07:15 - 00:36:31:06
Paul Tolme
And we need to figure out how to use them more. And much of that is infrastructure. And I will say we are always advocating for protected, bike infrastructure, you know, separated by concrete barriers, for instance, so that, the old paradigm of bike lanes was just a line of paint on the road. And that is not confidence inspiring or, or necessarily safe.

00:36:31:06 - 00:36:38:10
Paul Tolme
So, so now we're always advocating for separated protected bike infrastructure where possible. Right?

00:36:38:12 - 00:36:46:07
John Simmerman
Right. Tina, is there anything that we haven't already discussed that you, want to make sure that we cover with the audience?

00:36:46:09 - 00:37:17:23
Tina Castillo
Yeah, I just, I wanted to share a little bit more. Again, this is the part of my job is sharing, the impact of the program, with with stakeholders and members of the community. We've seen even just in our first year, an overwhelmingly positive wealth. What this program is doing, both in terms of providing, an incredible outlet for students to, learn a new skill.

00:37:17:23 - 00:37:44:06
Tina Castillo
And through that really, developed, self confidence, which we want our students to have. Right. But also the impact it's been having on the P.E. teachers and, our school partners who are implementing the program, you know, all of us, especially our viewers, are intrinsically aware of of the benefits of cycling around, you know, physical, emotional, mental health.

00:37:44:09 - 00:38:13:24
Tina Castillo
But that's also true for, for young people, especially when they're still growing and, you know, really learning about who they are. And so after the the program runs in elementary schools, we do, a survey, the teachers do a survey and the students complete a survey. It's been very fun reading those post program stories from students. But we've been finding for the teachers, it's just been incredible.

00:38:13:24 - 00:38:43:17
Tina Castillo
We had one PE teacher say that they've been teaching P.E. for 24 years, and this program has been the most rewarding and impactful program they ever taught. That was really incredible to hear. And overall, the teachers are reporting that they've seen this program, learning to ride a bike, increase their students confidence. They're learning new skills. It's helping teachers meet, learning standards, which they need.

00:38:43:17 - 00:39:03:10
Tina Castillo
We want to support. And that that's really great for us to hear and for the students. You know, the impact really falls under these general themes. It's a way for them to have fun. We need to kids to have fun their kids. Right. And having fun in school is just really great to be able to associate that together.

00:39:03:12 - 00:39:34:27
Tina Castillo
It provides them an outlet to get out some energy. We know kids have lots of energy, and we know that bike cycling really helps us to think more clearly. And so then the kids are going into their classes kind of ready to learn. Their minds are clear and they're ready to to learn more. And what's also been really exciting for me to hear from P.E. teachers is that this program provides students with a space to help other students, especially kids who already know how to ride a bike.

00:39:35:00 - 00:40:05:26
Tina Castillo
We support P.E. teachers and encouraging them to encourage those students who have these bike skills to help their peers write, to give them tips on how to ride their bike, to help them check their helmet, make sure it's fitted correctly, and that they're doing the teaching to. And that skill is really, really valuable. So I think it's just really extraordinary, these positive impacts the program's been having both on, our youth and the teachers themselves.

00:40:05:29 - 00:40:26:02
John Simmerman
Yeah. And it and it kind of occurs to me that it's a good thing that, the state of Washington is one of those states that still has the physical education in many and many locations, around the country, unfortunately, have been dropped or been hidden, have been, so minimized and so, yeah, it's it's very, very unfortunate.

00:40:26:06 - 00:40:27:07
John Simmerman
Yeah.

00:40:27:09 - 00:40:55:23
Tina Castillo
Can I add another thing to, yeah. For, the statewide school based program. That, you know, I'm just a member, not just a member. I'm a member of a team. I do this together with my team. And so my team is very passionate about really following the vision of, you know, move ahead. Washington, in terms of centering equity, in all aspects of, the program.

00:40:55:23 - 00:41:31:00
Tina Castillo
And what that means is that in terms of potential partners, partners who receive, the grant funding and the program, we're prioritizing partners who serve communities where equity, safety and community plans point to the highest need. And that is set forth by criteria, equity criteria established by the Washington State Department of Transportation. So it includes criteria such as demographics, like race and ethnicity, disability status.

00:41:31:03 - 00:42:02:09
Tina Castillo
It also includes socioeconomic status, like percentage of students on free and reduced lunch. And then it also includes environmental health disparities. And that's tied into the Hill Act, part of this legislation. So we also look at the emission pollution toward example areas that have higher, exposure. We want to target those because, as Paul was saying, one of the benefits of cycling is that it's a it's a green, sustainable, transportation option.

00:42:02:12 - 00:42:36:13
Tina Castillo
And then the other way that we prioritize, center equity is actually we believe that everyone, should have access to cycling and that includes, individuals with disabilities. And so one of the things that we do that we're duplicating is, we partner with our sister organization, outdoor for all, which is another 523 nonprofit. They specialize in, inclusive and adaptive recreation for individuals with disabilities.

00:42:36:16 - 00:43:07:27
Tina Castillo
And so we're partnering with them to ensure that we're meeting the needs of students, who may require adaptive cycling equipment and, support. And so it's really exciting that our, our partners as part of the grant, they receive, you know, a fleet of bikes that in addition to the bikes, you know, the two wheel bikes in the fleet, they're also getting adaptive bikes because we want our students to be able to participate in this curriculum.

00:43:07:29 - 00:43:24:21
John Simmerman
Yeah. You know, that's I'm glad you mentioned that. I also, you brought up a good point, too. And from an equity standpoint, is there a mechanism in place to try to ensure that, every kid has access to a bike? During the program?

00:43:24:24 - 00:43:51:00
Tina Castillo
Yeah. And one of those ways. What that's partially what's unique, about and also impactful about, the in-class program, the program in the elementary and middle school is that from an equity standpoint, you know, our delivery model really accounts for that because all students who are enrolled in a public school are receiving this curriculum, of course, were in grades three through eight.

00:43:51:00 - 00:44:38:13
Tina Castillo
So cater to don't get our program. However, there is another bike program that does, serve those younger kiddos. But that's one way that we, that this program, accounts for that, which is to me, an amazing opportunity to continue to refine our program, our curriculum, and our delivery model because we have access to such, a huge population of students across Washington that myself and my teammates just want to make it the best that we can and incorporate feedback from our partners, and consult with content experts, across the bike industry to make sure we're delivering something really exceptional and effective.

00:44:38:15 - 00:44:44:20
John Simmerman
Right. Just to be clear on that, too. Now, are the kids bringing their own bike to school?

00:44:44:22 - 00:45:12:18
Tina Castillo
They are not. So, the the grant, for the elementary middle school program, in addition to, you know, the professional development training we provide to teachers, in addition to, you know, the, the curriculum, the left school curriculum that we as well as other, folks from, from different backgrounds help create, they also receive program equipment, which one of those practices is, is a trailer.

00:45:12:18 - 00:45:20:03
Tina Castillo
And that trailer school for Fleet of Bikes. It's 30 bikes, plus the two adaptive bikes. And so they just.

00:45:20:05 - 00:45:38:17
John Simmerman
Yeah. Which is similar to what I had in Hawaii. I had a trailer full of bikes, and I would roll up to the elementary school and, and that's one way that we made sure everybody had a bike that was truly operational. Sometimes a kid would show up with their own bike and we'd look at it, inspect and say, all right, yeah, that's safe enough.

00:45:38:17 - 00:46:00:26
John Simmerman
You can use that. But okay, that that really answers that. I also wanted to pull up that website too. So again outdoors for all. And here's one of the adaptive, types of cycles that they have here. That is fantastic. Thank you so much for doing that, Tina. All right, Paul, over to you. Any final thoughts that you'd like to leave the audience with?

00:46:00:28 - 00:46:27:08
Paul Tolme
Much respect for my colleague Tina, who is doing incredible work and an entire education team. But for context setting, as Tina mentioned, we are just in year one here. This is really the the pilot year of expanding this, to schools all across the state. So we're learning more. Tina's team is learning more. And so in future years, more and more youth across Washington will be getting this great bike education.

00:46:27:13 - 00:46:52:04
Paul Tolme
And a big thanks also to the state legislature and the citizens of Washington, for funding this incredible program. And Washington state, one of the most bike friendly states in the nation that we really want to hold on to that, it's a real indicator of, of leadership, I believe, in this time where we're all concerned about climate change and trying to figure out ways to reduce our climate impacts.

00:46:52:04 - 00:47:19:01
Paul Tolme
Bicycling and bike education is is one big component of that. And so, yes, I hope you'll revisit with us in, in a year or two when Tina and her team have expanded this to even more schools statewide. And I'm glad you asked about the equity lens, because that is a key component of this program, for sure. Starting with the schools and school districts that have the highest need according to various metrics and then growing it out from there.

00:47:19:04 - 00:47:24:08
Paul Tolme
So come ride and, come ride bikes with us sometime. John.

00:47:24:10 - 00:47:50:03
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. No, I'm long overdue. So my last trip, to the area was, in 2017, and I did have a chance to produce a fair number of videos right there in the Seattle area and also took the ferry over to Victoria and, met up with Todd Litman there and, did a video, of the incredible infrastructure that is being built out there in, in, Victoria, British Columbia.

00:47:50:05 - 00:47:57:17
John Simmerman
Tina and Paul, thank you so very much for joining me on the Active Towns podcast. It's been an absolute joy and pleasure.

00:47:57:19 - 00:48:00:27
Tina Castillo
Thank you so much. This was really fun, I appreciate it.

00:48:00:29 - 00:48:05:12
Paul Tolme
Yes. We look forward to chatting with you again. John, thank you so much.

00:48:05:14 - 00:48:20:21
John Simmerman
Hey, everyone. Thank you so much for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed this episode with Tina and Paul. And if you did, please give it a thumbs up. Leave a comment down below and share it with a friend. And if you haven't done so already, be honored to have you subscribed to the channel. Just click on the subscription button down below and ring the notifications bell.

00:48:20:29 - 00:48:40:18
John Simmerman
And if you're enjoying this content on the Active Towns channel, please consider supporting my efforts. It's easy to become an active towns ambassador. Just head on over to Active Towns. Georgie. Click on the support button. Every little bit helps and is very much appreciated. Well, until next time, this is John signing off by wishing you much activity, health and happiness.

00:48:40:21 - 00:49:00:19
John Simmerman
Cheers and again sending a huge thank you out to all my Active Towns Ambassadors supporting the channel on Patreon. Buy me a coffee YouTube. Super! Thanks. As well as making contributions to the nonprofit and purchasing things from the Active Towns store, every little bit adds up and it's much appreciated. Thank you all so much!