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

00:00:00:01 - 00:00:13:15
Joshua Funches
Then I 100% really agree and appreciate how the bike bus movement has really urgency and is actually putting urgency on like, well, what if this young person can now ride the bicycle on their own to their own school without the bike? Awesome.

00:00:13:17 - 00:00:39:21
John Simmerman
Hey everyone, welcome to the Active Towns channel. My name is John Simmerman and that is Joshua Funches with the National Youth Bike Council and the Youth Bike Summit. We're going to be talking about the upcoming bike summit that is going to be coming up in June and background information on the National Youth Bike Council. So without further ado, let's hear from Joshua.

00:00:39:24 - 00:00:43:11
John Simmerman
Joshua, thank you so much for joining me on the Active Towns podcast.

00:00:43:14 - 00:00:46:06
Joshua Funches
Yeah, thanks so much for having me. It's really good to be here.

00:00:46:08 - 00:00:50:26
John Simmerman
Hey, take a moment and just share with the audience. Who is Joshua?

00:00:50:29 - 00:01:14:17
Joshua Funches
Hello, everyone. My name is Joshua. I'm currently a software engineer by day and at night I lead a very crucial movement called the Nationally Bike Council. Philadelphia is my home, and I would have to say that I've definitely been blessed to travel from all the different locations that I've been. But I started getting very involved with bicycling, and an organization called Bike Works in Philly in 2013.

00:01:14:20 - 00:01:23:25
John Simmerman
Fantastic. That's great. And I got to meet you in person recently because you're. Are you currently in Austin, Texas?

00:01:23:28 - 00:01:27:26
Joshua Funches
I am currently in Austin, Texas. I just made the move, like, a little while ago.

00:01:27:28 - 00:01:31:24
John Simmerman
fantastic. Well, what what prompted the move?

00:01:31:26 - 00:01:48:20
Joshua Funches
Actually, I was looking to get involved in bicycling in a different scene, but also just trying to get involved in, like, a new city. Explore a little bit more. And then as I said, I travel a little bit and once you start traveling, you see something that you just like I was to keep looking for more. And so I just come looking for something different.

00:01:48:20 - 00:01:57:26
Joshua Funches
And I. I came here once, actually, for the National Council to do some work and just kind of fell in love with Austin. I have to explore a little bit more. Plus, I love life.

00:01:57:28 - 00:02:24:04
John Simmerman
Well, that's. That's so cool. It surprises the heck out of me. I mean, you and I have been emailing back and forth over the past. basically year. Yeah. You know, trying to schedule this. And we finally came down to this particular date. And today's date is November 15th. This is actually going to air in January. So we're holding this, you know, off a little bit in bringing rolling it out in the new year.

00:02:24:07 - 00:02:30:22
John Simmerman
But yeah, I was kind of blown away as like you had mentioned. by the way, I'm in Austin now and I'm like, wait, what?

00:02:30:25 - 00:02:44:28
Joshua Funches
I didn't even know you were in Austin. Someone told me that unlike, you know, the active podcast, man, I was like, my job is like, Yeah, it's like he's in Austin. I was like, Really? I said, I think I really chose one of the best cities to come to, to explore. And so you did.

00:02:45:00 - 00:03:13:25
John Simmerman
And I owe you a bike tour. I owe you a tour to be able to get out and show you some of the Dutch inspired bicycle network that the city of Boston is building. It's one of the key things that I try to do is celebrate the wins that are happening in cities around the globe. And it's wonderful to be able to have this opportunity to live in a city that's really committed to building out the all ages and abilities high comfort bicycle network.

00:03:13:26 - 00:03:19:04
John Simmerman
So yeah, we'll definitely make that happen sooner rather than later now that you're here in town.

00:03:19:06 - 00:03:21:03
John Simmerman
So let's do this. Let's, let's.

00:03:21:06 - 00:03:41:04
John Simmerman
Take the calendar back a little bit and talk a little bit about the Youth Bike Summit and and the council to so what's really the the history to you know, this movement and and the group coming together.

00:03:41:06 - 00:04:00:15
Joshua Funches
Yeah well this photo actually that we're looking at right here this is a while a while back I cannot remember who took that photo actually of me, but this was the youth council. I moved here because I mentioned that that's kind of where I started. And a lot of this is going to be from my perspective. But like every single person on this council kind of have like a different role.

00:04:00:22 - 00:04:19:09
Joshua Funches
And we were all involved. But this was actually not the original group. The original group was actually four people and we were all on, I think what they were bikers called like their race team. But they said to us one year like, Hey, we're going to this event called the Youth Bike Summit, and you can come to. And I was like, All right, I don't even know what that is.

00:04:19:12 - 00:04:20:24
Joshua Funches
That sounds like a good idea.

00:04:20:27 - 00:04:28:29
John Simmerman
And so when you mean the bike summit, you literally mean like the bike summit that the League of American Bicyclists does in Washington, D.C. in March, Right.

00:04:29:02 - 00:04:30:28
Joshua Funches
Actually, I meant the youth bikes.

00:04:30:28 - 00:04:36:15
John Simmerman
I'm actually the youth Bike summit. So there was already a youth bike summit. okay.

00:04:36:20 - 00:05:07:05
Joshua Funches
Yeah. It has a really interesting history because the youth summit was already going on since 2011, but they didn't I didn't get involved into bicycling until 2013. Right. And then I think it was in 2015 that they were like they just decided to create this youth Council program and they invited four people. And like, the stipulation of going was that we had to join youth Council after we came back to go, okay, you know, collecting information for you know, we can bring back to our neighborhood what are some things we want to see here that we didn't that we don't have or something like that?

00:05:07:05 - 00:05:27:21
Joshua Funches
And that's kind of how it got started. I think this in addition that we're looking at right here is probably maybe the second or third edition of the council. Okay. Maybe 2016 when we had like a few members, I think we even grew. But yeah, this is, this is kind of how it all got started. Yeah. And then after that too, like.

00:05:27:24 - 00:05:31:24
John Simmerman
And this is the and this is the neighborhood bike shop.

00:05:31:26 - 00:05:50:22
Joshua Funches
This is the bike shop. This is the old bike shop. Actually, it used to be in a basement of our church. This group, what you're looking at right here, they got like special shirts. They were black. A sort of like the yellow version of the black one, kind of like advanced bicycle mechanics. And so I think I was like a youth council member helping them go through their advanced mechanic experience.

00:05:50:22 - 00:05:54:29
Joshua Funches
I was wearing the shirt the whole time of them, knowing that one day they're going to get that shirt. So I was really.

00:05:54:29 - 00:06:04:13
John Simmerman
Got it, got it. Fantastic. That's great. And so part of the that the original. yeah here's here's the the black shirts.

00:06:04:16 - 00:06:18:04
Joshua Funches
Probably Yeah this one right here if I was like how many see what. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. It's about seven councilmembers. That was probably one of the most times when we had like the most amount of people. It was it was really nice. Yeah. And all of the marching that have been that photo. Yeah.

00:06:18:07 - 00:06:24:24
John Simmerman
Wow. Wow. Fantastic. And this is approximately what year do you think?

00:06:24:27 - 00:06:37:28
Joshua Funches
It's probably 17. Okay. I could be wrong, but you can see some more. Something like two shirts and a group because I think was like celebrating anniversary or something like that about it Was that.

00:06:38:01 - 00:06:43:14
John Simmerman
Yeah. And all pretty much, you know, the shots are all sort of in the Philadelphia area.

00:06:43:16 - 00:07:04:12
Joshua Funches
All of them are in the film. So this is actually right outside the new shop that neighborhood bike is currently in right now where they opened it up. And then we kind of like thrived in that new era thinking like, like now we can do this with the council, that we can do that with the council. It was it was kind of like an open book, you know, Scrappy were just kind of doing whatever we thought would make sense for the people.

00:07:04:12 - 00:07:13:14
Joshua Funches
This is us having a bit of too much fun. All of us that can cannot remember who took that photo.

00:07:13:16 - 00:07:13:24
John Simmerman
But it's.

00:07:13:24 - 00:07:15:10
John Simmerman
A great shot.

00:07:15:12 - 00:07:34:12
Joshua Funches
Well, this is in Philadelphia as well. You know, I guess if anyone in the comment section knows where that is really funny. And this yeah, these are some of the other council members that weren't included in the original one. But we we grew we went down a little bit, grew. But you'll see like there's a common thing, some folks kind of sticking around the whole time.

00:07:34:15 - 00:07:52:10
Joshua Funches
But it was it was definitely a good experience. I think this is kind of where I learned the majority of like my own leadership and how I figured out that, like, you know, I enjoy bicycles and kind of the community that they created around the folks that I got a chance to meet and all of our different interests and stuff like that and where we all came from.

00:07:52:13 - 00:08:10:12
Joshua Funches
And this photo actually is from one of the youth bikes almost that we got a chance to go to. So as you can see, like every year the first group of youth councilmember and then every single year after that, it was just kind of the council members that sometimes we bring in new people that are not a part of the council to see if they'd like to be a part of the council, but also go to the super Superfund event.

00:08:10:12 - 00:08:22:24
Joshua Funches
So it's like a really great trade off. You know, you get more youth leaders, but then you also bring them around a bunch of other youth leaders who are already actively in a specific movement. It was it was really and then, I don't know, I have those little lights on my head of.

00:08:22:26 - 00:08:24:04
John Simmerman
this good? Yeah, that's that's.

00:08:24:04 - 00:08:27:24
John Simmerman
A good look. Yeah, absolutely. That's a good look. Fantastic.

00:08:27:25 - 00:08:48:23
Joshua Funches
Yeah. This is another great photo. We're all actively going back home. Okay. After having to tend to be like some, I think. And if. If I would have even remember which years these was. I know this was in Minnesota at least interesting time. These like some kind of hops from different city to different city. So it's been in Minnesota.

00:08:48:26 - 00:09:01:23
Joshua Funches
That's where I've traveled with neighboring bike works. It's been in Washington a couple of there for the first time with Seattle. And then I went to D.C., New York, but I didn't go to the one in Atlanta, but it's been in Atlanta. Okay, as well.

00:09:01:25 - 00:09:02:16
John Simmerman
And nasty.

00:09:02:18 - 00:09:27:14
Joshua Funches
But this photo right here is probably 2017. And this was the year that the council kind of came into play for a long time. I was on the youth, you know, the youth council. I think her bike works. But then a year after that, in 2016, we started piloting this idea of like, what if we have like all these different youth groups that are coming together, come together and kind of be a thing without the adults.

00:09:27:17 - 00:09:35:29
Joshua Funches
And so you'll see that the individual standing to my left is actually if you can identify who I am, vote yeah, it's right.

00:09:35:29 - 00:09:39:06
John Simmerman
There in the middle.

00:09:39:09 - 00:10:00:17
Joshua Funches
Of the. But actually but the one to my left is actually not even from the neighborhood council. They're from a different council in Seattle called Bike Works is a youth organization called Bike Works and he was on there at the time. And so this is like the original group that we're we just started as like a group chat and I think it turned into like a mailing list.

00:10:00:17 - 00:10:04:27
Joshua Funches
And then there's like the monthly calls and then it just kept evolving from there.

00:10:04:29 - 00:10:07:22
John Simmerman
Fantastic. That's awesome.

00:10:07:24 - 00:10:25:05
Joshua Funches
So, you know, we started trying to yeah. So actually I should have included sort of two of there was a I think her name was Jeanette, but we started being a little pesky because we want we're kind of curious about like what is this specifically involved in stuff like that. So we decided to get dressed one day in Philly.

00:10:25:05 - 00:10:46:09
Joshua Funches
This is myself and this is Joe, and we just decided to go out to like one of these events where they're kind of having like a petition being signed and stuff like that. We want really we were kind of like just in the neighborhood bike works bubble. We didn't really do like generosity advocacy, so we just started getting a little start asking some questions and started going out to some of these events and got all dressed up because we kind of thought, That's what you do.

00:10:46:11 - 00:11:10:16
Joshua Funches
But I'm so glad that the wrestling is way more relaxed than we originally thought from outside coming in. So this is kind of like how we engage and what we were walking into. And I think it was about like just getting more bike lanes in on specific streets. I think organizations called us and they were giving different designs in this little area that we went to a bunch of.

00:11:10:16 - 00:11:34:16
Joshua Funches
We're just walking out looking for designs, either signing a petition or just being informed. It was a nice, nice time. And folks kind of just look at us like, wow, they're here and they're all doing stuff like, This is so amazing. We need more of us. And it was kind of in that moment that, you know, I was in Philadelphia doing like National Council just kind of trying to be like the youth voice that we thought we could be.

00:11:34:16 - 00:11:53:27
Joshua Funches
And it was like one of the moments that we really also saw once again where someone's like, Wow, we need more of this. And I was like, Exactly, Yeah, I know you do, But I didn't know it was needed that much. It was kind of like we were like mini celebrities walking around the area as we were kind of like looking at different things that people want to endorse all these different things and talk to us.

00:11:53:27 - 00:12:11:25
Joshua Funches
And I think we even got some pictures to with people and stuff like that was kind of interesting. But at the same time, I thought once again, the same thing that I felt kind of like something that like there's a need for more youth representation in a organized fashion, like in a way organized fashion to getting young people involved.

00:12:11:25 - 00:12:24:00
Joshua Funches
People love to see it. The only other person that was there, that was a young person with a child, and they were let me specify that they were probably two years old or three kind of with their mom. But other than that, there was no other young people at that event.

00:12:24:02 - 00:12:50:18
John Simmerman
Yeah, Yeah, that's a good point. I mean, I've actually interviewed past guests on the podcast who have even, you know, propose that we need to engage children from the very young to the teenage years in really street design and city design. Because when we think of it, you know, so much of our built environment, our neighborhoods, our communities, you know, have isolated children.

00:12:50:18 - 00:12:59:27
John Simmerman
And so it's like, you know, yeah, I can totally see where people are like, we're so delighted you're here. What do you think about all this?

00:13:00:00 - 00:13:23:16
Joshua Funches
Yeah, I mean, isolated is an understatement, but I 100% agree that there needs to be something more formalized. Like we have lots of systems for children nowadays, and I just don't see enough systems in reference to getting young people involved. And, you know, youth like advocacy or just advocacy in general, urban planning and stuff like that. Like you kind of just a lot of the folks you talk to, they might just fall into it, if that makes sense.

00:13:23:21 - 00:13:39:00
Joshua Funches
They kind of summer they're like, I knew I wanted to do this. I don't really know what it was called, and maybe I went to college or something like that. But imagine, like how many more things could like how many more opportunities and pathways we can kind of carve out if we if we start focusing on that.

00:13:39:02 - 00:14:03:04
John Simmerman
Well and also being able to, you know, if we are able to create a community. You know, earlier I reference the cycle network here in Austin as being an all ages and abilities cycle network, you know, safe and inviting for everyone. Suddenly, if you're able to actually achieve that as a city, as a community, you can start to empower children to be more free range kids.

00:14:03:08 - 00:14:33:25
John Simmerman
And in with the bike, you know, the bike bikers, that freedom machine of being able to to get around the neighborhood, to go out with friends, to do stuff. And suddenly you're able as a youth to be able to start developing, you know, critical socialization skills and navigation skills and all of these sorts of things. So that's part of the that this movement to try to create truly all ages and abilities facilities that are inviting and welcoming for everyone.

00:14:33:27 - 00:14:38:21
Joshua Funches
But I mean, I definitely agree and I think that like what they call that the 8080.

00:14:38:24 - 00:14:50:07
John Simmerman
Yeah absolutely. Yeah. Basically it's everybody Yeah yeah, yeah and don't even put a barrier on eight or 80, you know, even for an even older.

00:14:50:10 - 00:15:28:20
Joshua Funches
Yeah. I mean I understand, I agree with that. I think that like what do they say. It takes a village you know. But I mean I personally feel like this village hasn't yet seen like what we're losing by not including strategically and through systems. Young people like think about it. Young people could be like the next greatest urban designers, the planners like if we specifically see things that we don't like in today's world, there's no better people to tell than the young people who actively are involved or are kind of growing up in this particular reality and might not understand that there are options, there are alternatives, there are other things that exist.

00:15:28:20 - 00:15:48:20
Joshua Funches
And I think that like giving the control to young people through in that way is a very important thing to do. And we're missing out on opportunity every day by not specifically, you know, making sure that young people are involved. I just think that that's bonkers. To me, that's crazy about how I will not take advantage of this beautiful place.

00:15:48:27 - 00:16:09:28
John Simmerman
Exactly. And Tim Gill, the author, the that I one of the authors that I interviewed that talks about this, he says, imagine, you know, what it's like to be, you know, a child who's you know what, you know, three or, you know, four feet tall. And seeing the world from that perspective, it's a completely different visualization. It's a completely different experience.

00:16:10:00 - 00:16:26:16
John Simmerman
And so being able to see the world through the eyes of a child, you're able to be like, yeah, you know, just just imagine, you know, kneeling down on your knees and then trying to get around and navigate the world. And it's like, yeah, it's it's a lot different down here. So there's many.

00:16:26:16 - 00:16:27:09
John Simmerman
Different.

00:16:27:11 - 00:16:45:21
John Simmerman
Many different paradigms that kind of come out when you start to take into consideration and take seriously and to your point, systematically, including children and youth, in being able to help design a city that is truly welcoming for everybody.

00:16:45:24 - 00:17:08:01
Joshua Funches
There's actually one group I talked to and they weren't from the US, but I think it's like one of the privileges of doing the work within. Actually by council, I get a chance to meet really great people, lots of people in different locations, different areas. You know, I started in Philly, but now it's everywhere. And they did idea where they took a I mean, I don't remember how much money the required, but they took a course.

00:17:08:01 - 00:17:34:04
Joshua Funches
They taught teachers in different schools how to teach the course to students over the course of maybe I think eight weeks it was a class inside of the school where students were looking at their school. I think maybe they did like 18 schools or something like that. They looked at these student, these schools would look at their environment and students would offer suggestions based on the things that they learned through the course.

00:17:34:04 - 00:17:56:12
Joshua Funches
And before the eight weeks is over, they were basically doing an assessment on education and assessment and then like eight, can we actually do this thing? And I think it wasn't until the end that the students got a chance. Some of them got a chance to organize legislation with legislators and can say something like this is kind of what we want, and they might do a presentation.

00:17:56:14 - 00:18:22:05
Joshua Funches
One thing that the organizer of this told me was that they were surprised at how accurate students were able to propose suggestions for their own school, which, I mean, should not sound surprising, but they were surprised that, like, you shouldn't really underestimate what kind of solutions students come up with. And then some of the schools actually even got a chance to implement the solutions that they were suggesting, which I thought was even more awesome.

00:18:22:10 - 00:18:38:20
Joshua Funches
Even more awesome, like not only did they get engaged, but they were informed. And then on top of that, they were making change in their community like that. Now that school can then see that specific thing being like, I remember when I was in school, I did this for my school or like, this is kind of what we did for our school or something like that.

00:18:38:27 - 00:18:47:06
Joshua Funches
That's a very that's one great example of how to properly involve young people and then also give them an exposure to something that they need.

00:18:47:09 - 00:18:52:27
John Simmerman
Right. Okay. On the parting shot here, what's what's the story behind this big group?

00:18:52:29 - 00:19:14:07
Joshua Funches
So this was at the youth summit and kind of again, like, you know, we kind of had the autonomy to make a decision. And so we said, hey, what if one of these youth like summits, like the National Council, because we were going to pilot an idea for a few years, this was 2019, and we said, What if we take our first youth only photo because all the previous ones, they never took a youth only photo.

00:19:14:09 - 00:19:33:27
Joshua Funches
So we were like, okay, we're going to have this place called like a youth Only space. And at first folks are kind of like, you know, that loudness. We do that like all the young people kind of thing. But we made a super simple, given the space and time that we had and we played this game where you took like the ball of yarn and throw it to one other person and whoever catches it, you know, the two people have to kind of like find a similarity between each other.

00:19:33:29 - 00:19:48:03
Joshua Funches
Like it's really it's a really big game. So this ended up being the first youth only photo that these bikes on a hat and then, you know, thank God 2019 in 2020, you know, things got done.

00:19:48:06 - 00:19:50:19
Joshua Funches
So then, you know, something like that will happen.

00:19:50:21 - 00:19:51:18
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:19:51:20 - 00:20:18:16
John Simmerman
That's, that's something. Yeah. So, so obviously it let's pull up the website here for the Youth Bike summit. And so we've got this is the landing page for the Youth Bike summit And so it's, it's back, it's coming in in 2024 and I let's play this video real quick. yeah, this would be fun. So let me turn the volume up just a little bit.

00:20:18:18 - 00:20:32:08
John Simmerman
I won't have the volume on full blast so that you can sort of give commentary to it as it's as it's rolling. So it's going to be Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania.

00:20:32:11 - 00:20:55:19
Joshua Funches
Pennsylvania. We're going to be coming to Pennsylvania. Okay. I'm from Philly. I tried to make it come to Philly, did my best so that this is the best we could do. But huge shout out to the youth organization that's stepping up to run these like summit quality bike works, fantastic organization. I think they're doing really well as well.

00:20:55:22 - 00:21:20:18
Joshua Funches
So huge shout out to them and the partners that helped through this video as well. Yeah, I'm super excited. Actually. I learned too that this area has a lot to offer in reference to bicycling. They like great trails, they have a velodrome and then I think they also have the Bicycle magazine folks out there. I'm probably missing people in Green Mountain biking trails, great partners as well.

00:21:20:21 - 00:21:38:13
Joshua Funches
But we were like, you know, definitely have to bring it back. I think the thing that's interesting about the summit coming back is that you'll know that like I mentioned, like, you know, I was attending youth, like some as a youth councilmember for the bike works. And then one year we piloted both nationally bike council and that's what's on the shirts.

00:21:38:13 - 00:22:00:29
Joshua Funches
And we just like, you know, we launched or something and then now in 2024, I'm coming and I'm saying like, hey, you know, the National Council is running the 2024 youth Bikes on in partnership with community. But I don't know if that evolution like yeah course but like for me I'm like I couldn't be more ecstatic that like this is just one of the fights and this is kind of where this movement is going.

00:22:01:01 - 00:22:22:11
John Simmerman
Yeah. And so to to your point, as you just mentioned, you know, at the bottom of this page here, you see the it's the Youth bike summit led by the council. And here's the council landing page that you have here. Talk a little bit about, you know, the history behind the council and what you all are trying to do.

00:22:22:14 - 00:22:58:15
John Simmerman
And I guess one of the key things to anything that's like this where we age out, you know, I was a member of for ages. And so, you know, growing up with four, eight, you know, eventually you outgrow four age, you get you get older and you move on, etc.. So part of what we we saw as trying to keep the vibrancy to a movement like that where eventually you get age limited is making sure that you have that cons to that flow of engagement of the next generation of kids coming in and and populating that.

00:22:58:17 - 00:23:16:09
John Simmerman
So talk a little bit about the National Youth Youth Bike Council and also, you know, how you're able to keep, you know, fresh, fresh blood, as they say, coming in, you know, fresh bodies and and and, you know, keeping people, you know, kids engaged and youth engaged and involved.

00:23:16:11 - 00:23:40:19
Joshua Funches
Yeah. I mean, while we were we still have applications rolling. So if you ever want to apply, John, you know, we can always review just so that but I mentioned that you know, I currently work in tech, and tech is also another location where things are constantly evolving, constantly rotating, always. So I will say that change is nothing that we're not already used to, at least in the professional sense.

00:23:40:22 - 00:24:00:10
Joshua Funches
So I also would argue that it should not be impossible to find some form of like know system program, whatever you want to call it, to also actively engage young people, even if it's, you know, quickly evolving or young people come whenever when they find the organization and then they kind of depart, the council goes up to the age of 24.

00:24:00:10 - 00:24:23:29
Joshua Funches
We adopted that from the Youth Bike summit. So 24 and under, you know, that's we think 13 and 24. We sourced a lot of our council members directly from the youth bikes, actually, because it's a very integral moment. It's like a really huge realization for any young person to get involved in that space. We also do it by recommendations and referrals.

00:24:24:01 - 00:24:44:24
Joshua Funches
So if you actually go up a little bit, you'll see that on one of the tabs. If you go to about us and then council members, there is going to be like some alumni actually are Muslim, some council members who didn't went to the H out portion and they kind of just moved on already. Yeah. So like all the way down as well, they'll see them.

00:24:44:24 - 00:25:03:25
Joshua Funches
So how do we keep it? We normally sort of like summit the council members normally do. That's a one question we get a lot. And I would have to say that like since we first started, we've been always evolving. Like I think first we started doing like annual projects, like I said, you know, it's a mailing list and then it was like a monthly call.

00:25:03:26 - 00:25:32:28
Joshua Funches
We start doing annual projects. Everyone was kind of a little bit different and sometimes they'd be virtual, sometimes they be physical. We formalize a whole lot more and we're actively working on things like curating the Youth Bike Summit. So now future council members will probably just focus specifically on helping create that next really great youth like Summit and then Council and Stick around will then have the opportunity to do things like work on maybe some of the blogs that we're working on recently are highlighting different youth groups that are existing.

00:25:32:28 - 00:25:56:29
Joshua Funches
Different organizations are doing really great things for young people. And so we have like a few groups kind of helping us out in different areas. But I would say like, just like technology, we're constantly evolving and constantly putting out what we believe would be the best way to support young people. And it's it's been a really interesting journey to discover, like what we feel like from our perspective, what help our peers the most.

00:25:57:01 - 00:25:58:04
John Simmerman
Right, Right.

00:25:58:06 - 00:26:37:15
John Simmerman
And I'm pausing here on the supporters list to give a shout out, you know, to to those organizations and companies that are that are helping support the the group. And it looks like there's a show more tab here. So even more organizations and groups that are out there. Again thank you so much to to any and all of the organizations that are helping to backstop and really help support movements like is this because as you can, you know, attest to as the president of the National Youth Council by council, if you if you don't have the support by organizations, it makes it that much more difficult.

00:26:37:17 - 00:26:50:16
Joshua Funches
It really does make it that much more difficult. And I have to second that even to the partners as well, like we have some really strong partners, they're all doing something very unique. It's just like our sponsors. It's it's been amazing. I have to say.

00:26:50:19 - 00:27:06:13
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah, that's good stuff. What have we not talked about yet that you think is really, really important that people understand about the Youth Bike Summit as well as the National Youth Bike Council?

00:27:06:16 - 00:27:33:17
Joshua Funches
I would say, well, there's there's one part that I feel like young people kind of play a really great role in when it comes to supporting the bicycling movement. And I would say that's kind of from the ideology standpoint, like maybe if you have ideas and stuff like that. But I would also say from the community adoption standpoint as well, and it sounds kind of weird, but I mean, maybe at some point in your life you've probably been called like a pesky or maybe someone with Rebel.

00:27:33:17 - 00:27:53:03
Joshua Funches
Rebel, right? Maybe. And it's probably when you were younger, right, because you were adopting some new idea or some new culture and new and everybody else was just doing That happens all the time. Well, I feel like there's so many exciting things that the bicycle has to offer still, even today and its different iterations or the different things in which we can engage in that young people can specifically help.

00:27:53:05 - 00:28:15:18
Joshua Funches
I say that because, you know, when we talk about like, you know, I think a lot of folks in the transportation industry always say if they build the then people will come. Right, right, right. But with an asterisk because like, you can build it and someone could come, but maybe they come back or talk about all your, you know, not in my backyard type of thing, maybe confuse as like a I, I like this I don't know what it is, great kind of thing.

00:28:15:18 - 00:28:17:27
Joshua Funches
And that's kind of where you step into your education.

00:28:18:00 - 00:28:35:21
John Simmerman
But it can it interject you know that's that's part of part of the challenge is that when cities take and communities take sort of a build it and they will come and then that's where they start is just thinking, we need to just build it and that and that's the magic and then wipe our hands of it.

00:28:35:27 - 00:29:07:18
John Simmerman
Now we're done. It's like, Yeah, that's, that's only the start. A You need to build the right it, it needs to be something that's truly welcoming to all ages and abilities. So the quality must be their attention to detail must be in there and in addition to build it and they will come, it's like build it and activate it and educate and promote and, you know, to, to address a lot of the confusions that you just outlined of, you know, okay, well, what is this and how do I use it?

00:29:07:21 - 00:29:32:08
John Simmerman
It's like it's only the start of really of getting the infrastructure and the facilities down. You need to actually engage. And in fact, I would even go so far as to say that even before building it, it's like, have you in great engaged the youth, you know, like we were talking about earlier, it's like, you know, because maybe they they have a perspective like, hey, yeah, this is great.

00:29:32:11 - 00:29:46:17
John Simmerman
I would love to be able to ride to school, but by the way, the skate park in the bike park is over here. Are you guys actually thinking about, you know, making that connection from the school over to the bike park? Because that's where we want to go after school.

00:29:46:19 - 00:30:07:12
Joshua Funches
Exactly. Exactly, Exactly. I would say that young people are also very much like very early adopters of a lot of different things as well. So like, it's not like we're talking about something that is quote unquote new, like a bicycle is necessarily new, But a lot of the things that we have access to, like, for example, the bike bus that I would say like let's let's assume that that's kind of like a new thing.

00:30:07:12 - 00:30:27:21
Joshua Funches
But that's a very great that's another great example, actually, of ways to engage young people in urban planning directly. Exactly Like right before they're in school. And like, they got a chance to see like something maybe they like or they don't like or something that make a little bit easier from them to get to school or just getting them involved in bicycle besides involving them in like a bicycle program at their school.

00:30:27:21 - 00:30:38:18
Joshua Funches
So like with early adoption, I think that like when it comes to like getting the whole community involved, it's one of the perfect ways. Even if it comes off as give it a few years, it's not. Yeah.

00:30:38:20 - 00:30:39:13
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah.

00:30:39:16 - 00:31:03:10
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. I'm glad you mentioned that about bike bus too, because Bike Bus is a great example of, of a software and engagement activity that, you know, that says, okay, hey, here's the deal. We're going to meet at such and such time. Maybe it's every week, maybe it's like, like, you know, Coach Balto does. And at the elementary elementary he shout out to to see them.

00:31:03:10 - 00:31:30:03
John Simmerman
They're in the Portland area where every Wednesday they ride, you know, they ride to school. And what that does is it it creates a safety in numbers and power in numbers. And to your point, it like sort of kind of engages, you know, the youth. But I think that also most equally as powerful, it engages and highlights to the parents that this is possible.

00:31:30:06 - 00:31:55:11
John Simmerman
And one of the things that that I try to emphasize with active towns is that's great. And will it also increase the the the freedom and the flexibility of the children and moving forward or, you know, are they able to then maybe it's like, this isn't scary anymore. I know how to do this. And it's like and I know a safe way for me to do this.

00:31:55:14 - 00:32:15:10
John Simmerman
And you start to see the numbers of of, you know, kids riding to school on a regular basis. And it's like, cool. Well, if I can do this, maybe I can also ride to the bike park and, you know, the skate park, you know, and it's like starting their world starts to, to, to, you know, expand in terms of the possibilities.

00:32:15:12 - 00:32:35:10
John Simmerman
And there's an I get, you know, just this huge joy in my neighborhood here near Zilker Park of being able to see little bands of kids roaming around the neighborhood doing, you know, going to their friend's house and playing and, you know, going to the park and going down to the Barton Springs pool. I mean, this is what we're talking about.

00:32:35:10 - 00:32:48:10
John Simmerman
We want to be able to engage kids so that they can, you know, have that that free range kid sort of experience, which is incredibly helpful, helpful from a development standpoint.

00:32:48:12 - 00:33:14:03
Joshua Funches
And the autonomy as well. Like, I think that's exactly like I've come across an interesting stories. You know, different folks kind of have like their own reason why like they feel like the bicycle is just like something much more preferable for them in their life. And that like when we think about engaging them first, like if you think about it like a flow or system, we don't have no real great flow or really great system for ways to engage young people and keep them involved more.

00:33:14:08 - 00:33:42:03
Joshua Funches
If you want to compare it against anything else, whether it's like another sport or career, there are very, like, you know, linear flows that kind of just exist. I think there is a flow that really does need to be created. I think that's also kind of why the council continuously, you know, has like its different iterations as we continue to evolve, as we're realizing like these are the places where we should be part of that flow and, and these are the places and where we should empower other people to be the best part of themselves so they can be involved in that flow as well.

00:33:42:10 - 00:34:00:10
Joshua Funches
Knowing like this is our strengths are and this is where we need to empower others, specifically empower young people themselves to be able to also be a part of the solution. If that makes sense. I feel like youth, like something has great for us to be empowered and now we're turning it around. We like, how can we empower other young people to be part of the solution?

00:34:00:12 - 00:34:17:16
Joshua Funches
Can you imagine like a young person maybe starting like, yeah, I was like a part of this class and I started meeting the bike bus every now and then go along, like on one day that our coach did it and it was a huge success. And then one day maybe they come, I don't know, like, let's say, to like a youth, like some discover like, wow, this doesn't just happen in my neighborhood.

00:34:17:16 - 00:34:41:25
Joshua Funches
This happens almost everywhere. This is great. First of all, really great. But then they also they come back maybe the next year, they speak about their success and inspire other young people to do the same thing then you wouldn't necessarily need to have so much pressure on teachers to specifically start bypassing students themselves would be fine, and that would be such a great thing to have because then those students with those skills can then use that for anything else that they would like to use it for.

00:34:41:28 - 00:35:24:10
John Simmerman
Yeah, I love that example too, because that's one of the things that that Sam Coach Barreto talks about is that it's not sustainable if we're looking at, you know, always relying on either teachers or volunteer parents, etc., we need to get this to a point where, A, we're building a safer infrastructure so that we can have free range kids and we can also be able to build that leadership that that sort of takes place where some of the older kids are able to help coach and bring along and make it something that's more sustainable from the standpoint of, yeah, they they can handle this on their own too.

00:35:24:12 - 00:35:53:07
John Simmerman
And so I think that that's one of the most important things that I hope will come out of the bike bus movement is really leveraging and putting some a sense of urgency behind the transformation of, you know, those routes to school to truly be safe and inviting and being able to empower kids to be able to eventually, once the parents are able to feel like, okay, this is good, they can make it there.

00:35:53:07 - 00:36:17:06
John Simmerman
And you know what? I'm not worrying as much anymore. And once they develop the skills to the bike handling skills and can know they know how to do it safely, etc., it's like there's nothing better than, you know, that sense of, yeah, they've got this, you know, they're maturing and they have the self-confidence and the self-efficacy to actually be able to accomplish getting around their neighborhood.

00:36:17:08 - 00:36:27:06
Joshua Funches
I can't remember where I see that, but like and I might have also promoted it to sell it to the Bergen Bike bus as well. I got a chance to go on that one with Emily's List, which by the.

00:36:27:06 - 00:36:31:18
John Simmerman
Way, that's how we got connected. Emily Yes. Yeah.

00:36:31:20 - 00:37:03:00
Joshua Funches
Yeah. So you connect with us and I think we start having the conversation a while ago. But Emily, they have like, I think was at the time that I was like a three year old that was riding their bicycle and like, they just looked like the cutest little thing ever. I think that, like, when it comes to parents, you know, like, worried about, like, you know, and trusting like an impossible like, I think they were doing a pretty good job of talking about how that like, you know, it doesn't matter like all young people can ride bicycles and like this if you do it right, will have the right implications on young people.

00:37:03:00 - 00:37:28:10
Joshua Funches
And then I 100% really agree and appreciate how the bike has really put urgency and this actually putting urgency on like well what if this young person can now ride the bicycle on their own to their own school without the bike was like that is something that I 100% appreciate but not forgetting that. Like if you think about it as we're pushing the bike bus, there's going to be more young folks actively involved in bicycling.

00:37:28:10 - 00:37:49:04
Joshua Funches
And that opens up, if you ask me, like career opportunities and a lot of other opportunities. And so now we're seeing a push of like urgency with like infrastructure. But we should also be seeing a push of urgency with like, what do we do with all this potential youth energy? And we cannot forget about that because if we forget about that, we're kind of just falling right back on to the where everything kind of started.

00:37:49:06 - 00:38:09:04
Joshua Funches
I'll ask you, for example, like if you think about like where a young person that's interested in bicycling specifically, they want to do something in the bicycle space, like where do they go where they do? There's a lot of different answers for like, do we have like a mainstream answer? We don't. We kind of need one. And the only mainstream answer that I can of is maybe go race bicycle.

00:38:09:04 - 00:38:15:01
Joshua Funches
So that's the first thing. So I think like, I do like bikes almost always, but it's not the only thing that exist.

00:38:15:03 - 00:38:43:14
John Simmerman
Yeah, I mean, and one of the nice things about a place like Austin is in similar to, I think in Philadelphia too, is there there are some rich programs that are out there that, you know, like the yellow bike program here in in Austin, which is a place where members of the community, including the youth, can learn how to become a bike mechanic and you can actually earn a bike there, too.

00:38:43:15 - 00:39:04:02
John Simmerman
So if you have somebody who is can't afford to purchase their own bike, they can actually go and volunteer at the at the yellow bike program and be able to learn how to build a bike and how to become a bike mechanic. But they can also earn a bike while while there. And it's one of those places.

00:39:04:02 - 00:39:04:26
Joshua Funches
One of them.

00:39:04:28 - 00:39:26:07
John Simmerman
Yeah. And it's one of those places where you can do like a Franken bike too. So, you know, because they've got all the bike parts everywhere. And and so literally, you know, a kid could, you know, like learn how to build a bike and they can be like, ooh, I want that frame up there and I want those windows or those wheels over there and, ooh, I love these pedals, you know, and they can actually create their own bike.

00:39:26:13 - 00:39:55:13
John Simmerman
So yeah, I totally get that too. And, and also, you know, part of what cities can be doing too, is thinking about, you know, do we have, you know, fun places where, you know, kids can ride their bike, you know, fun and safe places where they can do it? The Ninth Street Bike Park, which is, you know, a world famous bike park here in Austin, Texas, is a place where, you know, it's well known on on YouTube, because that's where, you know.

00:39:55:14 - 00:40:17:05
John Simmerman
So, yeah, it's well known. You know, a lot of the kids, you know, are, you know, have learned how to ride and then eventually went on to the X-Games, you know, to be participating and getting huge aerials and all this kind of cool stuff. And then, you know, like out in the Miller neighborhood, they just built a new skate park slash bike part.

00:40:17:08 - 00:40:53:00
John Simmerman
I heard just a few blocks away from a brand new middle school that's been built and the middle school and, the bike park, are accessible through protected bikeways. And so, you know, these are the types of things that we're talking about in my vernacular. I consider them safe and inviting activity assets, their assets within our built environment that encourage all ages and abilities to be able to get some activity and and like you said, build out, you know, sort of burn off some of that active in an energy that they have and and also be able to work on their socialization skills.

00:40:53:00 - 00:41:02:05
John Simmerman
Maybe they're meeting other kids from other neighborhoods, you know that they don't already go to school with and they can come together with a commonality.

00:41:02:07 - 00:41:06:29
Joshua Funches
100% 100%. I see have our our X opportunity out here.

00:41:07:03 - 00:41:39:03
John Simmerman
So we have your Twitter National Youth Bike Council. There's also an X slash Twitter page for the bike summit as well. And it seems like a pretty active out here on on on on ex on Twitter and yep they're symbol to right there got that redoing just an hour ago on that and you know this is this is a huge thing one of the comments that's that's highlighted right here is that yeah black and brown youth would benefit from this so much as well.

00:41:39:09 - 00:42:11:02
John Simmerman
And this one of the biggest challenges that we have had historically within the bicycle advocacy movement is it's just like it's so white, you know what I mean? And that's that's a travesty because, you know, what we really see is that level of empowerment when we are able to get more people of color engaged in riding bicycles and the things that you mentioned earlier, the things that are of the possibilities could be potential careers.

00:42:11:02 - 00:42:34:00
John Simmerman
It could be this, it could be that. It talk a little bit about that, because I think that's a huge, huge Achilles heel that we have within the bicycle movement, not just in North America, even globally. So talk about it from your perspective, because you've been engaged in this since you were like, Yeah, yeah, exactly.

00:42:34:02 - 00:42:51:15
Joshua Funches
You can kind of already see me making some faces because I'm like the solution. If you ask me if I'm if I'm kind of thinking about it, I'm thinking about it kind of like a problem solution standpoint. Like, I know there's definitely a solution for it. I think the solution needs some refinement, but I, you know, like I said, young people have lots of ideas.

00:42:51:15 - 00:43:13:14
Joshua Funches
I think that we're kind of not leaning on the pull of like, this is how I would like to be engaged kind of thing. So one time I think I was at like a conference and someone asked me, Well, what do you do with really children or something like that or something like that? Because we were talking about like maybe like urban appeal, like the appeal of urban design.

00:43:13:16 - 00:43:28:22
Joshua Funches
And they were like, Well, what do you do about like the really children? And I was like, Have you ever rode with the children? Have you ever experienced what the really children experience? Have you ever talked to your child? Like if you haven't done one of those and you kind of don't understand what they would think and you could probably answer that question yourself.

00:43:28:22 - 00:43:38:09
Joshua Funches
Like, what about that? You probably also yourself might not be able to really, but they wouldn't turn you away. Maybe they laugh at you a little bit, but you have. So I think that.

00:43:38:10 - 00:43:52:29
John Simmerman
For those women and for those who may not know what the Willy children are, describe that for the audience. And keeping in mind that this really, truly is an international audience. So people are going to be tuning in, watching and listening from around the globe.

00:43:53:02 - 00:44:13:10
Joshua Funches
yeah. So really, we have like a huge culture here, actually a really huge culture in Philly, too, of taking your bicycle and lifting it up and just riding with it on one wheel for like the longest letter that you can normally can get pretty dangerous for. Maybe like your swerving or something like that on the street and any form of traffic or whatever.

00:44:13:13 - 00:44:22:11
Joshua Funches
I think I don't remember if in Philly they actually did on the highway once and they did do a lot of it. It was really crazy. It was years ago. But yeah, that's that's kind of the that's the.

00:44:22:11 - 00:44:41:20
John Simmerman
Culture, that's the movement that has taken place. I always give the props to that, that that person I almost said that kid because sometimes it's, you know, sometimes it's not a kid, sometimes it's not a youth because ultimately it's a heck of a lot of fun. So you even see some guys and go, Wait a minute, you about my age, What are you doing out there?

00:44:41:22 - 00:44:53:01
John Simmerman
But you know what? They're out there. I give huge props to that. That that that individual that's out there and doesn't even have a front wheel. It's like, you're really committed to this.

00:44:53:03 - 00:44:53:29
John Simmerman

00:44:54:01 - 00:45:22:14
Joshua Funches
Yeah. So my, my, my answer or thought around like diversity around. I would say it kind of goes back to strategic or systematic approaches to engaging young people. I got involved through an after school program and one of the reasons I love it so much is because I would argue that the school systems nowadays are kind of geared that like if you're in like a very predominately black or brown school for the most part, at least in my experience, odds are you're not going to be engaged in the bicycle program.

00:45:22:16 - 00:45:54:11
Joshua Funches
A lot of the bicycle programs I've spoken to or talk with or engage with are not involved in black and brown schools. But normally, because some of those schools are in urban areas and urban schools are extremely hard to get a program into. So I'm not necessarily putting blame on anybody specifically, but I think that like thinking through different ways of reaching young people is worth the effort because I don't think that should by council would have been started or the bicycle be continuing post-pandemic one if the council did pick it up or two if the council didn't invest.

00:45:54:13 - 00:46:18:18
Joshua Funches
And I think it's really great that like when we look at the diversity of the council so far, it's it's very diverse, like because this is the environment that we came from. So this is the environment that we're building. And I think that like one short term solution could potentially be and I'm just throwing out ideas here, would be continue invest in like afterschool programs because those don't have a limit on they're kind of involved in the community and they already reach the school.

00:46:18:19 - 00:46:37:08
Joshua Funches
Those students after school, if you can't get it in the school Castleman program kind of thing, I feel like more solutions like that would be worth thinking about. And then also just talking to the students themselves, I would put that first, you know, like talking to the students or the folks you're trying to reach. You reach for like, how would you want to see this in school?

00:46:37:08 - 00:46:47:25
Joshua Funches
Would you want to do this in school and stuff like that? It's always been very interesting to watch, but I think that's kind of how we're shooting ourselves in the foot by not involving more black and brown students and stuff like that. Yeah.

00:46:47:28 - 00:47:21:10
John Simmerman
So I want to definitely give a shout out to the Yellow Bike project and the Yellow bike program here in Austin. They've done a fantastic job. As I said, you can, you know, the members of the community can, can learn how to build a bike and repair a bike and earn a bike. And it is a nonprofit community bike shop here in Austin, Texas, on the east side of town, would not not too terribly far from where we met up at the Rethink 35 rally this past weekend.

00:47:21:12 - 00:47:55:26
John Simmerman
Fantastic. A initiative, fantastic program. Again, another one of those potential afterschool sort of engagement opportunities. Boom, right there. The other one I have to give a shout out to is the just all those cycling initiative that also operates out on the east side of town. They they actually are on the east side of Austin as well as down in San Antonio with an express mission of working with schools that are traditionally or have been the black and brown schools and are very much in need.

00:47:55:26 - 00:48:36:11
John Simmerman
And so they have bicycle education, engagement activities. They also, you know, they're not just helping kids to we don't see it in this particular photo, but they also work with older adults with the Golden Rollers program and seem thing getting individuals out on bikes and being able to engage. And so I think that yeah, there it is Golden rollers here's here's here's a shot here of that particular initiative and they have a whole series of of tricycles that help get, you know, those you know, individuals that may not feel comfortable even balancing on a bike out, you know, riding again.

00:48:36:18 - 00:48:55:04
John Simmerman
And so really tremendous programs. And I think that these are the types of programs that communities around the globe can be benchmarking off of and thinking about, of trying to engage, you know, those those communities, those traditionally underinvested in communities that are out there.

00:48:55:06 - 00:49:15:21
Joshua Funches
Absolutely. 100% agree. And thanks for the shout out. Also, I just want to thank you, too, as well for having me on the podcast specifically, because I think that, like advocacy and awareness is we still we're still fighting a pretty hefty battle. Even with our youth advocacy, we get pushback every now and then. There's lots of questions on who can young people really do this particular work, you know, facing a particular solution.

00:49:15:21 - 00:49:41:24
Joshua Funches
There's a lot of things like that still. So I appreciate you having the opportunity to be on here. But I think that the advocacy is still very much needed in awareness around specifically having, like no government organizations all the way to maybe even folks in the industry find ways to strategically support youth serving organizations, which would be just like a win win for them because more young people piped into loving bikes in the long run is just a great thing in general.

00:49:41:26 - 00:49:51:23
John Simmerman
Yeah, you know, good stuff to close this out here. So again, the youth Bike summit is coming once again. What are those dates again?

00:49:51:26 - 00:49:56:04
Joshua Funches
June 14th to June 16 and 24th.

00:49:56:06 - 00:50:22:03
John Simmerman
In Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. Congratulations on getting it into the state of Pennsylvania. I, I was up in that area not too terribly long ago. I had the honor of being the keynote speaker at the Trails and Greenways Summit for the state of Pennsylvania. And so I got to rub shoulders with some folks that were involved with building trails throughout the state of Pennsylvania, including in and in Philadelphia.

00:50:22:03 - 00:50:31:05
John Simmerman
So that was a heck of a lot of fun. So I really enjoyed that. It was the first time I'd ever visited Scranton, Pennsylvania, too. So that was kind of cool. So good stuff.

00:50:31:06 - 00:50:37:23
Joshua Funches
Yeah, it's another little major area. So my shadow would be set up for the summer newsletter and hopefully you get a chance to see you there as well.

00:50:37:25 - 00:50:43:02
John Simmerman
Fantastic. Joshua, thank you so much. It has been an absolute joy and pleasure.

00:50:43:05 - 00:50:44:26
Joshua Funches
Thank you so much for having me on.

00:50:44:29 - 00:51:00:02
John Simmerman
Hey, thank you so much for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed this episode with Joshua about the National Bike Council and the Youth Bike Summit. 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, I'd be honored to have you subscribe to the channel.

00:51:00:02 - 00:51:20:21
John Simmerman
Just click on that subscription button down below and ring the notifications bell. And if you're enjoying this content that I'm creating, please consider supporting my efforts out on Patreon. You can become one of the active Towns ambassadors and have access to all this content ad free and early. Again, thank you so much for tuning in. It means so much to me.

00:51:20:21 - 00:51:44:17
John Simmerman
And until next time, this is John signing off by wishing you much activity, health and happiness. Cheers and again sending a huge thank you to all my active towns Ambassadors supporting the channel on Patron 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.

00:51:44:20 - 00:51:45:27
John Simmerman
Thank you all so much.