Our friends at Neighborhood Bike Works just announced their Bikes for Neighbors program, where they will be connecting local essential workers with bicycles during the COVID pandemic.

Neighborhood Bike Works (NBW), located on Lancaster Avenue in West Philadelphia, is a not-for-profit organization focused on teaching youth how to fix bikes, giving them the chance to earn a bike and exploring new places by bike. Given the recent COVID panic, NBW has begun refurbishing used bicycles for essential workers who need them.

“We know that many essential workers rely on public transit to get to and from work and that social distancing on SEPTA can be impossible,” NBW wrote in their recent press release about the new program. “Add to that, SEPTA service has been reduced. We hope our refurbished bikes will reduce dependence on SEPTA and create more physical distance for essential travel.

“Beyond connecting essential workers to bikes, we will provide bike donations to guardians of youth in our programs in order to encourage them to ride as a family.”

As many know, the Bicycle Coalition recently released a survey asking essential workers what services they need from us at this time. Since then, we’ve begun unveiling our new services, including Tune-Up Tuesdays on Facebook Live, which debuted on Tuesday at noon.

Around the same time, Neighborhood Bike Works began working on Bike for Neighbors as a way to serve essential workers during the COVID pandemic. Both our organizations believe bicycles are an important tool always, and can be swiftly utilized during the COVID pandemic. We are doing everything we can to help connect essential workers to the Bikes for Neighbors program.

For those interested in Bikes for Neighbors, fill out this form.