Bike Family Day
As part of the Shifting Gears bike education provided by Propel ATL during the Atlanta Parks and Recreation after-school program, families are invited to participate in Bike Family Day!
Bike Family Day will reinforce the biking skills children learned during the Shifting Gears bike education program and help parents fine-tune their own skills. Bike Family Day is a FREE, fun-filled event bringing families together from recreation centers across the city to experience the joy of biking! Bike Family Day consists of a bike safety class and a celebratory community ride.
All bikes are accounted for in the 2025 Shifting Gears season.
The first Bike Family Day was held on July 12th at William Walker Recreation Center, where 14 bikes were handed out to former Shifting Gears students and their families. We're now looking to the second iteration on July 26, where we will provide cycling education and bicycles to 36 participants at Oak Hill, Child, Family and Adolescent Center. After the success and energy from our first Bike Family Day, we're excited to let this momentum continue and end our Shifting Gears season with an even bigger bike giveaway.
Who can participate?
The event is reserved for students and their families who participated in Propel ATL’s Shifting Gears bike education program at select Atlanta recreation center afterschool programs. The recreation centers served during the 2024-2025 cycle were Anthony Flannagan, William Walker (Ben Hill), Pittman Park, Bessie Branham, and Grant Park.
Eligibility:
- Students must have participated in Shifting Gears bike education at a participating City of Atlanta Parks and Recreation afterschool program.
- Only one student and one parent or caregiver per family are eligible to receive a bike (5 families per recreation center will be selected out of the pool of interest forms received).
- Families must reside within the City of Atlanta or Fulton County.
- Students and parents or caregivers must be present for the entirety of the Bike Family Day event.
Following the instructional period, there will be a bike ride at 12:00 PM which will be open to all members of the community - bike groups, local organizations, neighbors, and anyone wishing to accompany Atlanta’s newest, empowered riders.
What can I expect?
Class and Community Instructional Ride: Participants learn bicycling safety basics in a classroom learning atmosphere (two hours). They then receive bikes and safety gear and join our instructors for a 30-45-minute group ride (about one hour).
When will it be held?
Date: Saturday, July 12, 2025, and July 26, 2025
Location Name: William Walker Recreation Center for July 12 and Oak Hill, Child, Family and Adolescent Center
Time: 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM
About Bike Family
The Bike Family program equips people of all ages with the skills, resources, and confidence they need to experience the joy of biking so they can safely get to their destination. Participants from community groups complete a bike safety class and receive bicycles, helmets, and lights after the program. Bike Family was developed in 2018 to promote the joyous freedom of cycling to students, caregivers, and school staff while supporting schools to adopt practices and policies that help more people choose sustainable transportation. Historically, Propel ATL has partnered with neighborhood schools and YMCAs across many Atlanta communities with participants usually hailing from the Atlanta Public School system.
Beginning in the Fall of 2024, Bike Family was integrated into Propel ATL’s Shifting Gears bicycle education program targeting primary-aged children. With this transition, the focus and collaboration has been with Atlanta Parks and Recreation afterschool programs to cater to a wider audience of students. This 2024-2025 cycle, Shifting Gears cycling education will be provided to recreation centers near Atlanta’s High-Injury Network ( HIN ): Anthony Flannagan, William Walker (Ben Hill), Pittman Park, Dunbar, and Grant Park Recreation Centers. The culmination of this year’s Bike Family efforts will be on two Bike Family Days, hosted on July 12, 2025 and July 26, 2025.
In over six years, Bike Family has provided cycling safety classes and equipment to more than 300 children, parents, caregivers, and teachers across many Atlanta communities, helping to foster even stronger support and demand for safe streets for us all.
Past cohorts
Summer 2023
T.H. Slater Elementary and The Villages at Carver YMCA
Bike Family Program, T.H. Slater Elementary and The Villages at Carver YMCA, summer 2023
Spring 2022
Atlanta SMART Academy and Andrew & Walter Young Family YMCA
Spring 2021
Finch Elementary School
Fall 2020
Tuskegee Airmen Global Academy
2019
Oak Hill Child, Adolescent, and Family Center
Partners
Thank you to our instructors, Anthony Allen, Cheri Akins, Kysha Hehn, Shakeesha Jeffries, Bruce Morton, and James Tyler. We’d additionally like to thank our newly certified instructors who were able to shadow and co-teach some Shifting Gears classes: Bavard Rahdar, Kimerie Swift, Marjon Manitius, Monte Watson, and Tatiana Gibson.
Free classes, bicycles, and equipment are provided with support from the Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority and the City of Atlanta Department of Parks and Recreation.
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