Our latest Social Impact report is hot off the press and shows just how far we’ve come in the past 10 years. From humble beginnings working out of a back garden, we’ve grown into a dynamic community hub welcoming hundreds of people through our doors each week, whether it’s to ‘earn’ a bike, volunteer, learn mechanics or just come and have a cuppa!
Here are some of the things we’ve achieved since we started in 2008…
- we have empowered well over 2,000 people from marginalised backgrounds to become independently mobile in the city through access to affordable and sustainable transport.
- we are now home to a diverse community of over 170 volunteers and Co-op members who are supported to develop lifelong bike mechanic skills, build friendships and have contact with positive role models.
- we work with over 60 organisations across Bristol, including Bristol Refugee Rights, Bristol Drugs Project and Second Step, to support some of the city’s most marginalised communities.
Here are some of the things people have said about us…
Caroline Beatty, a former Director of Bristol Refugee Rights, one of the Project’s first referral organisations says, The Bristol Bike Project “has it all – It’s a working community that boosts skills and confidence, enables people to manage poverty, blurs the line between helper and helped, increases physical fitness, reduces landfill waste and dependence on fossil fuels.”
Sean, who was referred to the Earn-a-Bike programme by Bristol Drugs Project back in 2010 and has remained involved as a volunteer ever since says having a bike and being involved in the Project has had a transformative impact on his life.
“Finding the Project was such an important part of my recovery. The bike keeps me clean. But the best thing about this place is that it is immediately welcoming. Anyone who has been an addict will know just how important it is to be accepted in that way.”
You can find out more about our journey in our latest Social Impact report and latest film The Bristol Bike Project: 10 years and counting…
