Richmond Cycling Corps

About

Richmond Cycling Corps is changing the lives of youth who live in Richmond's public housing projects through cycling, education, and mentorship. While cycling is the main vehicle for programming, the heart of our organization is serving disadvantaged youth who live in generational poverty.

Categories Program Children & Youth BIPOC

Program Details

Our mission is to educate and empower the lives of Richmond youth living in the heart of the East End by constantly pivoting towards relevant outreach.

Richmond Cycling Corps (RCC) was founded in 2010 by Craig Dodson, who saw an immediate need to provide outreach, mentorship, and enrichment to disadvantaged youth living in the public housing projects in Richmond’s East End. He recognized that at-risk youth rarely sign up for outreach programs, and that cycling was an excellent vehicle for interaction. He leaned on his past experience as a professional cyclist to develop programs that provided access to cycling activities for youth living in poverty. Cycling also provided physical activity and time outdoors—both of which have been shown to improve physical and mental health.

Another component of the program is mentorship. We built a strong relationship of trust and support with teens interested in cycling through daily interactions. The youth that RCC works with need help navigating a myriad of life situations, including employment, education, and relationships with peers and adults. Youth can learn to maintain and repair their bicycles through our program. This teaches valuable skills that put young people in charge of their own transportation for work, shopping, and daily travel.

In 2016, RCC launched a bike rental project called The Kickstand on the Virginia Capital Trail, a 52-mile long paved greenway that runs from Williamsburg to Richmond. The Kickstand directly increases the utilization of the Virginia Capital Trail by providing affordable bike rentals to the community. In 2021, we had over 240 cyclists rent bikes from The Kickstand to ride on the Capital Trail. In 2023, those numbers continued to grow and have nearly doubled in 2024. The Kickstand provides employment opportunities for BIPOC youth in underserved communities. In a typical year, we have over 450 hours of paid employment, resulting in nearly $7,000 in wages for RCC’s youth. Employees of The Kickstand are all youth who either still live or once lived in the public housing neighborhoods of the East End.

Providing consistent service and mentorship for our youth is paramount for our organization. Our relationships have been built by showing up for our youth every day, exercising clear boundaries, and working through conflict. The road is always rough for youth who grow up in an environment with resource and food insecurity. This is why we focus on providing support in Richmond’s East End, where violent crime rates are high and there is easy access to drugs and firearms. It is imperative that we meet youth on their level and in their vulnerable spaces: their homes.

Services Offered
A typical day at RCC headquarters involves a broad mix of activities: recreational cycling programs for youths ages 11-18; development and implementation of training plans for youths’ fitness goals; training rides for the RCC cycling team; health discussions; assistance with resume writing and job applications; tutoring; transportation; and connection to healthcare services. Our mentors also provide advice and guidance to help the youth in our program learn better problem-solving skills. To say that Richmond Cycling Corps is simply a cycling program barely scratches the surface of the work we do and the ways in which we connect the youth in our program to possibilities for a better future. Cycling is a great vehicle to connect with youth in Richmond’s East End. After they join RCC, we can connect them to the network of professional resources we have established over a decade of working in underserved communities.

Contact Emily Monroe, Director of Development emily@richmondcyclingcorps.org (804) 334-4670 Website

Populations Served
We serve primarily Black, low-income youth living in public housing in Richmond, Virginia. The housing projects of Fairfield Court, Whitcomb, Mosby Court, and Creighton Court have created a dramatic level of concentrated poverty in the East End. Richmond in particular has the 6th highest concentration of poverty in all of America. The median household income in this area is $45,117 while the census tracts that encompass Fairfield Court, Mosby Court, and Creighton Court have a median household income ranging from $11,625 to $15,126. These are the neighborhoods where we spend the majority of our time building relationships with the children and families growing up there.

Staff Composition
Our staff is composed of two full-time employees, an Executive Director, and a Director of Development. Additionally, we have two part-time employees who handle The Kickstand operations and program coordination.

Cost to Participate
There is no cost to participate in any of Richmond Cycling Corps’s programs.

A cyclist rides a bike along a forest trail, which is bordered by thick, green trees that give way to deeper forestry. The cyclist looks ahead to scout the trail before them; they also wear a bright yellow helmet and gloves for safety.

A group of kids in biking helmets happily pose for a nighttime picture. Three hold up their hands to pose while the remaining two remain simply standing. They have flashlights as well as lights attached to their helmets, which illuminate the dark space around them.

A youth practices his biking skills on an indoor biking machine and beams at the camera. Another person is training on the machine beside the youth, though he is looking away toward the biking equipment lined up in the background.

Two cyclists leave their bikes behind on the sand shaded by trees. One cyclist is catching up to the other, who is standing at the edge of a lake. The water surface sparkles under the bright, sunny sky, and on the other side of the lake are endless verdant trees that stretch far into the horizon.

Three cyclists sit on a bench in a skate park. Their bicycles are laid on the ground behind them as they take a break together. Other cyclists can be seen riding throughout the park and enjoying the sunny day outside. Trees border the park and a bright blue sky full of clouds stretches over the scene.

A cyclist cruises along a concrete wall on his bike. On the concrete wall itself is a large mural, which involves various paintings of different scenery that all combine to make the overall mural. The painting includes art of clouds, a house among hills, a geometric depiction of a landscape, and silhouettes of trees that open to reveal a nighttime sky.

A cyclist is cruising along a pier that extends into a lake. Their confidence in biking clearly shows from the way they stretch their arms out instead of holding onto their bike handlebars. The sky overhead is bright blue, with large clouds looming in the distance. On one side of the horizon are large skyscrapers, which tower over the line of trees on the left side of the picture.

Richmond Cycling Corps in the Media

Outside Magazine
Read: The Kids from Cool Lane Just Want to Ride Bikes

Can't Stop, Won't Stop - Richmond Cycling Corps | SHIMANO

Monte: Can’t stop. Won’t stop | Patagonia Films

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A large group of participants line up for a photo at the edge of a hill. They are all dressed in biking gear and have their arms thrown up in the air as a sign of triumph; some also have bikes by their sides. The background is a beautiful shot of a vast canyon, with rolling green hills that disappear far into the horizon. The clear sky overhead is lit up by a bright sun.

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