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YMCA Receives Grant for Bicycle Program

The Kentucky Bicycle and Bikeway Commission awarded a $9,200 grant to the YMCA of Central Kentucky to support the YMCA’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Program, which will be launched later this year. The purpose of the YMCA Bicycle and Pedestrian Program is to enable, encourage and support individuals and families of the community in their pursuit of health and well-being in spirit, mind, and body through bicycle/pedestrian education and encouragement programs. The long term goal for the program is to become an on-going developmental program that will enable youth, adults, and families to adopt a healthy lifestyle while helping them to develop knowledge, positive attitudes and leadership skills. 

The YMCA Bicycle and Pedestrian Program will be an extension of a health and nutrition program (Actively Healthy Kids) that was piloted last summer at the North Lexington Family YMCA. The program targeted 5-14 year olds and incorporated nutrition lessons, activity games, bicycle education, and health education implemented over an 8-week session. At the beginning of the program only 61 percent of the children could ride a bicycle without training wheels. After the 8-week program 95 percent of the children could ride a bicycle without training wheels. A total of 94 children participated in the program. 

An additional aspect of bicycle education and safety was teaching the participants the importance of wearing a bicycle helmet, correct helmet fitting, and hand signals when riding around vehicle traffic. Hand signal education was introduced at the beginning of the program and reviewed regularly with the participants throughout the eight weeks. This success of this pilot program led to the plans to expand the bicycle education programs to serve more members of the community.