Whatcom Mountain Bike Coalition

Education: WMBC After School Ride Clubs (ASBC): 14 Bellingham elementary and middle school clubs, including Flying Squirrels girls riding group. ASBC's groups ride spring and fall on weekly rides. This program reached 474 students this year. We had over 80 volunteer ride leaders support this program.Youth Trail Corps (YTC): A cornerstone of our youth programs gives any interested middle schooler/teen youth the opportunity to explore how to sustainably build and maintain trails. They worked hard all year on Galbraith Mountain focusing on a variety of issues, strategies and solutions to help our trails run even better. We served over 87 teens in 2024 and offered 18 Youth Trail Corps days and three summer camps.WMBC/Vamos Outdoors Project: This program is an ongoing program for multiple groups of English Language Learners youth ranging from grades K-12. We are engaging youth in our community who normally do not access trails and the outdoors. Mountain biking provides youth with an appreciation of the outdoors, physical and mental challenges, and exciting engagement with their surrounding environment. The program includes bikes as transportation curriculum and group rides for participants grades 6-12. The participants have an opportunity to take home a bike, lock, light set, and helmet. The Vamos Bike Program is supported with funding from Washington's Climate Commitment Act. The CCA supports Washington's climate action efforts by putting cap-and-invest dollars to work reducing climate pollution, creating jobs, and improving public health. Information about the CCA is available at www.climate.wa.gov. In 2024, we served approximately 210 Latine youth for weekly bike programming and one-day community outreach bike programming.JoyRiders: The JoyRiders is a mountain bike club that is all about getting women (18+) out on the trails and having fun. In 2024, the JoyRiders hosted 220 riders over 22 group rides. They also held a very successful fundraiser at Kulshan Brewing, a trail workday, sponsored a women's only race, and held a maintenance clinic. This program is supported by 15 very dedicated volunteers.WMBC Ambassador Program: In 2024, we utilized the Ambassador Program to help foster a positive interaction on the trails we manage. We have 40 trail ambassadors who help folks navigate various areas, provide etiquette reminders and directional assistance, and help support our other fundraisers and events.