Help start an adventure cycling program for BIPOC

A journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step. - Lao Tzu

This is the crowdfunding page for Lost Soul Courier Collective. We are based in San Francisco, CA and we are dedicated to community enrichment through messenger culture and bikepacking/touring. Our mission statement is simple: to bring bicycles to people who need them the most. For the foreseeable future we will have 2 main objectives: to use bikes to deliver food and harm reduction supplies wherever they are needed, and to bring bikepacking and courier culture to at risk and high risk youth and adults. These 2 things coupled with each other have given me a great sense of purpose and dignity, and I believe it is my responsibility to share this with my community.
Objectives:
1. Lost Soul Courier Collective
     We are bike messengers by trade. We use the skills we have acquired through our time as couriers to deliver food and harm reduction to various sites throughout San Francisco. We need funds to buy at least 2 cargo bikes and a van for outreach. We also need funds for supplies (utensils, kitchen ware, sanitary supplies)
2. Ghetto Randonneurs Cycling Club
    We are adventurous by nature. We believe that bike touring and adventure cycling in particular can be used as a tool of growth and healing. There is a healing property in nature; it heals the mind and body and spirit. In my own personal journey I have found that bikepacking has helped me heal from my own traumas and addictions. To put it bluntly, It serves as a healthy  alternative to substance abuse. So far I have 2 groups I would like to assemble:
•Youth Ride
          My target is at risk and high risk youth between the ages of 10 to 18. I would also like to have a presence at schools. Something like an alternative school, or maybe a summer camp. Definitely at the very least an after school program. 
           
•Sober Ride
           My target audience is anyone at all who enjoys riding a bike, and would like to enjoy an inclusive sober safe space centered on gravel and adventure biking. 

I’m sure as time goes on we would like to expand and collaborate with other community leaders and organizers. We are open to all suggestions and ideas. We want every marginalized community on a bike and on a trail, and we will help anyone facilitate a nature ride or workshop in this respect.

REPRESENTATION AND BIPOC VISIBILITY ON THE TRAIL
Cycling is a white male dominated sport. The equipment is largely unaffordable to most BIPOC. As a cyclist, I don’t see a lot of BIPOC being represented in cycling at all. On top of that, it’s not hard to see why we as people of color don’t feel welcomed or wanted in the greater cycling community, let alone the gravel and adventure cycling community. As we all know, the events of the past few weeks have put a spot light on the discrimination and injustices that POC, and in particular black people, face on a daily basis. Christian Cooper, a black man, was bird watching in Central Park when he was threatened with police presence by a white woman. In the video, words are exchanged, and the woman pulls out her phone and says she is going to tell them that an AFRICAN AMERICAN MAN is threatening her life (extra emphasis on African American). Ahmaud Arbery was chased downed and murdered by white men in a white neighborhood because “he looked suspicious.” His crime? Simply going for a jog through a neighborhood where he was deemed out of place. The last thing he ever did was try to maintain his health through exercise. It’s these instances that reinforce the idea that we as people of color must take our place on the trail, in the great outdoors, places where we have have no representation or recognition. We have every right to explore nature without being bothered or made to feel uncomfortable, whether it be through birding, or biking, or just having a picnic in the park. It is critical that we do this work, and we do it in a way that forces us to be seen and heard and accepted.