Bike Mentorship

 

About the Newcomer Bike Mentorship Program

 

The Metro Vancouver Newcomer Bike Mentorship Program is a collaborative program between HUB Cycling and the Immigrant Services Society of BC (ISSofBC), modeled off of Toronto’s CultureLink program. The first of its kind in Western Canada, the program matches recent immigrants and refugees with local volunteer “mentors”  for companionship and cultural orientation to Metro Vancouver’s active transportation lifestyle. Newcomers receive city cycling instruction and have the opportunity to spend time with their volunteer match getting oriented to local cycling routes, rules, and culture while having fun exploring the city by bike together. 

In coordination with HUB Cycling and the ISSofBC, similar versions of the program are also being offered in Toronto by CultureLink, and in Halifax by Ecology Action Centre.

As part of our funding agreement with the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) we have produced a manual for potential program delivery organisations, which outlines all the information necessary to deliver the program in a new municipality or region. Please find it here: Newcomer Bike Mentorship Program How-to Guide.

 

Program Update

 

Multi-year funding has been invested by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), so the program returned in 2021 after a two-year hiatus. HUB Cycling and the ISSofBC previously offered it as the Newcomer Bike Host Program in 2017 and 2018, with funding from local sources. In 2022, for the first time, we had two program locations: Vancouver and the Tri-Cities. Each location had both a spring and a summer cohort. Participants met their mentors for rides in their own communities and around the Lower Mainland. Newcomers and mentors also participated in group ride activities along the Seawall in Vancouver, delivered in partnership with Mobi By Shaw Go, the local bike share service.

Please note that as of the start of 2024, the program is on hiatus while we explore future funding sources and opportunities.

At this time, we are not accepting applications for potential mentors or participants; however, please check our website regularly for updates and subscribe to our Bike Bulletin newsletter to learn when the program is running again. It is our goal to deliver the program again in the near future.

The Newcomer Bike Mentor Program is not operating in 2025. We hope to provide it in future years. Stay tuned to this web page and other HUB communications.

 

Past Participant Stories

 

The following are profiles of mentor-mentee matches from the Bike Host pilot program that ran in 2018 and the inaugural Bike Mentorship cohort in the Fall of 2021. Our team joined a few program matches during their weekly rides to allow participants to share their stories and experiences in the program. Read our blog post series to see what the participants got up to! Special thanks to Joming Lau, Louise Campbell, and Kate Shen for capturing these stories.  

 

For 2021, 2022 and 2023 the Vancouver Newcomer Bike Mentorship Program is being generously funded by The Public Health Agency of Canada, and diverse public sector, private sector, and academic in-kind contributions.  

   

 

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