Rutgers-Camden IGNITE student participants on their 2017 inaugural "new bike" ride on the Camden GreenWay | Photo by Anya Saretzky/ RTC
On April 27 at Holy Name School in Camden, New Jersey, eight fifth- through eighth-graders enthusiastically greeted their new Fuji hybrid bikes as part of the Rutger-Camden IGNITE afterschool cycling program.
RTC Youth Sojourn participants cross the Ben Franklin Bridge between Philadelphia and Camden, New Jersey, on the Circuit Trails network. | Photo by Blake Rubin
As a culmination of our summer youth programming in the Greater Philadelphia Area, RTC brought 23 young people together this August for our second annual Youth Sojourn—a five-day bike ride over 170 miles of Circuit Trails in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Led by RTC Youth Engagement Coordinator Jolie Chylack and several Youth Leaders, the sojourn capped off a great summer of watershed health education programming.
RTC Youth Leaders Allen Williams, Paul Jewell and Jaymere Copeland at the 2016 Youth Bike Summit in St. Paul, Minnesota | Photo by RTC/Anya Saretzky
During Memorial Day weekend, RTC’s Youth Leaders in the Philadelphia/Camden area attended the Youth Bike Summit at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. Jaymere Copeland, Paul Jewell and Allen Williams joined young people from across the country to learn and share ideas focused on using cycling as a tool to improve communities.
Ben Franklin Bridge between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Camden, New Jersey, part of the Circuit Trails network | Photo courtesy Mark Willard | CC by 2.0
In the Northeast part of the U.S., a bi-state project called the Circuit Trails is making waves in the walking and biking world. This network, when complete, will include 750 miles of trails in the Greater Philadelphia region covering nine counties in southeast Pennsylvania and South Jersey.