Originally shared on 4 May 2020.

In this issue: Partner highlight: Political Education & Youth Power in a Bicycle Workshop | Note: COVID —19 and philanthropy

Dear reader,

Our partner Taller Comunitario Enchúlame la Bici, a group of bicycle activists, runs a community workshop in the Pensil neighborhood of Mexico City. Community members visit the communal space to learn bike mechanics, repair bikes, or build new ones from scratch using recycled parts. Enchúlame la Bici also influences urban mobility policy through conferences and public advocacy.

Enchúlame la Bici is so much more than a bike shop: they provide a safe space for youth to gather and find employment, support women’s leadership, and advance green transportation policy. 

A partner of Global Greengrants Fund, Enchúlame la Bici is ramping up activities as more people rely on bikes during this pandemic, and is spreading public health messages city-wide. During this global crisis, it’s community spaces like these, already embedded in neighborhoods, that are meeting the material and informational needs of communities around the world.

CLIMA member Global Greengrants Fund provides thousands of small grants to climate justice organizations globally. Alongside other CLIMA members that provide long-term funding to national and global movements, we can collectively support movement ecosystems. Enchúlame la Bici is an example of an emerging organization that, knitted together with other community efforts around the world, is shifting the landscape of sustainable development, local regenerative economy, green mobility, and youth and women’s leadership.

With the COVID-19 pandemic intensifying and bringing into light the inequities of capitalism, this is the time to radically reimagine the future. We can refuse to go back to the old normal and instead walk towards a future where youth have access to safe jobs and green transport. 

As the links between COVID-19 and climate change are exposed, there is an opportunity to invest in solutions that will not only limit the spread of disease in the future, but also build the resilience of communities facing the greatest public health crisis of our lifetime. We recognize that the best response to such pandemics or the climate crisis is community strength and cohesion.