The history of Recycle-A-Bicycle organization Essay

Recycle-A-Bicycle is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1994 as a youth program whose sole intention was to provide alternative transportation. As an education resource for the students in the local areas, RAB encouraged at least twenty-five boys and girls, and some were offered working opportunities in the stores. The first RAB shop was set up in East Village, in 1994. Later on, RAB managed to open a second shop in the DUMBO, Brooklyn on Pearl Street. With the support of Henry Street Settlement and Children's Aid Society, the program was able to recycle the discarded bicycles. It became an established non-profit firm in 1998. Fourteen years down the line, the organization has thrived and has made great achievements in developing the youths and saving the environment.
To promote its missions, Recycle-A-Bicycle (RAB) has focused on assessing environmental threats, equip the youths with adequate technical skills to handle the environmental problems and reward the participants appropriately. The firm has also managed to develop new programs such environmental education, healthy living, youth development and community engagement. Such achievements have been made possible by the availability of support from social entrepreneurship, retail store fronts and innovative programs. The New York City youths have also benefited from the RAB innovative programs such as High School Internships, Earn-A-Bike, Kids Ride Club, stewardship, Green Jobs Training Programs, Recycled Arts Workshop, employment of New York City youths and Summer Youth Employment Program. It has also expanded to other parts hence it has split its storefronts into two Seventeen school-based programs that are found in District 75 and an education center locate in the Long Island City Queens. By 2008, RAB had attracted more than 185,000 cyclists increasing the number of bicycle commuters by 26%. Surprisingly, only 25% of these cyclists were women. About 75% of them were men. One would expect that more women would have come up to support Karen Overton. However, only about a quarter of the cyclists are female. By 2013, the organization had more than 10,000 customers due to its expansion and popularity (Overton, Recycle-A-Bicycle 2013 Annual Report).
Basic history of Karen Overton, the founder of Recycle-A-Bicycle (RAB)
Having been born in Arlington, Massachusetts, Karen Overton spent most of her childhood time in Syracuse, New York City. She underwent an exchange student program in Brazil where she developed most of her interests in the developing and underdeveloped world. During her undergraduates at The State University of New York, Albany, Overtone studied Latin American and Caribbean studies and later majored in Urban and Regional Planning in her master's degree. She visited Mozambique, Africa where she worked as the director of Bikes for Africa. For most of the times that Karen was away from New York City, her primary mode of transportation was a bicycle. Her idea of bicycle commuting started during her visit to Mozambique. Initially, she thought the bicycle commuting was a social justice issue. However, she later realized that it was a matter of human rights arguing that cycling should