The BIPOC Bike Adventure Grant is Bikepacking Roots' grant program created to help reduce the barriers to bike adventure for BIPOC individuals.  The BIPOC Bike Adventure Grant will support recipients by helping fund a fun and empowering bike adventure.

Apply between now and November 8th. We anticipate requiring ~4-5 weeks to review and follow up with all applicants, meaning we plan on announcing the recipients and their planned adventures in mid-December.

Qualified applicants are those who

• have any level of experience riding a bicycle.
• would benefit from support in order to pursue a specific bike adventure.
• identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color).
  
• live in the United States.
• are any gender identity, age, class, body size, or ability.

Proposals can include requests of $500 to $3,000+ for the autumn 2020 grant cycle. The next grant cycle will open in late spring of 2021. Some equipment support will also be available as needed.

What will and won't the grant fund?

• The grant will fund adventures planned for roughly the first half of 2021 (for the autumn 2020 grant cycle)
• Generally, awards can be used for adventure expenses including gear, travel, food, and lodging.
• Awards can be used to fund an individual’s participation in organized camps, clinics, outdoor/cycling courses, etc. 
• If desired, bikepacking and adventure planning mentorship is available from Bikepacking Roots’ staff, Regional Advisors, and volunteers around the country. 
• Awards are not currently available for formal organizations - only individuals or small groups.
• Applications can be submitted by family groups or by groups of up to three unrelated individuals
  

Adventures in the time of Covid-19

We understand that planning adventures during the Covid-19 pandemic is challenging and can be fraught with uncertainty. If your adventure is not currently possible to safely pursue, please describe how you could adapt it for safe adventuring in the time of Covid-19. Please consider the viability of travel and potential impacts on small/rural communities. Along these lines, for 2020 and early 2021, awards will only be granted for adventures planned within the United States. We also strongly encourage applicants to plan trips that do not rely on air travel, do not include large groups of people, do not involve indoor activity, and can be adapted to a more local scope if needed.

What is expected from recipients?

Most simply, we expect recipients to be positive role models, stewards of the adventure cycling community, and respectful in their travels. This grant program is in no way intended to provide any content, marketing materials, or products for Bikepacking Roots - we strongly feel that this would be disingenuous. Grant recipients will not be expected to promote brands contributing funds or gear to the BIPOC Bike Adventure Grant program. But we will ask recipients for a brief post-adventure report and a few photos from their adventure that we can share to inspire future applicants and support future fundraising efforts for the grant fund. And for recipients who would like to share their stories, photography, art, writing, etc. with a broader audience, we will gladly work with them to share their stories and to make connections to colleagues in the cycling and outdoor media community.

Apply now!

We're excited to receive your application. Please respond to the questions below as thoroughly as possible. If you would prefer to submit some of your responses via a more creative format, please use the file upload option at the end of these survey questions. And if you have any questions on this program, your application, your proposed adventure, etc., please use this link to get in touch with a member of our grant review panel.

Grant applications will be reviewed by our BIPOC Bike Adventure Grant panel - Renee Hutchens, Jon Yazzie, Erick Cedeño, and Sam Scipio.

Recipients will be notified by mid-December!