Mayor's Office of Early Childhood - City of Boston

Overview:Boston is a city of more than 675,000 residents. 53% of residents are people of color, almost one-third of our population is foreign-born, with many who are the children of immigrants, and 23% of our children live in poverty. Like the rest of the country, in Boston, lower-income families, new immigrants, and families of color are less likely to have access to recreational infrastructure. This impacts their children’s ability to learn how to swim and bike, participate in out-of-school sports programs, and experience the arts and urban agriculture. These families also have a higher prevalence of overweight and obesity and are more greatly impacted by the climate crisis and environmental injustice, such as increased exposure to air pollution. The City of Boston seeks to remedy these disparities by increasing the access to and quality of physical activity infrastructure offered to all Boston residents, particularly to children under eight. National and state-level health surveys and screenings have found that among all children, obesity prevalence increases with age and has a negative correlation with family income. The 2017 Body Mass Index (BMI) screening of public school children in Massachusetts shows that in Boston, 33.8% of first-grade students were overweight or obese, a percentage that increased to 43.1% in fourth grade and to 46.2% in seventh grade. This trend is disturbing since obesity can increase a child’s risk for serious and chronic medical problems, such as type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure, later in life. In Boston, rates of adult diabetes and hypertension are higher in neighborhoods with higher proportions of Black and/or Latinx residents, among families with lower household income, and among residents of public housing – characteristics that largely mirror our Boston Public Schools population. Neighborhoods with higher rates of adult diabetes and hypertension include Dorchester, East Boston, Hyde Park, Mattapan, Roxbury, and South Boston. These same neighborhoods are also disproportionately impacted by climate change. In MA, 42% of greenhouse gasses come from transportation, and 58% of transportation emissions come from gasoline-powered personal vehicles. We are working to improve our cycling and safe streets infrastructure, but in order to decrease transportation-related emissions, we must increase the use of bikes and other forms of active transportation across our city. This requires teaching biking skills and strengthening the biking culture and community in neighborhoods that have historically lacked access. In response to these challenges, the City launched Connect, Learn, Explore: Boston’s Commitment to Youth in March 2023. Our commitment is that by the time every child in Boston turns eight, they will learn to swim, bike, and play a sport, as well as participate in the arts and growing food. To deliver on this promise, we aim to promote policies, programs, systems, and infrastructure to empower all young children and their families to improve their overall health and well-being as well as that of their city. Connect, Learn, Explore has built a partnership with the Streets Cabinet’s Boston Bikes team to deliver the bike programming component of our initiative. For over 15 years, Boston Bikes has provided free programs to children and adults across the city. Through our Women’s Learn-to-Ride program (offered annually from spring through fall in multiple neighborhoods), approximately a thousand women have learned to pedal or improved skills and confidence on a bike. Through our BPS-based Youth Cycling Program (on hiatus since 2017 but relaunching in Spring 2024 in 10 schools), more than 38,000 students from 2nd through 12th grade have participated in on-bike education during school time, building skills, having fun, and getting physical activity. Teachers regularly report that the Youth Cycling Program is a highlight of the school year for many of their students. Through our Community Bike Repair workshops (offered year-round), residents in neighborhoods across Boston have gotten free bike repair services while learning basic bike maintenance skills. Key Duties and Responsibilities:Last Summer, the Mayor’s office launched Connect, Learn, Explore: Boston’s Commitment to Youth , a program promising every child in Boston will learn to swim, bike, and play a sport as well as participate in the arts and grow a green generation by the time they turn eight. In the Summer of 2023, the Office of Early Childhood (OEC) partnered with internal and external partners to pilot a summer bike riding program for young children. The pilot took place at White Stadium, East Boston Stadium, and Hunt Almont Park, as well as at 11 other Community Partners locations across the city. This Summer, in addition to the programs at community partners across the city, we will partner with the Boston Transport Department (BTD) to expand access to the biking portion of this program by developing and delivering a biking program at 4 parks (White Stadium Park, East Boston Memorial Stadium Park, Almont Park, and Ronan Park) and 3 Boston Centers for Youth & Families (BCYF); BCYF Blackstone, BCYF Gallivan and BCYF Pino. Due to construction, White Stadium summer programming will take place at Playstead Park just behind White stadium. Boston Bikes will provide expertise and oversight of the biking program by dedicating a team of experienced instructors to train a Bike Crew consisting of 21 youth interns and 7 Supervisor interns. Three Bike Crew members will be assigned to each site for the summer. Supervisors will be assigned to oversee Crew members at one or two sites each. Boston Bikes professional instructors will visit each site at least once per week, and be available on call at other times to provide youth and Supervisor interns with ongoing training, feedback and professional development opportunities to ensure they have a meaningful experience. The initial training will focus on teaching children safe biking skills, behavior management techniques, and basic bicycle fleet management activities.h. Bike Crew members will be responsible for running on-bike activities to help children learn to ride a bike safely, while having fun and staying active. Supervisors will provide oversight and extra support, particularly for more staff-intensive activities like leading bike rides outside of the primary bicycle programming area. The Ideal Candidate for this Job:The Bike Supervisor will be responsible for overseeing the bike program that is focused on children building skills and confidence on a bike, while engaging in safe, engaging outdoor activities.