This Saturday, the Kansas City Local Investment Commission (LINC) holds its first "Caring Communities Day."

The goal is to provide resources to families, from sign-ups for weatherization programs to free smoke detectors. It will be held at the Morning Star Youth and Family Life Center, and local partner agencies and organizations include the fire and police departments, Evergy, Spire and Kansas City Water Services.

Janet Miles Bartee, executive vice president of LINC, hopes the event will bring awareness pandemic resources are still available, and it will be a time to come together and celebrate the community.

"We will have Evergy there, we will be talking to people about rental assistance, just really all kinds of resources," Bartee explained. "One of the things that has come up, that there's a shortage of baby formula, and we're going to try to have some baby formula and some other baby needs there for families."

According to the Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey, more than 35% of Missouri residents still struggle to pay for usual household expenses. Bartee said Caring Communities Day will feature food, games and other activities, as well as information about rental and utility assistance programs and how to save on internet costs.

Bartee thinks one reason this resource fair is especially important in 2022 is how much families have gone through during the pandemic. She said Missourians should know community partnerships like LINC are here to help.

"We worked with our families a lot during the pandemic, and we were able to support them by just letting them know that we're here," Bartee noted. "We're going to continue to support you all, and just whatever the need is, we're going to try to facilitate and be there for you during that time."

Since 2020, the LINC and Morning Star Church team has distributed more than 25,000 COVID vaccines and more than 2.5 million pounds of food from the Youth and Family Life Center. They have also helped families access $1.7 million in utility and rental assistance. LINC is one of 20 community partnerships affiliated with the Missouri Family and Community Trust.

By Cinnamon Janzer for Next City.
Broadcast version by Mike Moen for Wisconsin News Connection reporting for the Solutions Journalism Network-Public News Service Collaboration

At Madison, Wisconsin’s nine public libraries, residents can check out books of all kinds, from hardbacks and paperbacks to ebooks and audiobooks. They can check out movies as DVDs and Blu-rays. And since last year, library card holders can also check out electric bicycles.

Madison’s public libraries are part of a growing number of bike libraries in cities and towns from coast to coast. A list of U.S. bike lending libraries curated by StreetsblogMASS reporter Grecia White documents 35 such programs, from Vermont to Texas. While they all look a little different and work a little differently, they all do the same thing — increase free access to bikes.

As a 2021 report by People for Bikes notes, there are a number of social, cultural and physical barriers that keep cities across the country from creating inclusive biking communities, from unequal distribution of biking infrastructure to prevailing perceptions of cycling as an activity for white men. A study in Portland, Oregon, found that car traffic, know-how, and space needed to maintain and store a bike are among the biggest barriers to bike use.

But cost, the researchers found, gets in the way, too. Even the cheapest road bikes still cost a couple hundred dollars, and the cost can go well into the five-figure range. For those who need an extra boost, most electric bikes cost at least $1,000. Municipal bike shares can help with access issues, but their payment infrastructure doesn’t work for those who are unbanked.

Enter bike libraries. In Madison, as long as you’re one of the 62% of city residents who have a library card, you can check out an electric bike from one of the city’s libraries for free. This is thanks to a partnership with Madison BCycle, an e-bike sharing company in the city whose parent company is Trek, a bike company based in nearby Waterloo, Wisconsin.

Last year Bcycle came to the Madison Public Library Foundation with an idea for a Community Pass Program that would give library card holders access to more than 300 electric bikes across the city.

“Making bike share more accessible in our community is a top priority for us,” Madison Bcycle’s general manager Helen Bradley said in a press release for the program’s launch last September. “Launching the Community Pass Program is one way we can ensure that everyone in our community has access to bike share as a transportation option.”

Instead of requiring the use of a credit card or a smartphone to unlock an electric-assist bike from one of the city’s more than 50 docking stations, Community Pass users check out an access fob from the library instead. The fob passes can be checked out for up to a week at a time. Each of the city’s nine public libraries have two passes available. So far this season, from March 15 until the end of last month, the city’s libraries have seen 279 fob check outs.

“We have nearly two million visits a year in our nine libraries in Madison, so it’s a place where a lot of people are coming and going every day,” explains Tana Elias, Madison Public Library’s digital services and marketing manager. It’s an equity initiative she adds, noting that it gives people the chance to rent a bike if they haven’t ridden one in a while as well as the chance to choose a bike over a taxi or an Uber.

“It’s an opportunity to choose to be a little healthier in your day-to-day activity. But also, if you haven’t ridden a bike recently, it’s a good opportunity to get out there and try it without making a huge commitment.”

Because Madison Bcycle’s infrastructure was already in place, including docking stations outside several library locations, there were only a few puzzle pieces to fit into place. In the end, the waiver that riders sign is from Bcycle so they’re handling the liability. In addition to managing the check-out process, the library foundation purchased helmets to complement the program, so users can check those out too if they like.

Because some of the docking stations are older than others, the technology is different between them and sometimes users had trouble getting the fobs to work right away, but the library has solved that with an information sheet that they co-created with Bicycle that explains how to use the fobs at different docking stations. Plus, “they upgraded some of their stations and they tried a new fob. It was definitely a back and forth testing process with a lot of feedback on both sides,” Elias says.

At the Student Government Association bike library at the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus, the process is a bit more straightforward. The program that’s been running since roughly 2011 checks out cruiser bikes — chosen for their durability, accessibility and comfort — to the school’s students, faculty and staff.

The program has been on pause since the pandemic, but Ibrahim Akar, the SGA’s chief of staff, plans to relaunch the program next month. The key to their re-launch has been building out a waitlist and replenishing the bike supply that went from roughly 45 pre-pandemic to 11 today.

In November, Akar plans to advertise pop-up check out events online and on social media for the bikes that can be checked out for an entire semester and eventually a full year before getting an online reservation system up and running next semester. The bike library is free to use, each bike comes with a lock, and repairs are covered by an on-campus bike co-op that the SGA has partnered with.

“Working in the SGA, we work towards meeting the needs of students on campus and a lot of students would highly prefer to ride a bicycle than wait for the bus,” Akar says. “When you have a bicycle, you can leave on your own schedule and there’s a lot of fun that comes with riding a bike as well. You get to just enjoy the view and breathe in some fresh air. So obviously, if that’s something that the students want, we’re going to work as hard as we can to be able to bring that to them.”

An Oregon woman who helps people with their taxes has won a prestigious award for volunteers.

AARP Oregon has awarded the 2022 Andrus Award for Community Service to Kathy Goeddel, a volunteer who has worked with the AARP Tax-Aide program for three decades.

The program helps people with low incomes and older Oregonians prepare their tax returns for free each year. Michael Schultz is state volunteer president for AARP Oregon.

"Having met Kathy on several occasions," said Schultz, "I've just been very impressed with how she motivates people by her example as a lead volunteer, and she's always the first to step forward to get things done."

About 43% of Oregonians volunteer - according to AmeriCorps, which is the third highest rate in the country. The annual value of Oregonians' volunteer service is estimated at $4.2 billion.

Schultz said he's worked in the nonprofit sector and knows volunteers are a critical piece of their work.

"Volunteers are the authentic voice of what we're trying to achieve with our mission and vision," said Schultz. "They have the stories to tell that staff can't tell but the volunteer can tell."

The Andrus Award for Community Service is named after AARP founder, Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus.

A Bellingham man who supports people with dementia has received one of the most prestigious awards for volunteerism in Washington state.

The Washington Andrus Award for Community Service recognizes volunteers who are age 50 or older. This year, AARP Washington has selected Tom Oliver, lead volunteer of Project Lifesaver for Dementia Support Northwest.

The project provides tracking devices for people with dementia, and Oliver works with the Whatcom County Sheriff's Department, which is able to track the devices.

He said people with dementia can take off at any moment, so it's great to be able to ease the burden on their caregivers.

"This program does give us the ability to find the missing person very quickly, like half an hour," said Oliver, "instead of 12 to 16 hours like a conventional people search."

Oliver said he traveled more than 3,000 miles last year to deliver these devices and provide maintenance for them.

About 35% of Washington state residents volunteer, according to AmeriCorps.

Marguerite Ro is the AARP Washington state director. She said the Andrus Award is given to people who give back to their communities.

"The Andrus Award recipient this year, Tom Oliver, is an exceptional volunteer in what he has provided to his community," said Oliver. "But also he serves as a role model for others, of what can be accomplished."

The Andrus Award for Community Service is named after AARP founder, Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus.