Media Coverage
The City of Spokane and Mayor Brown highlight us with this video!
River City Youth Monarch Pathway
Youth interns at River City Youth are leading a new pollinator pathway project to support monarchs and urban ecosystems! The Monarch Pathway Project is focused on restoring pollinator habitats throughout the neighborhood and increasing the presence of milkweed and other native plants. Youth participants are actively designing, planting, and maintaining the spaces, helping to build a healthier urban ecosystem while gaining valuable job skills and leadership experience.
KXLY New
West Central Spokane bike bus program helps students ride safely to school
SPOKANE, Washington — A bike bus program in west-central Spokane gives dozens of students a chance to pedal their way to school while building friendships and staying active.
River City Youth runs the weekly program, where adult volunteers pick up students at neighborhood stops and help them safely bike to school. The initiative operates like a traditional school bus but on bicycles…
Youth ride in the West Central Bike Bus
Out There Outdoor
BIKE BUS BUILDS CYCLISTS AND COMMUNITY
By Bradley Bleck
While the bicycle’s superpower is getting its rider from Point A to Point B, that’s just the beginning. Bicycles also bring people together, serving as a catalyst to build community. One way that is happening in the Inland Northwest is with the River City Youth’s (RCY) bike bus in Spokane’s West Central neighborhood.
RCY executive director Kate Burke says, along with getting kids riding bikes, the bike bus is helping build the West Central community. She says there are lots of families who like to ride and are getting to know other kids, building skills by learning hand signals and understanding that they don’t need to be afraid of riding in the street…
Youth on an outdoor adventure in the winter!
Launch NW Engage in Real LIfe (IRL) Interviews
On The Trail: EngageIRL Spotlight on River City Youth
River City Youth tells kids, “Take a hike.”
The twist? They’re taking kids on said hike– or several hikes, if the rumors are to be believed. In late March, I visited Wilson Faust at Yasuhara Middle School to learn more about one of River City Youths’ budding programs: the Outdoors Club.
Wilson’s official title is Engagement Navigator, but I was so impressed by his patience and clever redirection with the (naturally expressive) group of middle schoolers that ‘Veteran Cat Herder’ would be equally fitting. Before meeting these young scholars, Wilson and I had a chance to chat. It was then that he revealed the philosophy at the core of the Outdoors Club…
Volunteers from Idaho Central Credit Union deliver donated bicycles to River City Youth office in the Saranac Community Building on July 25. The nonprofit’s relaunch will be this fall with a “Bike Bus,” in which volunteers pick up kids from their homes and they all bike to West Central schools together. A similar bike bus in Portland has been a huge hit for the kids and on social media. (COLIN MULVANY/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW)
Spokesman review
Local nonprofit aimed at giving West Central youth life skills relaunches with Bike Bus program
When Kate Burke was hired as executive director of River City Youth, it felt like a perfect fit: both were going through a reset.
After deciding not to run for re-election to her seat on the Spokane City Council in 2021, Burke took time to rest and reflect, traveling for a year and reconnecting with the things that made her happy.
Mentoring, teaching, organizing and riding her bike are some of those things…
Young Kwak photo
Kate Burke is working to rebuild River City Youth.
Inlander
As she takes the lead at River City Youth, Kate Burke hopes to reinvigorate the organization where she got her start
For Kate Burke, stepping into her role as the executive director of River City Youth this June marked the start of a new phase for herself and the organization.
"When I saw the job description, I realized that this is something that truly brings me joy," she says. "Working with young people, community building, networking and working for something that you believe in is super important to me."
The sense of purpose and positivity that the position offered were especially important to Burke. Her time as a Spokane City Council member was still fresh in her mind; the burnout from that experience had led her to step away from elected office after her first term ended in 2021…
Hailey Coll, right, signals as she leads a group of elementary kids on bikes up to a corner on their way home from Holmes Elementary School in the West Central neighborhood Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. Taking up the rear of the group is volunteer Tami Linene-Booey at far left. The "bike bus" concept of having adults ride to and from school with children is catching on after River City Youth started a bike bus program at Holmes Elementary. (Jesse Tinsley/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW)
Kate Burke guides youth program with new ideas.
Spokesman review
All aboard Holmes Elementary’s ‘bike bus,’ which teaches kids independence and safe ridership to and from school
For a handful of Holmes Elementary kids, the big yellow school bus is out and the “bike bus” is in.
In the West Central Neighborhood school, some opt for a less traditional approach. Led by experienced adult riders, kids peddle single file down city streets on their way to and from school and make stops at each kids’ home.
Not only does it get kids outside and active, riding with adults teaches them bike safety and builds their confidence to ride independently once they’re older.
“It’s about instilling bike safety that us adults do on the road,” said Chelsea Hardenbrook, operations manager for River City Youth, which organizes the bike bus rides, supplies kids with bikes and helmets and teaches bike safety. “We use hand signals, wear helmets, that kind of thing.”…
the fig tree
River City Youth Ops empowers today's youth
By Sofia Sanchez - Intern
Kate Burke, the executive director of the River City Youth, is back, bringing fresh energy to the organization after spending some time in politics.
Growing up in Spokane, she worked 14 years ago for the River City Youth Ops. Ten years ago, she served on the board.
Kate hopes River City Youth will lay a foundation for today's youth as it has for so many youth in West Central Spokane. The nonprofit promotes social services and job training such as growing food on small urban farms.
Now she is working with the board and neighborhood to expand it from its focus on summer and fall agricultural programs to include programs that run year-round…