Black Kids in Outer Space

Veronica O. Davis, PE is a transportation nerd who uses her knowledge to spark

progressive social change in the community. Currently, she is a co-owner and Principal

Planning Manager at Nspiregreen LLC. In July 2012, the White House recognized her as a

Champion of Change and Transportation Innovator for her professional

accomplishments and community advocacy in the District of Columbia. Veronica is one

of the co-founders of Black Women Bike (BWB), an organization and movement that

encourages African American women to use biking for health and wellness as well as an

alternative form of transportation for commuting. She holds a dual Masters Degrees

(Engineering Management and Regional Planning) from Cornell University and a B.S in

civil engineering from the University of Maryland. She is a registered professional

engineer in the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia.

Black Kids in Outer Space spoke with East Orange native Osceola Hansen. For over 30 years East Orange has not had a bike shop, but in April 2017 that changed with the opening of Hansen’s Urban Cyclery Bicycle Shop. In its short time in existence it has taken over social media by storm with entertaining videos of the regular “rideout” rides that it hosts and photos of kids and adults from who come from as far away as Bogota posing with their brand new bikes.

Black Kids in Outer Space interviews Kweli Campbell. Campbell is a Bikeshare Advocate who promotes cycling as a viable mode of transportation especially to communities of color. For the past three years, in collaboration with the Better Bike Share Partnership, Kweli serves as a Bike Share Ambassador and has led many group rides in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. These rides introduce new riders to the NYC bike share program and to cycling in general. From this work, Kweli formed a group for new cyclists called Brooklyn Cyclists of Color. To date, there are 23 active members who share their cycling experiences, tips, ride routes, fears, challenges, accomplishments and progression. Kweli resides in Clinton Hills, Brooklyn with her Peke dog; Sage and has two sons; Michael who lives in Spain and Nazim who attends The George School Prep School in Newton, PA. Kweli has been featured in different online publications like Next City and Citi Bike blog.

Black Kids in Outer Space interviews Nedra Deadwyler. Deadwyler is the Founder and Principal Tour Curator of Civil Bikes, an active transportation tour company, based in Atlanta, Georgia. She received a Master of Social Work from New York University and a Bachelor of Social Work from the University of Georgia. She is currently a Fellow at the Center for Civic Innovation, a social entrepreneur incubator. She has a published chapter, Civil Bikes: embracing Atlanta’s racialized history through bicycle tours. (Routledge, 2016, Bicycle Justice and Urban Transformation: Biking for All? Edited by A. Golub, M.L. Hoffmann, A. E. Lugo, and G. F. Sandoval). She presented conferences hosted by Active Living Research and League of American Bicyclists. Moderated and participated in a panel/ conversation at the national Complete Streets conference, entitled, "Holistic Community-Centered Advocacy".

Black Kids in Outer Space interviews Adé. Adé is the founder of Ride On! Bike Shop / Co-Op has a Master of Arts degree in the field of Urban Sustainability with an Undergraduate Degree in Community Development, both from Antioch University of Los Angeles. As the lead on the Great Streets project in South Los Angeles. He was responsible for the team’s successful Crowdfunding campaign, in which they surpassed their goal. Adé has been a strong leader, responsible for conducting, organizing, and supporting various programs such as the Ride On! Bike Co-Op, Street Beats, CivLavia South LA Pit Stop and the International Capoeira Angola Conference. Adé has over eighteen years of significant and progressive experience in developing a wide range of community programs in the South Los Angeles area. Nearly 20 years ago, he founded the Capoeira Angola Center in Los Angeles with the vision of providing both education and health benefits to diverse groups of citizens living in the community. This commitment to community service has been publicly acknowledged through various awards from the L.A. Treasures and the County of Los Angeles. In addition to this, he provided instrumental assistance in the development and maintenance of food gardens that advance academic, food, and environmental justice.

Black Kids in Outer Space interviews Monica Garrison. Garrison is the founder of a growing organization called Black Girls Do Bike. She believes that the simple act of riding a bike can be the catalyst to wonderful and empowering experiences for women of all ages. After a summer of re-discovering her affection for cycling but noticing very few women of color riding in her town, Monica set out to find other women with a passion for riding bikes. What started as a simple idea to connect lady cyclists has turned into a movement with more than 80 inclusive riding groups all over the country. Black Girls Do Bike is creating lady leaders in the bicycling movement, introducing new riders to the joy of cycling, and filling a void in the larger cycling community.

Black Kids in Outer Space interviews Judith "Judi" Desire. Judi is a native New Yorker, hailing from the borough of Brooklyn. Her passion for cycling inspired her to launch Uptown & Boogie Bicycle Advocacy, an organization that provides cyclist-based social activities to the Uptown Manhattan and Bronx communities. Their goal is to provide New Yorkers with a greater and better understanding of commuting and traveling throughout the city while raising awareness on the health benefits of cycling.

Black Kids in Outer Space interviews Lawrence T. Brown. Brown is the grandson of Mississippi Delta sharecroppers and preachers. He is a native of West Memphis, Arkansas and moved to Baltimore in the fall of 2010. His current research addresses the impact of historical trauma on community health. He is currently working on a book tentatively entitled The Black Butterfly: Why We Must Make Black Neighborhoods Matter to be published in late 2018 or early 2019. He is a racial equity consultant, an organizer with the radical collective Baltimore Bloc, a co-founded of the lead poisoning awareness initiative #BmoreLEADfree, and an associate professor at Morgan State University in the School of Community Health and Policy.

Kala La Fortune was raised and still lives in Newark. She is the founder of Girls on Bikes. She is a Rutgers graduate and dedicated to supporting, encouraging, and cheering women to go out there and ride.

Black Kids in Outer Space interviews Olatunji Oboi Reed.

Reed's passions are community, culture and health. He works internationally as a tactician, strategist, mobility advocate, community development practitioner and community organizer in the fields of bicycle equity, transportation justice and access to mobility in marginalized communities of color.

Oboi serves as the President & CEO of Equiticity, a national advocacy movement operating at the intersection of equity, mobility and justice in communities of color across the US. Equiticity’s vision is a large US city where equity is fully integrated at the policy level into every function, department and resource associated with the City’s operations, services and programs. Oboi co-founded and recently served as the President & CEO of the Slow Roll Chicago bicycle movement. Slow Roll Chicago is working to build an equitable, diverse and inclusive bicycle culture in Chicago, by organizing community bicycle rides and advocating for bicycle equity.

In 2015, Oboi was awarded The White House Transportation Champion of Change award by The White House and the United States Department of Transportation.