Rêve Giveback: A Company of Girls
At Rêve Cycling Studio, one of our core values has always been community. Of course when we talk about community we always acknowledge the amazing students, teachers, and staff that make our studio the vibrant place that it is, but we also believe in the importance of supporting our broader community here in Portland. If anything, the last couple of years have reinforced this idea—now more than ever do we all understand how integral a strong, united community is to our collective health, safety, and well-being. We hear from our team all the time about the ways in which they are engaged and active in their communities and we are constantly inspired by the good work happening all around. This is how Rêve Giveback came to be; an initiative that allows us to help support and highlight local organizations whose mission it is to strengthen and foster a healthy, inclusive community.
Through the Rêve Giveback initiative, we work with one community partner a month. Our community partners are always nonprofit organizations operating locally. One of the benefits we wanted to offer our community partner(s) is a little extra support and self care for their invaluable staff and volunteers. At Rêve, we know how important and foundational movement is for our physical and mental well-being and we wanted to bring this initiative to organizations and folks within our community who help to make the broader Portland community the special place it is. Each month, we select a new community partner and throughout the month, we offer free rides to employees or folks affiliated with that community partner. We also use our platforms on social media and our reach into the community to help highlight the amazing and unique work that each community partner does. For the entire month the community partner is linked in our instagram profile, and we encourage our followers to learn more about the organization and/or donate if they choose to! Some of our recent community partners have included Youth Leadership Advisory Team (YLAT), Maine Needs, and Maine Locker Project.
This March, Women’s History Month, we are excited to announce A Company Of Girls (ACOG) as our community partner. A Company of Girls’ mission is to strengthen and empower girls and their families, and to foster community through the arts. ACOG lays the foundation for positive risk and decision-making, healthy adult, family, and peer relationships, leadership opportunities, and success in school–all of which lead to increased high school graduation rates, and girls with aspirations for the future! A Company of Girls offers both after school and outreach programs for students and their headquarters are just up the street from us on Woodfords Corner! We are thrilled to be able to offer free rides to their hardworking staff and volunteers and we are so grateful for the opportunity to share the work they do with our community here at Rêve.
Our studio manager Tiffany said it best: “After settling back into our home studio, we were looking for a way to giveback to the greater Portland community and thought we could make a meaningful impact by giving volunteers– who give so much – an outlet for both their physical and mental health. Highlighting these organizations has been a great way to learn about what resources are available within our community.”
Help us continue to do our part to build community on and off the bike. If you know of or work with a local organization you’d like to see become a community partner, please email: tiffany@revecyclingstudio.com.