Climate Ride is committed to building an inclusive environmental movement, led by people with varied backgrounds and perspectives. We provide awards for climate and advocacy leaders so they can participate in a Climate Ride event. These awards are given to bike coalitions and eligible organizations so that their Climate Ride teams can represent the diversity in their communities and widen the conversation on sustainability. Awards are also directly given by Climate Ride to eligible candidates.

Our events connect these local leaders to veteran fundraisers and donors, growing the movement and helping support young people on their path to transformational leadership. The larger our community the better we understand the intersections between environmental and social issues. Their participation in our charitable events is key to building intergenerational unity and strength. We are very grateful to the Annual Fund donors who make these awards possible.

In 2020, Climate Ride will provide 16 awards for community leaders who work on climate change, clean energy, environmental justice, and transportation issues. As well, we extend awards to advocacy leaders in other sectors to support the cross-pollination of ideas. Our scholarships recognize individual achievements in these areas and future leadership potential. Awards are prioritized for people of color, youth activists, and applicants from underserved communities.

Climate Ride partners with eligible community-based organizations in order to make the award program a success. These partner organizations each develop their own nomination and application process for selecting scholarship recipients. Climate Ride partners are also instrumental in providing training for the event, securing necessary equipment, and mentoring the awardee before the event.

Climate Ride provides Community Leader Awards to cover the costs of attending our events, and we provide additional fund-raising support. Awardees are encouraged to fund-raise so that they can hone their climate messaging, organizational development, and networking skills.