About Us 2014

Cyclopedia is a bicycling program that combines physical activity with collaborative online documentation for the purpose of empowering urban adolescents to become engaged members of their communities by strengthening their connections with their physical and social environments.

The lack of habitual outdoor activity that is often referred to as “nature-deficit disorder” manifests as increasing rates of obesity, behavioral problems, teen pregnancy and other adverse health outcomes; Cyclopedia’s objective is to prevent these problems from happening. Each ride has an explicitly local theme pertaining to the neighborhoods our riders live in. This website is the collaborative documentation of all the rides: we post photographs and writing, we map our routes and we combine the information into interactive “ride maps.”

Cyclopedia was started by pediatric residents in the Pediatric Link to the Community (PLC) program at the University of Rochester in 2009. We partnered with the Rochester Boys and Girls Club to launch our inaugural season in 2010. Our first season saw 19 riders accumulating nearly 800 miles and over 70 hours of program time on 14 rides. We expanded to 50 riders in our second season. As our third season is getting underway we’ve created a sister program in the East Harlem neighborhood of New York City.

We have been honored with recognition and awards, including:
Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Resident Community Service Award
November 2010
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Anne E. Dyson Child Advocacy Award
Cyclopedia: Empowering Urban Adolescents Through Bicycling, October 2010
Community Pediatrics Advisory Council (CPAC) Grant
Cyclopedia: Empowering Urban Adolescents Through Bicycling, July 2010
AAP Community Access to Child Health (CATCH) Resident Funds Grant
Cyclopedia: Empowering Urban Adolescents Through Bicycling, June 2010

Read about us:
AAP CATCH Quarterly, Fall 2010
Rochester Business Journal, March 16, 2012
Rochester Medicine, Winter 2012

Our community partners include:
Boys and Girls Club of Rochester
R Community Bikes
Rochester Cycling Alliance
Pediatric Links to the Community (PLC), Pediatrics Department, Golisano Children’s Hospital at Strong
Stanley Isaacs Neighborhood Center
Our leadership consists of:
Rochester
Shawn Brown; Teen Coordinator, Rochester Boys and Girls Club
Marcus Cooper; Rochester Boys and Girls Club
Marc Lavender, MD; physician, University of Rochester
East Harlem
Cappy Collins, MD; pediatric environmental health fellow, Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Esther Grant-Walker, Director of School Age Programs, Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center
Onyx Salvador, Assistant Program Coordinator, Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center, Manhattan East After School Program
Research Advisor:
C. Andrew Aligne, MD, MPH; pediatrician, University of Rochester
Technical Director:
John Culhane

Intern Alumni:
2012: Kara Metcalf
2013: Emma Bick, Jenne Ingrassia, Danny Piening
2014: Emily Bai, Danielle Niderman, Juleon Robinson