photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

Road markings indicate the bike boulevard route on 21st Street in central Lawrence on Friday, May 29, 2026.

To expand access to biking and outdoor activity, some second graders in the Lawrence school district will receive new bicycles and helmets later this month.

The second-grade students attending Title I elementary schools will get the bikes through a partnership between the Lawrence Schools Foundation, and the Steve Tilford Foundation’s Let’s Ride! program, according to a press release from LSF. The initiative is intended to address barriers to bicycle access while helping students develop confidence, safe riding skills, physical activity and independence.

The district’s Title I schools include New York, Cordley, Hillcrest, Schwegler, Woodlawn, Prairie Park, Sunflower and Sunset Hill elementary schools.

“Let’s Ride! is about so much more than putting a bike in a child’s hands,” Dena Johnston, executive director of the LSF, said in the release. “It’s about giving students the opportunity to build confidence, learn valuable skills, be active and begin to see themselves as capable and independent members of their community. We are incredibly grateful to the Steve Tilford Foundation for partnering with us to make this opportunity possible for Lawrence students.”

The LSF also intends to eventually make a bike and helmet available to all second graders in the district.

“This is exactly what community partnership can accomplish,” Johnston said in the release. “When organizations come together around a shared vision for students, we can remove barriers and create opportunities that might otherwise be out of reach. We want every Lawrence student to have the chance to experience the freedom, confidence and joy that comes with riding a bike.”

The Let’s Ride! program also compliments the broader Safe Routes to School efforts by increasing access to bicycles and giving students ways to safely walk and bike in their neighborhoods.

“Access can be the difference between having an opportunity and not having one,” Kent Woermann, program & development director of the Steve Tilford Foundation, said in the release. “Let’s Ride! helps remove one of those barriers while giving students the tools and confidence to be active, explore their communities and develop skills that can stay with them for years to come.”

The students will receive their bicycles and properly fitted helmets at their schools on Sept. 22 and 23.