Major Taylor Michigan Cycling Advocacy has been named the 2026 Youth Empowerment Award recipient by the League of American Bicyclists — making us the first Michigan organization to win a national Advocacy or Education Award in the League’s 146-year history.
On the evening of March 24, 2026, at the League’s National Bike Summit awards reception in Washington, D.C., our name was called. It was not just a moment for our organization. It was a moment for Detroit, for Michigan, and for every family we have ever served.
What the Award Recognizes
The Youth Empowerment Award is given by the League of American Bicyclists to a leader who has dedicated their time and energy to mentoring and empowering young people to see the bicycle as a lifelong skill. The League, founded in 1880, is the oldest and largest bicycle advocacy organization in the United States. See the full list of 2026 Advocacy and Education Award winners on the League’s website.
We were selected because of how we approach that work. We do not treat the bicycle as a recreational toy. We treat it as a precision tool — one that unlocks economic mobility, workforce access, and educational opportunity for Detroit families who need reliable transportation the most.
Detroit Has a Transportation Crisis. The Bicycle Is Part of the Solution.
The numbers behind our work are not small. One in three Detroit households does not have access to a personal vehicle. In Detroit Public Schools Community District, chronic school absenteeism sits at 61 percent, and lack of reliable transportation is the primary driver.
These are not inconveniences. They are economic emergencies. When a child cannot get to school consistently, it compounds into a lifelong disadvantage. When a worker cannot get to their job reliably, their income suffers and their employment is at risk.
MTMCA was founded on a clear conviction: the bicycle, deployed strategically and at scale, can break that cycle.
How We Do It: The Four Spokes Framework
Every program we run is built around four core areas we call the Four Spokes: Access, Skills, Culture, and Infrastructure.
Access connects transportation-insecure workers and families with the bicycles and gear they need to ride. Skills delivers bicycle literacy and safety education so children and adults can ride with real confidence. Culture builds community identity and visibility around cycling as a Detroit way of life. Infrastructure ensures the physical conditions exist for safe, practical bicycle transportation across the city.
Together, these four spokes form a complete ecosystem. Each one reinforces the others.
Our Programs in Action
Bikes 4 Employees (B4E) is a revolving loan fund that finances new, high-quality bicycles and gear for transportation-insecure workers. Operated in partnership with United Way for Southeastern Michigan, participants repay their loans through payroll deductions — removing the barrier of upfront cost entirely. When a worker has a reliable way to get to work, everything changes.
Stride and Glide is a balance bike literacy program serving pre-K through third grade students at Noble Elementary-Middle School. It uses balance bikes to build the physical and neurological foundations children need to become confident riders — before fear or hesitation has a chance to develop.
The Joe Louis Greenway Bike Bus connects Noble Elementary-Middle School students along Detroit’s 27.5-mile Joe Louis Greenway trail network with a supervised, community-powered bicycle commute to school. Research from Davis Aerospace High School shows that giving students bicycles reduced chronic absenteeism by 14 percentage points. We intend to replicate and exceed that result.
Operation: Rack and Roll installs bike racks at Detroit Public Schools along the Joe Louis Greenway. Most Detroit school buildings currently have no secure place to park a bicycle. Without bike racks, a student cannot participate in the Bike Bus. Infrastructure is not a convenience upgrade — it is a prerequisite for access.
Bicycle Safety Town is a miniature streetscape where children learn the rules of the road through hands-on, immersive experience. Launched in 2026 with founding partner Trek Bicycle Corporation, it introduces Detroit youth to the bicycle as transportation, not just recreation.
The North Star: 50 by 50
Our long-term goal is “50 by 50” — 50 percent of essential trips in Detroit made by bicycle by the year 2050. That is a 25-year systems-change timeline, and we understand what it requires. Changing how a city moves means changing how a city thinks. That transformation starts with children.
Detroit gave the world the automobile. We intend to show the world a new model — a city where the bicycle is the engine of economic opportunity.
Named for a Champion Who Proved What a Bicycle Can Do
We carry the name of Marshall “Major” Taylor (1878-1932), America’s first Black world champion cyclist. Taylor understood what a bicycle meant for someone the world had counted out. It was not just a machine. It was freedom, independence, and proof of what was possible.
In 2025, after a sustained lobbying campaign led by MTMCA, Governor Gretchen Whitmer issued a gubernatorial proclamation establishing Major Taylor Day in Michigan on September 15 — the first such proclamation by any state in the nation honoring his legacy.
A Word from Our Founder
“This award belongs to every Detroit family we have served, every child who has learned to balance on two wheels, and every worker who rode to their job because they finally had a reliable way to get there,” said Mark “Marco” Speeks, Founder and Executive Director of MTMCA and League Certified Instructor.
We are proud of this recognition. We are more proud of the work.
