Colin Droster
Kristie GoForth with a collection of bicycles at Bikes for Kids Wisconsin.
Kristie GoForth: ‘Had I not learned to ride a bike I most likely would not be in this role.’
Growing up poor in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Kristie GoForth recalls watching from the sidelines while other kids tooled around on their bikes. When she was 8, someone “took mercy” on her and gave her an old, rusty bicycle. GoForth focused on the positive: the banana seat with silver sparkles. “I loved that,” she says.
Her new wheels allowed GoForth to join in the fun and introduced her to a mode of transport that became a staple in her life. “Had I not learned to ride a bike I most likely would not be in this role or had many of the other opportunities I had,” she says.
GoForth has been the executive director of Bikes For Kids Wisconsin since April 2020. During her tenure, the nonprofit — which began as a Madison chapter of a national organization in 2016 but split off in 2023 — has shifted to a statewide focus and increased its revenue sevenfold, from $36,000 to $235,000 in 2024. The group still collects, fixes and provides bikes for free to kids and adults, but GoForth — a member of the Sault Tribe of Chippewa in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and first-generation college graduate — has sharpened the group’s mission to focus on transportation equity. This translates to expanded programming for underserved communities, with the goal of building healthier communities and breaking the cycle of poverty.
The group now employs three full-time employees, two of whom repair bikes in addition to other duties. The group runs its repair shop and storage area out of a warehouse at 354 Coyier Lane in south Madison, but the building is slated to be torn down in the next few years. “This is our greatest challenge,” says GoForth. Some 240 volunteers help clean up some 2,000 bikes each year before professional mechanics do repairs. The group has not only expanded its reach around the state, but also works on international projects, last year shipping more than 1,000 bikes to Malawi and Ghana.
GoForth says education is a critical piece of the group’s work. “Imagine if no one in your family has ever owned a car. Are you necessarily going to know you have to get an oil change or that you have to rotate your tires?”
“We found that people were throwing their bicycles away if they got a flat tire,” she adds.
So GoForth started a bike mechanics youth education program. The motivation was twofold: teach kids how to maintain their new bikes and develop a new generation of diverse bike mechanics.
GoForth also sees a need for “nurturing” bike riding itself, especially when family members are not riders themselves and may perceive it as dangerous. “Let’s say you are 8 or 10 and your auntie, or your caregiver or parent says you can ride your bike but only on this one street. You do that 12 times and it might get boring. And then the bike gets parked and it’s outside all winter and nobody cares about it.”
GoForth is now planning a summer series of guided tours for 11-16 year-olds, primarily on dedicated bike paths, to teach riders the rules of the road and take them to places like the Henry Vilas Zoo and Olbrich Botanical Gardens. “We will buy them a treat, it’s community building and a fun experience,” says GoForth. Some of the kids, she adds, “probably have no idea these destinations are a seven- to 10-minute bike ride away.”
