Cycle News Staff | May 25, 2023
Yamaha USA has announced its 2023 grant recipients and has also been recognized with the 2023 Corporate Stewardship Award from the Public Lands Alliance for 2023.
This is a press release from Yamaha…
Marietta, GA (May 15, 2023) – Yamaha Motor Corp., USA, today announces the Yamaha Outdoor Access Initiative (OAI) grants for the first quarter of 2023, supporting projects and programs creating opportunities to enjoy and engage in outdoor recreation and activities, including efforts geared toward the younger generation.
For the past 15 years, Yamaha OAI has been leading the powersports industry by endorsing projects across the country that promote safe, responsible access to public land for motorized and outdoor recreation. In addition to highlighting the Q1 2023 grant recipients, Yamaha is celebrating receiving the 2023 Corporate Stewardship Award from the Public Lands Alliance for 2023.
“Part of the Yamaha Outdoor Access Initiative’s mission is to protect the future of outdoor recreation for everyone, as well as have them experiencing and appreciating it, so it was great to grant multiple applications this quarter that focused on getting kids active and outdoors,” said Steve Nessl, Yamaha’s motorsports marketing manager. “Additionally, Yamaha is honored to accept the Public Lands Alliance’s Corporate Stewardship Award, which acknowledged the success of the Outdoor Access Initiative in promoting and defending access to public lands for motorized and outdoor recreation.”
The Public Lands Alliance works to foster and advance its members of nonprofit partners of America’s public lands since 1977. On behalf of the Yamaha Outdoor Access Initiative and the program’s philanthropic efforts with public land nonprofits, nominated by the Chattahoochee Oconee National Forest, Yamaha Motor Corp., USA, received the Public Lands Alliance’s 2023 Corporate Stewardship Award, which recognizes a company that demonstrates exceptional achievement to enhance the quality of the visitor experience in America’s public lands.
For OAI grant recipients, the Yamaha Outdoor Access Initiative continues its support of All Kids Bike, getting students in public schools outside and helping teach them how to ride a bicycle. The $100,000 OAI grant will support activations in elementary schools across the country and help thousands of kids exercise while enjoying the great outdoors on a bike. In addition, the California Outdoor Recreation Foundation receives funding for its OHV safety and education experience at the Hollister Hills SVR as part of the California State Parks Adventure Pass program for 4th-graders. To ensure a safe riding experience at the Corral Canyon kids’ OHV riding area on the Cleveland National Forest, the San Diego Off-Road Coalition will use its Yamaha OAI grant to purchase rice haybales for creating a track boundary.
Update May 24, 2023:
All Kids Bike Receives $100,000 Grant Award From Yamaha’s Outdoor Access Initiative
With the largest single OAI grant ever awarded, Yamaha increases its support to All Kids Bike to $190,000
All Kids Bike was awarded a grant of $100,000 from Yamaha Motor Corp. USA’s Outdoor Access Initiative (OAI).
RAPID CITY, SD (May 24, 2023) — All Kids Bike, the nonprofit organization equipping schools with everything needed to teach children how to ride a bike, today announced that it was awarded a grant of $100,000 from Yamaha Motor Corp. USA’s Outdoor Access Initiative (OAI). The grant is Yamaha’s largest OAI contribution to any single organization. The funds will be used to activate the All Kids Bike Kindergarten Learn-to-Ride PE Program in elementary schools across the country.
“This gift from Yamaha’s Outdoor Access Initiative makes it the leading powersports brand supporting All Kids Bike,” said Lisa Weyer, executive director of the Strider Education Foundation, the 501(c) (3) nonprofit that operates All Kids Bike. “We are grateful for this partnership, now entering its third year, which is helping us to achieve our mission to give every child in America the opportunity to learn how to ride a bike in school.”
In 2021, the Yamaha OAI awarded All Kids Bike a grant of $30,000 and the two organizations worked together to launch Kindergarten Learn-to-Ride PE Programs in six elementary schools in three cities where Yamaha Motor Corp. USA employees are based: Cypress, Calif., and Newnan and Marietta, Ga.
Based on the success of the first award, a second grant of $60,000 in 2022 extended the reach of the partnership with programs activated in a variety of additional communities including: Atlanta, Ga., Denver, Co., Charlotte, N.C., Crawfordsville, Ind., Waverly, Tenn., and Prather, Calif.
“Yamaha’s support of All Kids Bike will get thousands of kids across the country outside, on bikes, and experiencing two-wheel adventures,” said Steve Nessl, Yamaha’s motorsports marketing manager. “We’ve experienced the need and impact firsthand over the last two years when we’ve delivered the bikes and seen the kids and teachers light up. Today, we are looking to significantly increase the reach of this program, and together, create meaningful opportunities for children to engage in outdoor recreation.”
Each All Kids Bike Kindergarten Learn-to-Ride PE Program is comprised of a fleet of 24 Strider bikes, pedal conversion kits, helmets, a teacher instruction bike, SHAPE-standard curriculum, teacher training, and organizational support from All Kids Bike for as long as a school operates the program. It includes everything needed to teach every incoming kindergarten student how to ride a bike for a decade or longer.
Yamaha and Strider Bikes share a long connection; Strider founder Ryan McFarland is a lifelong fan of the brand, and he designed his first-ever prototype Strider balance bike in the likeness of a Yamaha-blue dirt bike, complete with Yamaha stickers and a #1 racing plate. His design became a successful and revolutionary product and in 2018, Strider’s Education Foundation created All Kids Bike.
Yamaha awarded 13 grants for Q1 of 2023, totaling more than $288,000 in funding to the following organizations:
- The Alliance for Florida’s National Parks
- Natural Restorations (Arizona)
- California Outdoor Recreation Foundation
- Pel-Cho Muddnutz ATV/UTV Club (Wisconsin)
- Colorado Motorcycle Trail Riders Associations
- Post Wildfire OHV Recovery Alliance (California)
- Crested Butte Avalanche Center (Colorado)
- San Diego Off-Road Coalition
- Day Mountain Road Association (Maine)
- Strider Education Foundation (National)
- East Branch Sno-Rovers & ATV (Maine)
- Western Trails Conservancy (Idaho)
- Friends of the Flathead Avalanche Center (Montana)
The deadline to apply for consideration in the 2nd quarter funding cycle is June 30, 2023. Yamaha encourages OHV riding clubs, land stewardship, and related outdoor recreation organization with nonprofit status, to visit YamahaOAI.com to learn how to apply for a grant and review the submission guidelines. There, you also will find the Yamaha OAI grant application form, as well as the informative blog, which includes recaps of typical projects for inspiration.
About the Yamaha Outdoor Access Initiative
Since 2008, the Yamaha Outdoor Access Initiative has led the powersports industry in supporting responsible access to our nation’s public lands for outdoor enthusiasts. With more than $5 million contributed to over 450 projects across the country, Yamaha has directly and indirectly supported thousands of miles of motorized recreation trails, maintained and rehabilitated riding and hunting areas, improved staging areas, supplied agricultural organizations with essential OHV safety education, built bridges over fish-bearing streams and partnered with local outdoor enthusiast communities across the country to improve access to public lands. Each quarter, Yamaha accepts applications from nonprofit or tax-exempt organizations including OHV riding clubs and associations, national, state, and local public land-use agencies, outdoor enthusiast associations, and land conservation groups with an interest in protecting, improving, expanding, and/or maintaining access for safe, responsible, and sustainable public use.
Updated guidelines, an application form, and news about the Outdoor Access Initiative are available at YamahaOAI.com. For specific questions about the Yamaha Outdoor Access Initiative, call the dedicated hotline at 1-877-OHV-TRAIL (877-648-8724), email OHVAccess@Yamaha-Motor.com, or write to:
Yamaha Outdoor Access Initiative
Yamaha Motor Corp., USA
3065 Chastain Meadows Parkway, Bldg. 100
Marietta, GA 30066
