Good Afternoon everyone, my name is Maelynne Marzan and today, I am going to talk about a potential solution to a problem that persists through our streets of San Francisco; homelessness.

For those of you who don’t know the Tenderloin is a 225 acre area that is home to our rising homeless population. According to ABC 7 News, San Francisco has the second highest homeless population in the United States with 795 homeless people, per 100,000 residents. There are approximately 837,000 residents living in San Francisco which means there is more than 6,000 homeless people here in SF today. This number will continue to grow if action isn’t taken.

This is why I propose to alleviate the problem, by suggesting to help mobilize this population. Similar to my S1 presentation to the beginning of the year, I am proposing the idea of using bicycles to help a population in need in order to improve their circumstances. There are currently no organization in place here in San Francisco, but there are a many different organizations from different cities and states that do advocate to help the homeless. For example there is an organization that originated in Sarasota, Florida called Bicycles for the Homeless, Inc. Their mission is to provide bicycles to the homeless and work through legitimate and trustworthy social services agencies and organizations so that the homeless may improve their economic and social circumstances and their self image.

Another example of evidence where bicycles benefit the homeless is in article from The Modesto Bee called, “Merced Nonprofit Providing Bikes for Homeless”. A man named Matt Hirota who is chairman of an organization called Wheel Solutions is mentitioned and he came up with an idea that provided bicycle repair or replacement for Merced’s homeless population, which would give them the mobility needed to overcome the barriers of poverty.

So in conclusion, if we implement organizations to help mobilize the homeless with something as simple as a donated bicycle in San Francisco, there is a possibility that we can help these people out of homelessness and build a better community for future residents.