Ride 4A Reason 2025

Over the last 15 years, Ride For a Reason has raised close to $1.62 million for public schools in Oakland and Alameda, providing resources and experiences that would not have been possible for more than 6,300 students per year.  Last year over 300 riders cycled to Sacramento, raising over $125,000. As a result, twelve schools received close to $11,000 each to foster student learning, growth, leadership and success.

 

VITAL FUNDING FOR SCHOOLS

Many of our beneficiary schools do not have a formal Parent Teacher Association (PTA) or other non-profit fundraising group, and are not able to raise large amounts of private donations. They often lack resources for sports, enrichment, and other programs. 

The schools use R4R funds for critically important basics such as library books, sports equipment, art education, after-school programs, science equipment, and staff salaries for counselors, librarians, and reading specialists  See below for a more detailed description of how these funds have benefited students at R4R schools.

 

THE STUDENTS WE SERVE 

R4R schools serve a special and vulnerable population, predominantly students who receive free or reduced lunch, are English language learners, migrant students and other historically marginalized student groups  At five of our schools,  approximately 90 percent-or-more of students qualify for free- or reduced-price lunches.

 

R4R POLICY FOR EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION OF PROCEEDS 

R4R champions increased funding for CA public education by supporting eleven East Bay public schools that have significant unmet financial needs.  While all the schools we support were Title I schools when they became beneficiaries (≥ 40 percent of students being low- income), there have been demographic changes at some of our schools since the founding of R4R in 2009.  Up until 2024, we awarded an equal share of proceeds to each school. 

Recognizing significant variation between our schools in the percentage of low-income students that they serve, we established a policy to enact a more equitable distribution of proceeds. Beginning in 2025, the proportional share of proceeds awarded, will be based on the portion of students that are low-income with three categories defined as follows: 

• Legacy Schools - former Title I schools, less than 40% low-income
• Title I Schools - where at least 40% of students are low-income
• Highest Need Schools - where 70% or more of students are low-income

 

R4R is adopting a 70-15-15 formula for proportional distribution of proceeds:

70% of proceeds are pooled in a Base-Fund, all beneficiaries receive an equal share;
15% of proceeds are pooled in a Booster-Fund, all Title I schools receive an equal share; and
15% of proceeds are pooled in a Rocket-Fund, all the Highest-Need schools receive an equal share.

 

For additional details regarding this policy including how this could shift the amount of funds R4R schools receive, as related to relative need, please see this document.

 

 

MEET OUR SCHOOLS 

 Oakland International High School is so thankful for the way R4R funds support enriching, creative learning experiences for our students. OIHS uses R4R funds to support post session classes during the final three weeks of school, where teachers collaborate to create a 'school without walls' where students collaborate on real world projects and earn the credits they need to graduate high school, often mostly from outside the school campus and out in the community. This program helps to ensure CSU and UC eligibility for our newcomer students while allow for more creative educational experiences. This support from R4R helps enable us to better meet our goal to open pathways to college and career to all of our recent immigrant students.

 

Ride 4 a Reason has had a tremendous impact on Roosevelt Middle School. This fundraiser has provided opportunities for our students that they otherwise would not have. It has provided funding for field trips and student interest clubs which give our students a much richer and more engaging educational experience at Roosevelt.

 

Edna Brewer Middle School is truly grateful for the funds raised by R4R each year. The Brewer administrative team along with our PTSA work together to allocate R4R funds to support our art and music programs, tutoring services, facility upgrades, school supplies, and healthy student snacks. In addition, we were able to make funding available in the 2023-2024 school year for mini-grants for teacher projects, field trips and our distinguished Restorative Justice program. R4R funding is critical to Edna Brewer Middle School’s ability to support enrichment programs, academic excellence and our incredible students, teachers and staff every day. Thank you R4R for supporting our Panther Community!

 

The funds brought into Oakland Tech by R4R are directly deposited into our PTSA’s general fund, where they are used to purchase supplies that support teachers, departments, and academies. These funds also help finance over 20 events, ranging from the Summer Bridge program to the Black and Brown Family Summit, Día de los Muertos celebrations, Homecoming, and Raza Heritage Month. Additionally, they support athletics, graduation, the arts, and beautification efforts across the school.

Funds are also allocated to assist families in need and to strengthen our college and career programs, including an annual HBCU tour. Every dollar we receive is invested 100% in supporting our students and faculty. These investments will have lasting, positive effects on Oakland, both in the short term and long into the future. Thank you R4R!

 

Life Academy's annual Post Session would not be possible without Ride for a Reason. During the last two and a half weeks of the semester, the entire school suspends classes and engages in learning outside the walls of the school building. Students opt into classes ranging from bike-packing, to photography and film-making, art, and mental health workshops. They travel from Point Reyes Station down to Monterey Bay bikes, BART, buses, and their own feet. The funds pay for camping registration, museum entry fees, watercolors, s'mores, kayak lessons, and so much sunscreen. Life Academy is forever grateful to Ride for a Reason and the many riders, donors, and funders who make our end-of-year learning possible!

 

At Encinal Junior/Senior High the funds raised by R4R power new books for our library, audio equipment for our Drama and Musical productions, and college field trips. We were able to organize a trip to to San Jose State and Santa Clara University for graduating seniors who might not otherwise attend an in-person tour. We also depend on R4R funds to help stage Unity Day; a school-wide festival celebrating the language, arts, food, emigration stories and cultures from around the globe represented at our school. It's a major undertaking where students themselves teach lessons in 'continental classrooms' - each wing of the school is a different part of the world, and each class is led by a student teacher for the day. We're so grateful to celebrate our diverse student body in so many tangible ways, in part due to funds from Ride for a Reason!

 

Westlake really appreciates the support of Ride 4 A Reason. Our deepest gratitude is extended to your organization from our entire School Community. Here at Westlake the money that we receive from you is used for many different things on our campus. School wide events to honor our scholar achievers and athletes are supplied with these funds. It has been used to provide refreshments and supplies for our teacher meetings and classrooms. Our scholars are able to attend many different field trips including College visits in Southern California. It has also been used to fund our athletic department with adequate sporting equipment used for varies athletic teams. Westlake feels honored to be one of the schools to receive your gracious funds. Thanks for Ride 4 A Reason!!

 

Emerson Elementary School is using R4R funding to continue to provide library services, including funding the librarian position to a student population that is 75% free and reduced lunch. “Our kids benefit so much from a library stocked with awesome, diverse books and an experienced librarian.&rdquo

 

Equity Allies redistributes R4R funds to principals at recipient schools, who can then use funds at their discretion, without barriers. In prior years funds were made available to 20 schools, and realized broad, local impact. “With families in the highest need schools facing some of the starkest impact from the pandemic the support from R4R got funds to school communities that need it the most.”  

 

Montera Middle School used money to effectively transition to online learning, providing for tech supplies and tools to support teachers and students. “The donation from your intrepid riders helped to pay for after school programming, music and sports programs, including our cheer team, that our students need to be well-rounded and engaged at Montera Middle School.”  

 

Skyline High School is deeply thankful to be a recipient of the funds raised by R4R each year. At Skyline, the PTSA uses those funds to support Teacher grants and other projects at the school to help students have a better high school experience. In the 2022-2023 school year, R4R helped purchase two new Flowater units and worked to get them installed in an accessible location so that all students could access clean drinking water throughout the day. For our teacher grant program, we were able to help teachers with animals for dissection, field trips to the Oakland Zoo and Alcatraz, new furniture for the library, sports equipment and uniforms, and books. One additional item that we are able to do thanks to these funds is provide special lunches to appreciate the staff and teachers, who work so hard to educate our children and keep them safe. Below are pictures of one of our PTSA sponsored breakfasts and lunches. Thank you so much for R4R support!