Positive Spin is an exciting health, wellness, and mentoring program offered by the MGR Foundation for Pittsburgh's high school youth. Through this program we break down the barriers of unhealthy lifestyles, lack of positive adult role models, and neighborhood seclusion. The following three program components were specially designed to meet the pressing needs of Pittsburgh's urban youth.

1. Mentoring
Students are paired with adult cyclists in a one-to-one mentoring relationship. These caring mentors are trained and make a commitment to cycle with the students at least once a week.

2. Health, Nutrition, and Fitness
Throughout the year, students participate in workshops related to health, nutrition, and fitness. This includes exploring how exercise helps to maintain physical and mental health, and ways to improve eating habits and nutrition.

3. City Access
The MGR Foundation has partnered with Bike Pittsburgh to teach students bike safety skills and how to use cycling as an alternative form of urban transportation. We have also partnered with Free Ride, offering the students an opportunity to build their own bicycle out of recycled bike parts. This allows them to keep the bike after the completion of the program and continue cycling for years to come.

Middle and high school students are paired with adult mentors and given high quality bicycles to learn to ride. Once a week, students participate in a workshop centered on topical issues such as bike safety and maintenance, health and nutrition, and the importance of exercise. The real fun begins when together, student and mentors, take to the streets of Pittsburgh for the weekly urban ride experiences. The pairs safely ride from their local school to a specified city destination, exploring the great assets our city has to offer young people while learning the city's trail system. Whether riding to the Warhol Museum or to the campus of one of Pittsburgh's exceptional universities, the mentor pair experiences the destination together as they build new relationships. As a culminating event, the students and mentors participate in a cyclo-tour, biking over 100 miles in a single weekend along with an amazing camping adventure.

At the completion of this program, youth will

• Increase the frequency of their exercise.
• Understand how to make healthy lifestyle choices.
• Demonstrate the ability to safely navigate the city on a bicycle.
• Value cycling as a plausible form of transportation.
• Improve self-esteem and confidence through meaningful relationships with caring role models