The Root Riders

Biking from garden to garden, local youth learn to grow, harvest, and sell

The Root Riders program offers high-school students an action-packed summer education and employment opportunity. As students care for ACT’s school and community gardens in the North End of Newport, they develop leadership skills, acquire horticultural knowledge, practice safe biking in a group, and serve their community by sharing fresh produce.

All students, ages 14 to 17 are encouraged to apply to the Root Riders program. Students work 20 hours per week, Monday through Thursday, at a rate of $15 per hour during a six-week period in July and August. The 2024 program is currently full; we encourage you to apply for the 2025 program by clicking the button above.

At the start of the summer, students receive bike training and support from Bike Newport to help students gain confidence safely biking on the roads. When not harvesting in the nearby school and community gardens, the Root Riders care for the gardens at the Big Blue Bike Barn, a vibrant outdoor campus transformed from a vacant lot into a thriving community space and home to Bike Newport’s Bike Library and Summer Bike Camp.

Read about Senator Sheldon Whitehouse’s visit to the bustling Big Blue Bike Barn: ‘Senator Whitehouse visits the Big Blue Bike Barn’

Read the Newport Daily News article: ‘Root Riders job program teaches Newport teens about food and much more’