Formative evaluation of Changing Gears - a community program to provide

bicycles and safe bicycling skills training to homeless and near homeless
individuals
Researchers: Gillian Adler, BA, Laura Rolke, BS, Mark Schulz, PhD, Alicia Mayhand
INTRODUCTION:
Changing Gears is a volunteer-run program that Bicycling in
Greensboro (BIG) established in 2007 to provide reliable, economical
transportation for bicycle recipients to access jobs, medical care, healthy food,
and housing. Clients are adults who are currently homeless or transitioning in or
out of homelessness and are referred to the program by the Interactive
Resource Center (IRC). The IRC is an innovative day center for homeless or
people facing homelessness that allows clients to reconnect with themselves
and the community; they offer showers, laundry facilities, computers, phones,
resume writing, and more for clients. Changing Gears recipients receive a
refurbished bike, front and rear lights, a helmet, and a lock.
RESEARCH GOAL:
The aim of the project is to develop methods to evaluate the reach and
impact of Changing Gears, a community program by BIG that provides bicycles
and teaches safe bicycling skills to an
average of ten homeless and near homeless individuals per month through the
IRC.
METHODS:
Contact other bicycling advocacy organizations to identify and request
existing questionnaires and best practices for evaluating programs that provide
bicycles and safety training to economically disadvantaged populations. Develop
the baseline and follow-up questionnaires from existing and proposed questions.
Administer surveys to Changing Gears recipients and collect data. Analyze the
data collected for 2015 and write an evaluation report. Changing Gears will use
the evaluation to make assessments about how to expand and improve the
Changing Gears program and to support grant proposals.

INTAKE SURVEY RESULTS:

TABLE ONE: Demographics, Employment and Self-Perceived Health
Age
Frequency Recipient Percentage IRC Percentage
40 & Younger
14
20.90%
24.7
41 & Older
53
79.1
64.3
4.6
Missing
Race
White
11
16.4
17.3
Black/African American
53
79.1
81.7
American Indian or Alaska Native
Other
Gender
Female
Male
Self-Perception of Health
Excellent
Very Good
Good
Fair
Missing
Employment
Full-Time
Part-Time
Seasonal
Enrolled in Workforce Training
Unemployed, Searching for Work
Unemployed, Unable to Work
Missing

1
2

1.5
3

12
55

17.9
82.1

15
26
19
6
1

22.4
38.8
28.4
9
1.5

11
16
3
2
28
6
1

16.4
23.9
4.5
3
41.8
9
1.5

0
1
33.9
65

Everyday Most Days (4-6) Some Days (1-3) Never

DATA COLLECTION:
Based off the information we collected from contacting organizations,
we evaluated each intake and follow-up survey for its applicability to our aim of
evaluating the reach and impact of Changing Gears. The intake survey is
administered in person orally by the graduate students on the project or trained
volunteers at the start of the bike giveaway day. The administration of the followup survey is less concrete at this time and is a work in progress. Once the
information is collected, we input the individual surveys into a Google form that is
connected to a Google sheet.

9%

1.5%

19.4%

70.1%

Walk

80.6%

6%

11.9%

1.5%

Bus

26.9%

26.9%

34.3%

11.9%

Taxi

1.5%

1.5%

7.5%

89.6%

Drive a Car

0%

3%

3%

94%

Get a ride with someone

3%

4.5%

46.3%

46.3%

Shuttle service *

0%

1.5%

6%

89.6%

Table Three: Plans to use the Bike

Work/Workforce Training
To look for work
Running errands/going to shops
School
Place of Worship
Recreation/exercise
Meetings/social activities
Other

Cost
Did not know how to ride a
bicycle
No place to store a bicycle
Not enough time to ride a
bike
Did not think bicycling was
safe
Health reasons
Bike was stolen
Other

Frequency
49

Percent
73.1

2
15

3
22.4

7.5

4
10
30
7

6
14.9
44.8
10.4

DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION:

Table Two: Transportation

Habits
Bicycle

Table Four: Reasons for

no bike

Percent
83.6
67.2
82.1
35.8
57.2
94
80.6
9

Although the people selected for the giveaway are selected by

the IRC, this does not control for who shows up to actually receive the
bike. For the demographics, we want to discern whether the
populations receiving the bike matched other data out there on
homeless populations. This is difficult in that homelessness ranges from
a single incidence to a lifelong struggle, making concrete demographics
hard to come by. According to US census data, the median age of
homeless persons are fifty and tend to be men, which shows the bike
giveaway is targeting the right populations (Fazel, Geddes, Kushel
2014). We also want to ensure when we intake the demographics that
we know their employment so that when we administer the follow up
survey there could be a traceable employment change, leading the
Changing Gears knowing if they have made an impact on employment.
Another aspect that we are tracing is their change in the selfreported health status. Homeless people have been found to have
higher rates of premature mortality than the rest of the population, and
an increased prevalence of a range of infectious diseases, mental
disorders, and substance misuse (Fazel, Geddes, Kushel 2014). Over
half of the population (61.2%) rates their health as excellent or very
good, while no one has answered poor. This high rating of selfperceived health could be the result of worrying they may not get a bike
if they are ill and/or the fact that there is an onsite clinic that comes
regularly to the IRC. In Canadas community health survey 8% of
Canadians rated their health fair or poor compared to our 9% intake
data being fair (Ahmad, Anuroop, Bierman, Burghardt 2014). This
shows that although at first glance this may seem high, there is a trend
of self-reporting having a high amount of good health ratings.
The follow up survey administration is less concrete at this
time. We only have nineteen completed surveys. Contacting homeless
individuals is difficult because often they dont keep phone numbers for
long and checking email is inconsistent. So far, our tactic is to attend
events at the IRC and ask individuals if they have received a bike
through the program. On giveaways, we have bike mechanics on hand
to fix bikes and we often find previous recipients there. We have just
received a grant to continue trying to figure out how to reach out to past
recipients to see how their lives have been impacted by the program
REFERENCES
Ahmad, F, Anuroop, KJ, Bierman, AS, Burghardt, M, Stewart, DE. Single
item measures of self-rated mental health: a scoping review. BMC
Health Serv Res. 2014; 14: 398. doi: 10.1186/1472-6963-14-398.
Fazel, S, Geddes JR, Kushel, M. The health of homeless people in highincome countries: descriptive epidemiology, health consequences, and
clinical and policy recommendations. Lancet. 2014; 384(9953): 15291540.