Project Ride

Started in 2011, by Guam Communications Network (GCN)  in partnership with the Bay Area Community Resources (BACR) through funding from the California Tobacco Control Program (CTCP), as a Southern California Chapter of Project RIDE.

The Mission of Project RIDE is to mobilize California’s young import car enthusiasts against the tobacco industry and to develop and promote then as advocates and leaders who protect their communities and the automobile scene from social injustices.  To fulfill its Mission, RIDE developed three areas of expertise.

1. Enhance community capacity through leadership and skills development ;
2. Mobilize the car scene through team sponsorship and
3. Change the environment in the car scene by influencing event organizers and auto-related businesses to adopt anti=tobacco policies.

About Project RIDE

Project RIDE is a program of Bay Area Community Resources (BACR), a non-profit agency with 31 years of experience in health-based community programs. BACR’s mission is to promote the healthy development of individuals, families, and communities.

The import scene and its enormous market of potential smokers has become a focus of the tobacco industry and its covert marketing tactics. Project RIDE has become a leader since 2002 in battling the tobacco industry within the car scene. Through support from the California Tobacco Control Program (CTCP) and the Alameda County Tobacco Control Program, Project RIDE continues to counter pro-tobacco influences and to reduce exposure to secondhand smoke. Moreover, we will take our anti-tobacco campaigns statewide by building community assets who can protect young car enthusiasts in Southern California.

History

Project RIDE was started eight years ago due to the recognition that subcultures like music, skateboarding, or racing can tie together communities in powerful ways.  These ties often transcend different ethnicities, classes and groups.  Project RIDE was started to mobilize the “import car” culture against tobacco industry takeover through leadership development, policy adoption, and education campaigns.  RIDE is a highly visible program with over 300 volunteers, most of whom are male and ages 18-35 from California.

The import car scene’s mix of automotive tie-ins, underground appeal, and wide young adult market make it an ideal tobacco industry target. Increasingly, reports from the RIDE network frontlines have exposed the full arsenal of popular media tactics Big Tobacco is using to recruit car show attendees, show organizers, and shop owners.  Now in its ninth year, RIDE continues on its mission of fighting tobacco industry sponsorship and remains the only organization in California working on such issues.

Forms

{phocadownload view=file|id=1|target=s}

{phocadownload view=file|id=2|target=s}

{phocadownload view=file|id=3|target=s}