HopSkipDrive Connects with Boys & Girls Club Youth to Support Transportation Equity in Louisiana

This month, HopSkipDrive was honored to join the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Louisiana (BGCMLA) for their annual Steak & Burger dinner, a celebration of community and the power of student voices. This event recognized the BGCMLA’s instrumental efforts to bring safer, more reliable transportation to students across the state.

In line with our mission of creating opportunity for all through mobility, this gathering was an exciting opportunity for HopSkipDrive team members and members of our Youth Advisory Board (YAB) to listen and learn directly from the students who will directly benefit from supplemental student transportation.

Advancing Student Mobility: The Passage of SB 160

Earlier this year, Louisiana lawmakers passed Senate Bill (SB) 160, and Governor Jeff Landry signed it into law, enabling schools to partner with youth-focused transportation network companies, such as HopSkipDrive, to help fill their transportation gaps to enhance student attendance.

This legislation is an important milestone for student mobility in Louisiana and a testament to the dedicated advocacy of the BGCMLA. Members of this thoughtful, forward thinking organization played an important role in ensuring lawmakers recognized the critical urgency of bringing safer transportation to students across the state.

The dinner provided a platform to recognize this collaborative effort and honor the inspiring young advocates from our Youth Advisory Board who brought their essential perspectives to the conversation:

• Kayana Bradley (HopSkipDrive YAB Member): Kayana, known as Keedy, was pivotal during the SB 160 committee hearings. She shared her personal story to demonstrate the critical need for safe transportation

• Angel Dawson (HopSkipDrive YAB Member): Angel, an LSU student and former HopSkipDrive rider, champions targeted funding like the McKinney-Vento grants. She brings an essential perspective, having relied on the service as a high school student experiencing homelessness in Detroit, to participate in lacrosse and DECA, a high school student organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management, and ultimately build a competitive college application.

Connecting on the Ground with Club Kids

The event offered an opportunity to witness the Clubs’ impact firsthand and connect directly with the members. Over shared food and stories, the youth helped put a human face on the policy changes by discussing the ongoing barriers to transportation in Louisiana.

The conversations provided invaluable insights into the challenges students face, emphasizing how a lack of transportation affects their ability to access school, academic tutoring, after-school enrichment programs—such as the Boys & Girls Club—and essential medical appointments or jobs.

This firsthand experience highlighted the event's profound impact, as shared by one of the attendees:

"I had an amazing time at the Boys & Girls Club. As a Youth Advisory Board member, it was wonderful to see the sponsors of the event, including HopSkipDrive, support a community building club such as this one. One of the children that sat at our table remarked that this was her first Boys & Girls Club event and how she would definitely come to the next one. It was a joy to see the children put time and dedication into a place where they can truly grow.”

— Angel Dawson, Youth Advisory Board Member

While we’ve long been strongly committed to ensuring every child can get where they need to go, hearing directly from the students—the very people BGCMLA seeks to empower—only deepened our resolve to expand safe mobility in the region.

Join Us in Making a Lasting Impact

This powerful event truly showcased the spirit of community and collaboration needed to address transportation barriers. We are humbled to work alongside organizations like the Boys & Girls Club of Metro LA and the inspiring young advocates on our Youth Advisory Board in pursuit of lasting change.

Through our HopSkipImpact initiative, we aim to expand access to safe and reliable transportation for young people served by nonprofit organizations across the country.

Curious about how we’re working to create lasting change? Learn more about HopSkipImpact by visiting our website.