Bridgevolt Cooperative

11/22/2024

Statement in Support of Aisha Abdel Gawad

We at Bridgevolt have been fortunate to find community here in Southern Connecticut, helping working-class & immigrant folks here gain autonomy through mobility. But one of our own here in Connecticut has been heavily attacked and has even had her livelihood threatened, and we feel it necessary to respond.

We all have the right to make our voices heard. For the past century and especially last year, supporters of the Israeli government have been relentless in anti-Palestinian attacks, including harassment of anyone who takes a principled stance against the genocide in Gaza.

Aisha Abdel Gawad is a writer here in Connecticut who fights for the humanity of all people. In her novel Between Two Moons, she explores the experience of Arab Muslim girls growing up in Brooklyn in a post-9/11 world. Since the escalation of the Israeli government's siege in Gaza, she called for an end to the genocidal attack by the Israeli military. Most recently, she privately withdrew from a panel about her novel at an Albany, NY, literary festival that she felt would not be constructive. We all have the right not to participate in any forum, especially those that don't uphold our values.

Unfortunately, pro-Israeli government bad actors reacted by perpetuating an online smear campaign, relentlessly targeting her for taking a principled stance against the genocide. The targeted online harassment led to the loss of her writer-in-residence fellowship at one of the libraries in Connecticut. Now, even her career as a K-12 educator is in jeopardy.

Aisha's views are not as controversial as these bad actors would have you believe. The Israeli military has killed tens of thousands of people, nearly half of which are children, and displaced millions. They've destroyed farms & wells to ensure that the population could never return and vehemently attack anyone who would criticize them for the genocide they perpetrate.

As fellow Connecticut residents, we ask that you support one of our own and sign the petition in Abdel Gawad: https://bit.ly/SupportAisha..

09/19/2024

So glad that we were able to convert Rigoberto’s beautiful bicycle into an electric bike for FREE as part of our fundraiser with .ct and ! And he is excited to use it for his commute from now on.

09/05/2024

Bridgevolt will have a basic bike repair station available at all remaining farmers markets this season! Bring your bike by for a tune up or to talk about electric conversion.

07/02/2024

Such a fun repair workshop at last night! Volunteers prepared bikes to be converted for .ct but also found new homes for two donated bikes, and helped a few visitors repair their own bikes. Thanks to everyone who joined us ☺️ reach out here or check our website to get your own bike repaired and/or converted to an ebike this summer 😎

06/25/2024

Find us at the Farmers Market of Black Rock every Saturday this summer from 9AM-1PM! Check out our ebikes and bring your bicycle for a tune up or a conversion.

Thanks so much to Adair for donating your bike to us, we will find it a good home!!

06/10/2024

Mark your calendars for the next bike workshop at Bikeport! Hang out with our volunteers as we continue to build ebikes for CIRI, or bring your own bike for a tune-up.

05/01/2024

05/01/2024

Happy May Day everyone! We hope you all get a chance to rest for all your hard labor.

We are so excited for what this year will bring for us starting with our first delivery yesterday of an ebike for our project with the Connecticut Institute for refugees and immigrants. Santiago will use his bike to get to his new job, and to ride with his family. Thanks to all our donors who made this possible!!!! Fourteen more bikes coming soon...

Thank you to Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants, Bradley Street Bicycle Co-Op , Sustainable CT, and Bikeport Co-Op for all your support to get us to this milestone moment!

09/28/2023

TOMORROW is our last day to fundraise with and we are SO CLOSE to our goal of $7,500 which will be matched! Every dollar you give will go twice as far towards building fifteen ebikes for .ct , but only if you donate before 11:45 PM Friday. Let’s cross the finish line!!

09/26/2023

Thanks to your generosity yesterday, we made incredible progress and now we only need 13 more people to send a few bucks our way!

We can hit the goal of 75 donors and get every donation MATCHED with just a bit more support from our community 💗 patronicity.com/bridgevolt

09/25/2023

Coming in to the final week of fundraising, we were out tabling at Seaside Park and the UU Congregation in Westport. Unfortunately, our plans to table at farmers markets were rained out.....and we still need 30 donors to hit our goal by Friday! Even $5 will help us reach 75 donors and everything will be MATCHED by 🌀🌱⚡️ hit the link in our bio to donate now: patronicity.com/bridgevolt

09/24/2023

We're in the final 5 days of our fundraiser campaign to provide ebikes for immigrants & refugees in need! We're currently at $3340 of $7500, about halfway there. Remember, we get 1 to 1 matching on every dollar you can contribute from Sustainable CT!

Bridgevolt is fundraising to build electric bicycle conversion kits and donate them to Bridgeport residents in need of transportation.