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The National Center for Youth Development (NCYD) is a youth development organization based in Minneapolis, Minnesota that operates school-based programs, out-of-school programming, and coach education and training certification using the bicycle as the vehicle for personal and collective growth and development. NCYD partners with youth in their quest for community, identity, and purpose. This partnership includes helping youth build integrity, confidence, and self-awareness through cycling-specific activities. 

NCYD was born in 2021 to fill a gap in the long term development model for life-long physical activity. NCYD meets a need to build and sustain community for youth in cycling and their families. The organization is now led by a two-pronged decision making structure - a collaborative Youth & Adult Board of Directors. The members of both boards are elected annually by members and are collectively tasked with development and maintenance of the organization.

NCYD hosts nearly 200 registered members, has partnered with many programs across the country serving nearly 10,000 kids, and is advising nearly every youth development cycling program in the country. We have expanded our scholarship program and grown our non-male ridership to nearly 50%.  We are currently on track to train, onboard, and employ over 100 youth throughout our annual programmatic coverage.

NCYD was organized exclusively for public, charitable and/or educational purposes within the scope of Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

Bruce Martens founded NCYD to provide a base for growth from which he can share his unique expertise, dedication, and passion for development of character through cycling.

Previously, Bruce was the co-founder of two other not-for-profit youth cycling programs that collectively serve over 5,000 kids a year, and was a critical member of a business team that launched 17 additional organizations around the country that serve over 20,000 kids annually. Responding to an inability for those other organizations to equitably serve youth through year-round cycling activity, the NCYD was established to cover that gap in programming and met a need to build and sustain community for youth in cycling and their families.