(Editor's note: First in our series that looks at Oakland Local's picks for people/organizations to watch in 2011. See all profiles in this series)

Jenna Burton is the founder of Red Bike and Green - a collective that hosts bike rides for African American cyclists. RBG is one of several new biking crews that are encouraging and responding to an increase in cycling within Oakland’s communities of color.

In the past few years, biking crews like RBG have been a catalyst for culture change in Oakland. Burton said she believes that the visibility of crews like the Scraper Bikes and RBG have empowered people to take up cycling. 

It's no secret: More people of color are cycling, whether riding socially with a crew or committing to a greener, healthier commute.  Newly opened community-based bike stores also are offering affordable bikes and youth internships. 

The city of Oakland has taken notice of this increase in cycling, adding more bike lanes and applying for designation as a Bike Friendly Community from the League of American Bicyclists. Organizations like Cycles of Change and Richmond Spokes are greasing the wheels of these changes by hosting bike maintenance workshops and offering free bike parking at events and street fairs. 

“The thing that drives me is community health and that’s what inspired me to want to start Red Bike and Green,” said Burton, who balances her unpaid RBG work with a full-time job as a women’s health and diabetes researcher for Kaiser Permanente,  pre-medicine post-bac coursework and volunteering as a medic with the Berkeley Free Clinic. 

Last year she rode in AIDS/Lifecycle - a seven-day bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles to raise money and awareness about HIV and AIDS in communities of color. Burton plans to become a doctor, inspired by her desire to work on community health issues particularly around disparate health outcomes for African Americans and other people of color.

Due to the cold, rainy season, RBG has been gathering indoors recently. “Roll Deep” - a monthly party at Era Art Bar hosted by RBG, P.O.K.E.R., Richmond Spokes, Recycle Bicycle and Manifesto Bicycles that serves as the after party for the RBG and P.O.K.E.R. group rides - has continued through the winter.

Jenna reflected on the significance of her status as a non-Oakland native.

“Before I even thought of RBG, I knew that my presence here would have an impact on the surrounding community, whether I wanted it to or not.” She noted that most of RBG’s members are transplants to the Bay.  

Mindful of the fact that Oakland has been and will continue to be impacted by a large and dynamic community of transplants, she hopes to proceed with consideration and respect for Oakland’s rich culture and history. 

Because of this intention, Burton said she hopes to deepen the connection between RBG and other Oakland-based cycling groups  whose members have established roots to Oakland’s communities of color.

Read more profiles in our 11 for 11 series.