Ren Barger

Development Director

Ren Barger is overjoyed to yoke her nonprofit development experience to her passion for creativity, arts education, and social equity. Born in Tulsa, OK, and raised across the Midwest and both Coasts, she settled in Chicago, IL, after graduating from Booker T. Washington in Tulsa in 2001, where she began using a bicycle as her primary means of transportation.

In 2004, Ren was hit by a motorist and sustained seven broken bones, and was confined to a wheelchair for two months. Her recovery was supported by yoga therapy, drawing, song, and dabbling in instruments like trumpet, doumbek, and charango. Ren resettled in Tulsa in 2008 and founded TulsaHub, a volunteer-powered social enterprise offering low-or-no-cost reconditioned bikes and repurposed gear to disenfranchised adults and at-risk youth in need of affordable and health-promoting transportation.

Ren has studied at the United Bicycle Institute in Ashland, Oregon, with Leadership Tulsa (Class 55), and continues to practice and teach therapeutics with Artemis Movement, a global motility/postural technology based out of Barbados.

Ren deeply values the loving relationships formed over her 15 years of community service in the US and Abroad, and is so grateful to find her new professional and creative hub with the bART students, families, and stakeholders.