Sep. 23—TRAVERSE CITY — A week ago, a smiling Ty Schmidt thanked potential funders on behalf of Norte, the organization he created, headed, and to many, personified.

He stood with one of the group's nine board of directors, carrying their funding finalist sign for a project to add a pump track, traffic garden and education center to the Civic Center.

Since then, Schmidt was removed by Norte's board. Since then, a community outcry crystallized into a "We ride with Ty" movement. Since then, Schmidt made a plea to keep Norte's wheels on for the sake of the kids in Norte programs. Since then, the group did not get the $100,000 grant.

The week of upheaval comes to one of Traverse City's showpiece nonprofit organizations — one that put hundreds on kids on bikes, and changed the shape of the community by way of its social "slow rolls," adventure camps, biking access and advocacy, youth leadership, race teams, mechanic classes and in galvanizing community groups for large-scale "safe routes to school" infrastructure.

But while the organization looked healthy from the outside, the view from inside was different, Schmidt said.

"Internally there was lots of dissent and disagreement as to what our purpose is," Schmidt said, adding that tension spiked in the months since spring 2020 when COVID-19 changed the landscape.

"I made a promise that we were going to see the pandemic as an opportunity to create lasting change in term of kids being outside and connected to parks and access ... and when I make a promise to myself, I keep it," he said.

Subsequently 2020 became the organization's biggest year, with hundreds of kids in Norte programs (and more on waitlists), and $700,000 in donations. But the pandemic "rocket fuel" burned out staff, and three members resigned, Schmidt said.

"That kind of turnover is not a great sign of work culture," Schmidt said. "We grew too fast. We weren't ready for it."

But his ouster surprised many, and Schmidt called it "poorly executed."

The Sept. 15 removal announcement that came from the nonprofit's board of directors thanked Schmidt for his leadership, named Director of Operations Jill Sill as interim executive director and said the decision came after "examining the organization's future needs."

"Although change is never easy, the transition was necessary for the organization to reach the next level," said Norte Board President Chris Hinze in a prepared statement.

The news shocked even those closely tied to the group, said volunteer, parent and sponsor Kelly Bulloch.

"It just didn't make sense. Ty IS Norte," Bulloch said. "We all got this email and there was this common sense of disbelief and shock, of how could this happen?"

The Bullochs were there from Norte's beginnings in their neighborhood at the home of Ty and his wife Johanna Schmidt. The Schmidts — job-sharing physical therapists with kids — created a volunteer bike escort for kids back and forth to school. These "bike trains" did double duty, they cut back school drop-off line snarls and empowered kids in finding a healthier school commute. The idea gained speed.

"I'd be backing up to leave for work and there'd be 20 kids in the driveway," Bulloch said. The Schmidts taught her own kids to ride bikes in the alley, getting them from balance bikes to "no training wheels" by 3 years old. Bulloch and her family became enthusiastic Norte supporters, her kids joined Norte's summer camps and after-school mountain bike clubs, and they joined sponsorship ranks.

One of her sons rode 12 miles per day this summer, Bulloch said.

"We wouldn't have been able to do that with him," she said of Ty. "And that's just our story — Ty helping the kids in the alley, but there are hundreds of families in town he has done that for."

From becoming an official nonprofit in 2014, Norte counted 76 employees on its 2020 IRS 990 forms, the majority seasonal coaches and counselors.

The core leadership staff doubled and Norte's after-school programs now are in 14 schools from Kalkaska to Petoskey. Financial forms filed with the Internal Revenue Service show a steady, upward chug in funding, totaling more than $1.8 million since 2016. The organization's bright orange wheel and clubhouses are part of the Grand Traverse County Civic Center landscape.

Norte's community inroads personified Sept. 18 when about 300 people massed outside Schmidt's home in a wave of "We ride with Ty" solidarity. Others have called for board resignations or questioned future financial support.

Keelan McNulty, a.k.a. "Norte Man," attended the flash mob, and while "devastated" by the decision to oust someone he considers a friend, McNulty said he intends to continue working with the group. The coach, a volunteer, an emcee for the Norte's National Cherry Festival balance bike race, and costumed superhero has been involved with Norte for six years.

"I definitely bleed orange," he said.

"I mean it's hard, I'm very connected to what Ty built," he said. "But it's not just Ty, it's the mission. I wouldn't want to leave the kids hanging with no coach — that's just selfish."

He did question if the board did enough to support its leader, and how the information rolled out.

"I keep thinking, 'Norte's better than this, and whatever the details may be, the email didn't do it justice,'" he said.

Hinze responded to phone calls but said the board was constrained from comment because the split is an "internal personnel matter."

Norte's board released a follow-up statement Tuesday through Lambert public relations, echoing the personnel sensitivity was for "the sake of all parties;" that it being brought to light was not initiated by the organization; and the decision was not "easy or hasty:"

"While we cannot discuss confidential personnel matters, we want the community to know this was not an easy or hasty choice. Rather, the Board engaged in a deliberative executive review process that included extended conversations with Ty, which began last year. We have spent this past week trying to work with Ty to find another suitable role with the organization. Our sincere hope is to have him continue with the organization in another capacity and with the same enthusiasm he brought to Norte since its inception. If he decides to part ways, we wish him well in his future endeavors."

Schmidt said they've tried many things during the past year, including internal communications training, succession planning and restructuring, but "we still got here."

He urged "the friends of Norte" to support the organization as the "fallout since has broken my heart. Coaches quitting, donors dropping, and most heartbreaking, confused and disappointed Norte kids."

Norte should keep on rolling without him because the movement doesn't belong to him alone, Schmidt said.

"I became the face of it but it doesn't belong to me," he said. "The reason Norte exists, our super-strength, is to grow active-for-life kids. ... I think the mission continues to be more important than ever, to raise kids who take a stand and fight for their parks, for safe access to bike to school or a friends' house."

Schmidt said, in the short-term, he has no plans to return to Norte.

"We've tried and tried. My heart can't take it. We're so far apart," he said.

But he hopes everyone gets to experience the kind of support he has during the past week, and that they don't have be "ousted" to see the impact they have on people.

"There is nothing like it when people have your back," Schmidt said. "It's overwhelming, I can't keep up, I'm hearing from friends from high school ... it both breaks my heart and fills me with pride."

He said he doesn't know what comes next for him, but in the meantime, he plans to be a better friend, a better communicator and get out on his bike more. Heading up a growing bike-riding nonprofit didn't leave much time for actual rides, he said.

"As 'Ousted Ty' I'm going to ride my bike more than 'Pre-Ousted Ty,'" he said. "When in doubt, ride."