[TheThinkTank] Volunteers vs. Paid Staff, Bike Shop Empowerment

Mon Jun 23 12:54:27 PDT 2008

This is Ed from Santa Barbara Bici Centro-

We're a new shop that is committed to empowerment through bicycles- and
that's it. We run as a collective, but seem much more like a traditional
non-profit. We've had similar issues to concern #2 of a more structured
shop, but in the end we'd prefer having a higher quality of service to our
users/customers then completely free-flowing, into chaos often- of complete
free form. We started with free form- not charging for used parts, or even
donated new stuff, letting tools float from one area to another- but our
quality of service was low (takes a long, frustrating time for users to
finish repairs) and we knew we wouldn't be able to become the shop we wanted
to be (serving a lot of people, because we have a lot of need in our town
for  our services) without  structure both for users and volunteers.  One of
our volunteers says it best: our challenge is to balance structure with free
form- not to allow structure to restrict us, but to get us to the truely
creative levels- for us that still means a lot of chaos, but with enough
control to find obscure needed parts, have tubes ACTUALLY be patched if they
are in the repatched area, and TEACH how to use more advanced tools instead
of breaking them, etc.

As for concern #1 of paid staff, this is a delicate one and I have a bias,
admittedly, as a 20 hour a week paid staff for some 50 hours of weekly work.
I am from a priviledged background, and was able to help anchor the shop for
some 18 months that it's taken us to get to a full retail type, indoor shop
with neccessary tools and parts and regular hours. That unpaid time was
do-able for me because I had amassed about a years worth of savings. Well,
that savings is gone and we now generate revenue for the shop and we have
grant funding from four different community foundations. I have been paid
now for about 6 weeks and this allows me to continue coordinating shop
functions that either wouldn't happen or would happen in a less organized
capacity via more folks. The question that my collective is making, and that
yours needs to decide upon as well is: Is hiring one or more paid staff-
either directly or indirectly as project coordinators- more beneficial to
fuffilling our mission or ultimately less beneficial toward our mission?

If the mission of your shop is more about radical social change then quality
and quantity of bike repair and project results (especially one-two year
short term results) or vice versa? Or perhaps better said, is the fabric of
your collective at risk if some members are paid in order to  take on
projects that you would not have been able to take on otherwise?

Macho- I think that you are wise to be very thoughtful in addressing this
issue. The answers are probably quite dependent on the nature of your
collective and your community. sorry not to have any better advice.

-Ed, Santa Barbara
www.Bicicentro.org
On Mon, Jun 23, 2008 at 7:22 AM, Macho Philipovich <macho at resist.ca> wrote:

>
> Hey everyone.  We're trying to sort through a couple of issues at the shop
> right now, and I'd like to see if any others have experiences with similar
> situations that they could share.
>
> 1.  We like to keep as many open shop hours as our volunteer capacity will
> allow, which doesn't leave much left for running other programs.  Our shop
> is located in a poor part of town, and we're finding a lot of schools,
> community centres, and immigrant organizations are asking us to run
> workshops for kids.  The said community organizations, though, are often
> willing to provide honoraria for this work.  In the past we've just had the
> money donated back to the bike project, but now people who run the programs
> are starting to keep it for themselves, and we're kind of feeling torn.  On
> the one hand, partnering with community organizations so that kids can have
> access to bikes and bike repair tools & skills is amazing, and is basically
> why we exist, and giving our volunteers, most of whom are low-income, some
> monetary compensation is great, especially since we are a very financially
> stable shop.  On the other hand, there is also the concern that if
> volunteers start to be paid, it will take them away from our open shop
> hours, and leave other volunteers to do essentially the same work, only
> without getting paid.  This could seemingly cause resentment, hard feelings,
> and the general deterioration of our shop.  We're not, at this time, able to
> or interested in paying all volunteer mechanics all of the time.  So this is
> something we have to find a way to reasonably resolve.
>
> 2.  This question is especially directed at shops that view themselves as
> committed to radical social change, but answers from anyone are welcome.
>  We've just switched over from a "free-for-all" kind of setup where people
> can waltz in to the shop, start wrenching away, and ask for help if anyone
> is around to offer it, to our new setup where people need to sign in with a
> greeter and if there are no available mechanics, they have to wait outside.
>  This has almost eliminated the chaos and frustration that was until
> recently a staple at the shop, but also has people worried.  We are starting
> to feel like we are "policing" people and treating those who use the shop
> with suspicion, and that the shop is starting to feel much more like a
> regular liberal social work program or soup kitchen where there is a clear
> divide between staff ("you've already had your one bowl of soup!") and
> people fixing their bikes, rather than a space where different people are
> welcome to make a meaningful contribution, and become empowered to be
> invested in the space and take a leadership role.
>
> Has anyone experienced either of these things in their shop?  Any thoughts?
>  Solutions?
>
> Thanks,
> Macho of the Bike Dump
> http://bike-dump.ca
>
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>
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>

-- 
Ed France
Bici Centro
601 E. Montecito St.
Santa Barbara, Ca 93103
310 936 0857
Bici Centro is a project of the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition
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