TheThinkTank July 2009

thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org

44 participants
36 discussions

no boys allowed zine from bikebike?
by veganboyjosh＠gmail.com 27 Sep '18

27 Sep '18

hey all, i'm looking to get in touch with the person who wrote/published the "no boys allowed" zine which was passed out at bikebike in san francisco. it was part of one of the oppression and gender identity issues workshops. we're looking to start a women's night here at community cycles, and i'd like to scan my copy as a pdf and email it to potential volunteers, as well as make some copies to have in the shop... if you're on the list, or if you know the person who wrote it (her name escapes me), please get in touch with me off list... thanks! josh. community cycles boulder

12 25

Is there a collective in New Orleans?
by Jonathan Morrison 06 Dec '12

06 Dec '12

Email me if you know of one. -- Sincerely, Jonathan Morrison Project Coordinator Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective 2312 S. West Temple Salt Lake City, UT 84115 w: 801-328-2453 c: 801-688-0183 f: 801-466-3856 www.slcbikecollective.org

13 14

Re: [TheThinkTank] non-petroleum lube
by Michael Wolfe 04 May '11

04 May '11

Page 13 of the 1992 Bridgestone bicycle catalog has a unique recommendation of using olive oil. http://www.sheldonbrown.com/bridgestone/ On 4/2/08, Bob Giordano <mist(a)strans.org> wrote: > > Indoor air quality is tops on our list for a healthy shop atmosphere. We > do not store anything that gives off harmful fumes. Tooth brushes and > simple green (highly diluted) in a small wooden bowl is our parts cleaning > station. We are even moving away from simple green (i've learned it is > harmful to some)- to a citrus based cleaner. > > I guess tri flow is the only thing with fumes in the shop. Often we ask > people to use it outside. I'd like to find a non-petroleum lube. > > -Bob Giordano, Free Cycles Missoula > > > Michael Wolfe wrote: > > Speaking of liver damage, etc.. Wondering if any shops out there have > had > > issues solvent tanks in their shop? The fumes give me a headache but > others > > don't seem to mind it. Mostly I worry about the health effects on the > full > > time people in the shop. Short of installing a hood or ventalation > system, > > what options are there to locate that stuff outside? > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Thethinktank mailing list > Thethinktank(a)bikecollectives.org > > http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.… >

11 14

110 Community Bicycle Organizations
by Jonathan Morrison 27 Nov '10

27 Nov '10

We aren't alone. http://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Community_Bicy… -- Sincerely, Jonathan Morrison Executive Director Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective 2312 S. West Temple Salt Lake City, UT 84115 w: 801-328-2453 c: 801-688-0183 f: 801-466-3856 www.slcbikecollective.org

4 5

your org's policy on working with kids?
by veganboyjosh＠gmail.com 19 Nov '09

19 Nov '09

we're hard at work on Community Cycles' shop manual, and we're wondering if any of you have any formal policies for shop volunteers and/or staff that you'd feel like sharing. i'm imagining something to the effect of "at least two staff must be present when kids are around..." or something like that. on a somewhat related note, have any of you had any experience with someone--staff, volunteer, customer, etc--being inappropriate around kids, (aside from normal bad language..) that you had to deal with a parent for? i'd be interested in hearing about that experience... thanks! josh.

3 2

Non-Profit Industrial Complex
by Macho Philipovich 24 Aug '09

24 Aug '09

Hi everyone, It looks like I'm not going to make it to Bike!Bike! this year, but there was a discussion I was really wanting to initiate. It mostly comes out of lived experience, but is well-articulated by Incite! Women of Color Against Violence in a recent book they wrote called "The Revolution will not be Funded: Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex" I would love for people, especially those in shops with an anti-capitalist/non-hierarchichal/anti-oppressive bent to them to have a look at that book and then to have discussion around some of the points raised, specifically of limitations in 501(c)3, state funding, and foundation funding models. If people have had a chance to look at the book and would like to discuss it here, that would be great, but even better would be if there were someone willing to lead a discussion next month in Minneapolis. Macho http://bike-dump.ca

5 5

816 Bicycle Collective Benefit Bash!!!!
by the816bikecollective Kansascity 30 Jul '09

30 Jul '09

Hello Friends, The 816 Bicycle Collective is having a benefit show to raise some much needed funds. We really hope that you can make it. Our show is at Californo's in Westport on Sunday, August 16th. There will be bands, food, raffle prizes and much more. We're taking donation's at the door. We'll see you there!!! Thanks, the 816 Bicycle Collective 3109 Troost Ave KCMO 64109 www.816bike.org

1 0

Re: [TheThinkTank] "job" openings at your co-op
by john.carlson＠comcast.net 30 Jul '09

30 Jul '09

At Sibley Bike Depot, we have four paid staff people right now, all of which could use more hours; Volunteer Coordinator, Youth Coordinator, and two mechanics. The mechanics staff our open shops, teach staff and volunteers and help teach classes, repair bikes and do final checks on bikes volunteers repair. We also pay a professional bookkeeper monthly to do our payroll and keep us on track with the reporting, filing of key things. We also have an active board that participates in all areas of operations. We decided that to be more sustainable we had to shift our organization from a top-top hierarchy to a collective model. Our mode of operation shift went something like this: We had a hands-off board of directors that hired an Executive Director and Shop Manager /mechanic The Grants that paid for the start-up of our organization ran out and they were unable to fund these positions. The ED left and they decided to start selling bikes to pay for the Shop Manager/mechanic. The shop manager position continued for a number of years and he was able to use the volunteers and the bikes to pay our rent, utilities and his own pay. But the model was essentially the same; a board of directors who hired someone to do the work for them. Unfortunately that set up the situation where we had the shop manager acting as ED and Mechanic and Program Leader doing and directing everything from bike rentals, sales, donations, deposits, ordering, problem solving, etc. Everything had to go through the shop manager to keep everything going. Eventually he burned out. In our scenario, the board was seen as the boss who could come in and change things, give orders, had power over money and jobs, but was not responsible for day to day operations. And not connected with the people making it all happen. We looked at the Grease Pit as a different model of how things could operate by sharing the work between engaged, participating members of a collective. We decided that we would hire staff people in focused, key areas, to act as partners with us, part of the collective. And the rest is us trying to figure out how to make a collective work. Part of our new organizational structure is to have decentralized volunteer teams with power and authority to carry out tasks. For instance, the web/technology team totally setup a three computer network in our shop, redeveloped our website using drupal for easy content updating and setup a volunteer tracking system also in drupal. The way it's suppose to work is our collective members and staff participate in these teams alongside volunteers. We also have a finance team, fundraising team, outreach/promotion team, education team, etc. It's not all working great, but in my view so far, it's more just and sustainable than the old model. To make our collective more open and accessible, we have been trying to expand our collective to core volunteers who can participate, take on leadership roles and responsibilities and have a say in how to do things. What doesn't work though is when collective members join, but don't take responsibility and don't do the work, and work against other volunteers. And we are still a 501c3 non-profit corporation with banking, payroll, filing and reporting responsibilities. Our new model is confusing to even us at times when collective members assume someone else is taking care of responsibilities and we do only the things that we want to do. I've also seen the collective model turn against itself - infighting, clique behavior, and power struggles. And the other volunteers definately see this. And our model is also confusing to outsiders who always ask, "who's in charge?" Funding and Sustainability: The bigger the org, the more funding it needs. And the funding comes from somewhere. If not grants, then bike sales or donations. But still it has to be funded. A small volunteer collective with donated or free space is still funded by the donor of the space. The sources of funding may be an issue, but we have decided that we need to diversify our funding so it's not all recycled-bike sales. But our goal is not to get big, but to do a better job of what we do, increase our capacity to do more, and to keep it sustainable. It's definately a learning process. And I look forward to reading that book, The Revolution Will Not Be Funded. John Sibley Bike Depot St. Paul, MN ----- Original Message ----- From: "rachael spiewak" <rachael(a)sopobikes.org> To: "The Think Tank" <thethinktank(a)bikecollectives.org> Sent: Wednesday, July 29, 2009 10:31:36 AM GMT -06:00 US/Canada Central Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] "job" openings at your co-op Here are some quick answers from Sopo. We pay one person right now to be our executive director (that's me), but the role is more like a facilitator or manager. My job includes specific tasks that I do and coordinating volunteers to do what they do. On the administrative end, I: *do most of our correspondence and communication oriented things *manage our budget and banking *do our grantseeking and most of the event planning *keep up with donor relations *keep up with all y'all for new ideas *recruit and coordinate the big volunteer picture *keep up with volunteers to make sure they're getting what they need *order shop supplies *and other sort of mundane nonprofit management stuff. Then, in the shop, I'm always there, I match volunteers with individuals who need help, match volunteers with other things to do in the shop, work with volunteers to address conflict resolution oriented things. Volunteers facilitate our volunteer orientation, keep the shop running, do our outreach, and help out with lots of the stuff I do. Our board is made up of active volunteers who are specifically helping with finances, HR, and fundraising. I make $30k a year, which so far has been surprisingly easy to fundraise without compromising our policy about avoiding corporate money and financial support from entities whose values don't match ours. In many ways, my job pays for itself. In the nonprofit world, it appears that organizations get taken more seriously if they have an ED. It's a tricky line to walk, but I think we're making it work for us (suggested reading: The Revolution Will Not Be Funded). We started this during the third quarter of 2007 on a trial basis. The agreement was that if the money could be found for the next quarter and everything was going fine, we could roll it out for another 3 months. Six months deep we had enough money to keep it going through the end of the year, and by the end of the year we had funding for a bunch more years. As for decision making: the community has that power. I'm entrusted to do what I do with the understanding that I have a particular skill set, experience with this stuff, education, yadda yadda.. as in, I'm qualified to do my job. But if things at the shop need to change, we deal with it at our general meetings. If I was doing a lousy job, the community could fire me via the Board. It's funny how power relations are so entrenched, because I overhear people in the shop explaining that I'm in charge, and I have to get in there and explain that "I just work here." Sometimes I have to be the enforcer and ask someone to take a hike when it comes down to it (which everyone gets a kick out of since even our kiddos are bigger than me...and I say things like "kiddos"). I think that my job is to support the work of the volunteers, so that's my approach. I feel empowered to do my job, I feel empowered by my job, I feel rewarded by what I get to do for a living, and I feel that my role in the shop is special in its own way, but we're not feeling any hierchical weirdness. Hope this helps, Rachael On Wed, Jul 29, 2009 at 11:02 AM, Boson Au < instructions(a)gmail.com > wrote: so the recent job opening at the bike kitchen in LA reminded me of something I'd very much like to discuss at bikebike, namely how, if you, compensate managers. Currently our collective members are de facto managers, and the recent influx of new volunteers/people in our shop is making some of us think about the possibility of creating a manager role. Right now we have no way to pay this person, but that might change in the future. so I guess if yall have a minute, can you tell me a little about how your organization deals with it? specifically, if you do offer compensation, does it affect their decisiion making powers? I noticed that the bike kitchen's job opening states that the person would not have executive decisionl, and I can see why since that person's power is already pretty great considering they'd be the manager of the shop. anyways, this is something I'm really interested in and want to pursue @ bikebike. -B _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank(a)bikecollectives.org To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave(a)bikecollectives.org To manage your subscription, plase visit: http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.… -- Sopo Bicycle Cooperative 404-425-9989 www.sopobikes.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Hours of operation: Tues, Wed, & Thurs 7 pm - 10 pm Sat & Sun 2 pm - 6 pm _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank(a)bikecollectives.org To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave(a)bikecollectives.org To manage your subscription, plase visit: http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.…

1 0

DesGua Bike tour through central america--interest poll thing
by Erik Stockmeier 29 Jul '09

29 Jul '09

Good afternoon, comrades- So a friend of mine from Guatemala is trying to organize a bike tour from guatemala to panama from november 1 to mid-december. The tour would be visiting local social movements along the way and have an explicitly political purpose, and he asked me to help out, to try and gage interest on it and such. He's currently talking to Just Coffee about some kind of sponsorship and the attachment elaborates on some of the questions he has for potentially interested parties, as well as more general information (but more elaborate than i can squeeze in on my lunch break over here). Some other questions I have (I have a meeting with him on sunday before he returns to guatemala): is there interest in this around? what about the timing? I'm concerned about it being so soon. would any other bike coops/collectives/etc be interested in somehow supporting it? It looks like an awesome experience at any rate. Anyhow, sorry for being so brief and sloppy, but like i said... lunch break. Erik @the recyclery

1 0

Job Opening at Cycles of Change APC in the SF Bay Area
by Cycles of Change APC 29 Jul '09

29 Jul '09

Cycles of Change APC Bike Shop seeks a Bicycle Repair Coordinator to join our fantastic, fast-paced and friendly grassroots, not-for-profit community bike shop in Alameda. The shop provides people of all backgrounds and ages earn-a-bike and job training programs, do-it-together repair access, bicycle donation drop-off and much more! The shop offers a full-range of services which fund the shop including sales of used bicycle and parts, and comprehensive bicycle repair services. We seek a staff person who will professionally and productively repair bicycles. The Cycles of Change APC shop has been thriving and this position is critical to its ongoing success. The primary responsibilities of this position are: • Repairs: o Repair a very wide range of used bicycles professionally and efficiently. o Excellent familiarity with compatibility and quality of used bicycle components. • Sales o Sell refurbished bicycles to people of all incomes and backgrounds from all over the Bay Area. • Saturday shop o Staff our community shop on Saturdays in order to assist with bike sales and helping visitors. • Active team member o This job requires that you have the passion for expertly repairing bikes, and that you deeply believe in the mission of the project. Following qualities are some which are important for success at this position: • Able to communicate effectively and patiently with people of all ages, backgrounds, preferences and income levels individually and in groups whether selling a bike, meeting with other staff/volunteers or teaching a young person how to fix a flat. • Ability to stay organized and grounded while multi-tasking. • Able to travel to Alameda 3-4 times per week, including Saturdays from 10am-5pm. • Commitment to recycling, reusing and reducing consumption in carrying out the work. • Strong desire to promote bicycle use as a strategy to strengthen the health and sustainability of communities. HOW TO APPLY: In order to apply for this position, please send or email, your resume and a brief letter of introduction about your interest and experience to: Email: bikeshop(a)apcollaborative.org See our craigslist posting at: http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/npo/1274851559.html www.myspace.com/cyclesapc Mailing address: Cycles of Change APC 677 W. Ranger Avenue Alameda, CA 94501 COMPENSATION: This position pays $15/hour for between 12-20 hours per week. There are no additional benefits to this position currently, and we’re working on offering health benefits soon! There may be opportunities for increased hours in the Fall. We are an equal opportunity employer. Women, People of Color, and people with experience working w/ African-American and/or formerly homeless people and Alameda residents are strongly encouraged to apply! -- Cycles of Change APC Bike Shop 650 W.Ranger Ave Alameda, Ca 94501 (510) 898-7830 www.apcollaborative.org/cycles.htm www.myspace.com/cyclesapc

1 0

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

TheThinkTank July 2009