TheThinkTank November 2016

thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org

39 participants
25 discussions

Capital Campaign Support documentation
by CZ Mike 21 Nov '16

21 Nov '16

Greetings! Urban Bike Project of Wilmington Delaware will be launching a major capital campaign in 2017 and we are looking for examples of support material so we can produce a capital campaign brochure to distribute to potential funders. Surely there are some good examples from others out there? Please let me know if there is anything anyone can share, Thanks!

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Bike kitchen Insurance
by Olivier 19 Nov '16

19 Nov '16

Hello, here is Bikes del Pueblo from San Diego! Our bike kitchen just moved into a space and we are looking for some advice for insurance? After searching the thinktank archives, I found some messages rather old (2012) and was wondering where you all get your insurance? We got a quote for $2000 a year for our operation (out of a shipping container on a vacant lot) and we are a 501(c)(3) and we were wondering if that is a good price. Any feedback appreciated! Thanks! Oli

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Looking for interactive learning tool ideas
by AMS Bike Co-op 18 Nov '16

18 Nov '16

Hey Folks! I'm looking for ideas for hands on learning tools for teaching bike mechanics. The Bike Coop/Bike Kitchen is in the planning stages of a project that will one day be installed in our new shop space and serve as an education tool as well as a fun thing to welcome people into the shop. Our concept is to create an interactive wall display that illustrates some basic mechanical concepts. In particular we'd like to use this to connect with kinetic learners, non-English speakers (as English is the predominant language in our shop), and folks who are a bit intimidated to just start working on a bike. So! I'd like ideas from you about learning tools that we can include on this amazing wall! Modified bike parts that you might use in your intro to mechanics courses, analogies that you use to explain tricky concepts, even wild stuff that you have thought of but has not yet existed (we will likely seek out partnerships with engineers/designers at UBC to help us create some of these things so no idea is too big) Huge thanks to all - Hannah -- *AMS Bike Co-op* University of British Columbia 6138 Student Union Blvd | Vancouver, BC | V6T 1Z1 604-822-2453 | bikecoop.ca | @ubcbike

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Guadalajara collective
by Anne Duggan 17 Nov '16

17 Nov '16

Friends, At Bike!Bike! Larry Fitzpatrick and I (two of the Iowans) talked with folks from Guadalajara about a mechanics exchange. Larry and I would love to work for a couple of months this winter. Unfortunately, we lost the contact information! Por favor, escribeme a annem.duggan(a)gmail.com. Gracias, Anne Sent from my iPad

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Re: [TheThinkTank] Looking for interactive learning tool ideas
by jack 17 Nov '16

17 Nov '16

Here's our gear shift demo, FrankenBike. Also has a generator and lights, it works great as a hands-on activity for kids. Jack Murphy Bike Walk Wichita <div>-------- Original message --------</div><div>From: AMS Bike Co-op <info(a)bikecoop.ca> </div><div>Date:11/17/2016 6:22 PM (GMT-06:00) </div><div>To: The Think Tank <thethinktank(a)lists.bikecollectives.org> </div><div>Cc: Hannah Fiegenbaum <education(a)bikecoop.ca> </div><div>Subject: [TheThinkTank] Looking for interactive learning tool ideas </div><div> </div>Hey Folks! I'm looking for ideas for hands on learning tools for teaching bike mechanics. The Bike Coop/Bike Kitchen is in the planning stages of a project that will one day be installed in our new shop space and serve as an education tool as well as a fun thing to welcome people into the shop. Our concept is to create an interactive wall display that illustrates some basic mechanical concepts. In particular we'd like to use this to connect with kinetic learners, non-English speakers (as English is the predominant language in our shop), and folks who are a bit intimidated to just start working on a bike. So! I'd like ideas from you about learning tools that we can include on this amazing wall! Modified bike parts that you might use in your intro to mechanics courses, analogies that you use to explain tricky concepts, even wild stuff that you have thought of but has not yet existed (we will likely seek out partnerships with engineers/designers at UBC to help us create some of these things so no idea is too big) Huge thanks to all - Hannah -- AMS Bike Co-op University of British Columbia 6138 Student Union Blvd | Vancouver, BC | V6T 1Z1 604-822-2453 | bikecoop.ca | @ubcbike

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Cycles for Change (St. Paul/Mpls, MN) Hiring a Program Director
by Jason Partridge 15 Nov '16

15 Nov '16

Cycles for Change, which operates two community bike shops in Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN is hiring for a Program Director. This position will play a key leadership role in the organization, with substantial responsibility for shaping and leading C4C's programming (which includes weekly open shops, women/trans/femme night, youth apprenticeship, bike grant (free bike) program, and our community organizing/leadership development/advocacy work). Please consider applying! http://www.minnesotanonprofits.org/job-details?id=124614 Feel free to reach out with any questions. Women/trans/femme and people of color are strongly encouraged to apply. Jason

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Bike theft and redemption
by Andy Fry 15 Nov '16

15 Nov '16

Hi all, Through time we have had tools and components and a bike or two go missing. Most recently we had an incident where a young man took a bike, despite having plenty of hours and clearly being told said bike was for sale and not a bike to earn. The bike was returned via some back circuit channels in which the principal at this school rides. His mother would like him to volunteer at the shop some in a sort of apologetic or community service sense. I wondered what experiences or policies you all had for such instances. We have banned other folks in the past for similar deals, but being younger and perhaps misguided I was hoping we could come up with a constructive solution that might allow him to realign his perspective. Thanks, --Andy Fry Topeka Community Cycle Project www.cycleproject.org facebook.com/cycleproject

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Volunteer descriptions, roles, responsibilities.
by Tom Martin 14 Nov '16

14 Nov '16

Good Afternoon all: Rosewood Bikes is reviewing its volunteer roles for the next season. In our first year we took whoever we could get and just used them for whatever we needed at the moment. While it was successful and met our immediate needs, it has been a bit chaotic and unplanned. So, we would like to change that. The bike shop functions out of an awkward back room but we also have other resources to make an impact on our communities that aren't necessarily dependent on a space, like transportation and land use subcommittee meetings or tabling at events. I am asking the Hive Mind that makes the thinktank: - how did your volunteer orientation and trainings develop - what volunteer positions are established in your co-op, collective or community bike shop - if the position descriptions are documented, can you share it with me here or via direct message - As your program or project evolved, how did the positions evolve? - What volunteer gigs turned into paid work? what paid gigs turned into volunteer opportunities? and when/how did that happen- program funding changes? A greater/lesser need? community input? BOD expectations? So far, Rosewood is developing the following volunteer positions and descriptions: volunteer mechanic, ride lead, active transportation coordinator, marketing coordinator. What are we missing? Who volunteers for you and what do they do? Your assistance and advice would be very appreciated. Tom Martin Rosewood Bikes Program Director 16126 SE Stark Portland OR, 97233 Shop: 503-568-1938 Personal: 510-996-8655

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What the Election Means for Bike Co-ops
by Josh Bisker 14 Nov '16

14 Nov '16

This is a message I sent to the Mechanical Gardens. I'm passing it on to you here. Feel free to repurpose. Love and strength and sorrow, everyone. Josh ___________________ This is a message of hope and strategy. Today we enter a broken future, and the dangers that now loom on the horizon are too numerous to be counted and too massive to be properly appraised. In consequence, we as the Mechanical Gardens now have a tremendous responsibility. "We've got our work cut out for us," is a saying that's been in the air. Here's what I believe that looks like for us. We must make our co-op a place that actively opposes the agenda of hatred, and defends and elevates women, people of color, immigrants, LGBTQ folks, the disabled, and the impoverished. We must become an organization that embodies social mechanisms for achieving equity, safety, mutual aid, compassion, and environmental justice in our operations and outlook. This election is a disaster; its fallout will be far worse, snowballing into a series of crises as the new government destroys the many social, cultural, and economic systems that people depend upon for life. For the Mechanical Gardens, therefore, I submit that rather than asking "what can we do to help people avoid the coming crisis," we approach our work slightly differently, asking: "what can we do in the co-op so that after these crises come, after the systems we depend on are undone, that groups of people still know how to operate in ways that support their values and provide safety for them?" This means that the soft stuff on our agenda -- like creating our guidelines for decision-making, collective respect, and participation -- is the most important work we have cut out for us, alongside our outreach to bring more people into the shop and the collective. These are everything. These are the seeds of a solid tomorrow that we tend and cultivate at the co-op, and that we entrust to everyone who comes in the door, so that they can plant and foster them as well, no matter what calamity comes. How do we do this? We begin by training ourselves to articulate our values and decide how to formally embed them in our cooperative structure, and deciding to informally embody them in our ways of being. Some of our values stand alone; others will be informed by the risks we see to liberty and justice, such as the threats of persecution, discrimination, sexual exploitation, authoritarianism, police and mob brutality, land exploitation, the devaluing of science and reason, and the fracturing of democratic institutions. We must decide how to value and embed compassion, equity, feminism, mutual aid, environmental sustainabilty, enfranchisement, reason, protection against persecution, safety, autonomy, responsibility, and respect into the bike co-op, both in the institution and in our interactions there. Bike stuff is important too! Mechanicship especially is critical to the oncoming era of climate calamity, with uncertain roads, settlement conditions, and gasoline access meaning that bikes become invaluable for billions of devastated and displaced people worldwide. (General DIY skills and self-confidence too.) But bikes here might be a vehicle to helping us empower ourselves and our communities to create thriving structures that support their groups' values. This, I submit to you, is "our work." We have so much we can learn from each other in it. How to be listeners, how to be leaders, how to be community members. How to be strong, how to be nimble, how to collaborate. And how to work not out of fear but of love for each other, those around us, and those yet to come. These things are the seeds of the revolution we need to prepare for. This has been a bad day, but I'm very happy to be doing this work with you. The world is in trouble, and by coming together, we have found work that will help people survive the dark times ahead. Josh

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National Bike Summit
by Angel York 14 Nov '16

14 Nov '16

National Bike Summit (the national bike advocacy conference) is in Washington DC on March 6–9 *http://bikeleague.org/summit* <http://bikeleague.org/summit> Equity scholarship <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScAER2PGPH3TlCoSGEgefpFRZM9plXBplm…> deadline is January 6, 2017, it brings the price of entry down to a hundred dollars.

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TheThinkTank November 2016