At velocipede we are still struggling with the kid issue. We basically
have banned kid's from the shop unless they have someone with them to
supervise them. We help kid's sometimes when we can and if they are
respectful....this is not our ideal situation, but it doesn't seem to be
another way with out making ourselves crazy. We tried having a kid's day
a long time ago but it didn't work out too well. Hopefully in the future
we can get funding to have a kid's specific day....
However we have gotten good at dealing with "Jockish" volunteers. What
has really helped with that is...
1. having a greeter and volunteer coordinator so people are met at the
door, given the speil and then sent to someone to get a task or assigned a
stand....I can't stress how helpful this is!!
2. Making sure that people do volunteer hours before they work on their
own bike
3. having a women/trans mechanic night.
We do have to occasionally pull people aside and talk to them about when
was the last time they put in some volunteer hours...but if people are met
at the door and start off on the right foot, then there usually isn't
problems....
-beth
velocipede bike project
baltimore, md
What UBP is doing about similar issues, The Outline:
1. No EAB's during regular shop hours
2. One or two people assigned to work with kids, in a specific area if
possible.
3. Kids with minor repairs get help first, then the bigger projects.
4. Volunteers get assigned specific tasks/roles (read: idiot proof) with
specific guidelines
5. Too many cooks in the kitchen? Have excess volunteers sign up for
another
day.
What UBP is doing about similar issues, The Ramble:
UBP is just coming off of our youth ban tonight after some thefts. Before
the ban we were, like you, struggling to help kids with EAB as well as
helping adults that come into the shop. It didn't work. At all. Adults
would leave because there were so many rowdy kids and kids would just,
well,
be kids. Putting a number cap on kids didn't work because they wheedled
their way in anyway (wouldn't you?) and by the end of the night the shop
was
overrun.
We like Sopo's idea of having one designated person to work with kids and
them having their own tool kit and work space. We also recognize that
doing
EAB and open shop at the same time is impossible as each child needs
constant supervision/guidance and a structured environment to learn
effectively. EAB is on hold/stopped until we come up with something more
meaningful and concrete.
There will be a triage of sorts when youth come to the shop. The first
bikes
fixed are the ones that have the best chance of being completed (flats,
popped chains, bar/brake adjusts) and then with whatever time is left we
can
work on the baskets. No matter how badly the kids NEED to ride their bike
home that night (which they all do...) we help with the basic repairs
first. Kids that aren't working on their bike must wait outside, which
creates another issue, but at least they're not wandering around the
shop/building.
As far as "jockish volunteers" we have a hard time with some volunteers
doing all the work on peoples bikes. There's nothing you can do other than
constantly stressing that your goal is to teach and their hand shouldn't
be
holding the wrench. Call them out if you must, usually it still goes over
their heads, try assigning them to other tasks. We also have experienced a
surge of "volunteers" lately. The reason that's in quotes is because
these
people show up to hang out, work on their own bikes and bring more
"volunteers" with them. I've found that these people are
To deal with this we've gotten specific about our volunteer roles. There
is
a Greeter, One Mechanic per workstand, Head Mechanic, Youth Mentor/Helper,
Back Room Help and Back Room Supervisor. Each of these positions is
spelled
out in great detail. When people show up to help on open shop days they
get
assigned a position that is appropriate. If they're not needed and the
shop
is busy, they're asked to wait outside or to sign up for another day ahead
of time. That's the theory anyway....we're working on it.
Good luck, this past couple months have been a wealth of relavent
information on the Think Tank and I/UBP really appreciate the ability to
learn and share ideas with other organizations, big and small.
Brian Windle
On Thu, Jun 26, 2008 at 3:24 AM, <jirs0004@umn.edu> wrote:
Bike theft lead the Grease Pit to close the shop to kids for two weeks
the
end of last summer. When 15 bikes were stolen by kids who we were
helping,
but could not identify by name or face later we knew that something
needed
to change. The week long session of meetings lead to a shop manual to
help
us understand how to focus and think of ways to earn the respect of
these
kids.
Despite all of our best efforts to learn names, focus our attention for
Earn a bike kids onto a special day, and to keep shop security tight, we
have had little success. Kids are stealing out of our donations jar and
taking bikes from under our noses.
Because our space is shared with a theatre, security needs to be tight,
but
this would leave us with too few collective members in a space that is
already over-run with people needing help.
While all of this is going on we are also experiencing a mass of
volunteers
who are bike jock-ish and act as if the shop is theirs. In order to help
maximize the shop accessibility and friendliness, we need to figure out
a
solution and proto.
Question 1: How can we give kids the attention they need while not
limiting
the number of commuters that we are helping? (as they are already
discouraged by the lack of assistance and excessive quantity of kids in
the
shop)
Question 2: How can we effectively utilize our volunteers without
constantly monitoring them and having to call them out or hear about
them
later?
I would also like to know what success orgs have had with limiting the
number of kids in the shop.
_______________________________________________
Thethinktank mailing list
Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org
http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.org
--
Urban Bike Project of Wilmington
--a 501(c)3 non-profit bike shop--
1908 N. Market Street (entrance is in the parking lot behind the building)
Wilmington, DE 19801
Hours:
Thursday 6:30-9:00
Saturday 1:00-4:00
Visit us online at http://urbanbikeproject.org
_______________________________________________
Thethinktank mailing list
Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org
http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.org
_______________________________________________
Thethinktank mailing list
Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org
http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.org