This is a great topic, one that we could definitely use advice on.
Our shop (like many are, I'm sure) is in a fairly rough section of
town. High density, low-income housing=lots of deadbeat parents = lots
of surly kids with nothing to do. The kids end up coming down and
hanging out, sometimes working on their bikes, sometimes
"volunteering"; but more often than not creating... challenges... for
the actual volunteers.
The other factor is the arrangement of our shop. We're in a 2000
square foot church basement, with only about 1/4 of it taken up with
workstations & bike storage. The rest is a wide-open concrete floor -
a dreamland for rambunctious kids who run down and grab bikes,
covering the floor with skid marks & crashing into things.
As a result, our policies undergo trial-by-fire tests & revisions very
quickly. Since this is our first year of being formally established,
we're still working out how the shop can be a productive space for the
kids _without_ it being overrun/taken advantage of/creating unsafe
conditions.
Some things we've faced:
Issue: Kids working on bikes that aren't remotely safe (i.e., they've
come in to patch a flat on a majorly dented aluminum frame mountain
bike with its brakes _removed_)
Resolution: No bikes are allowed to leave the shop until they are
safe, even if it means taking a hit on the shop's end to equip them
with brakes.
Issue: Kids arriving @ the shop who are much too young (10 and under)
to care about (or able to torque!) the mechanics of their bike. (i.e.,
they just want to ride something)
Resolution: This is tough -- we don't want to demand that they have a
parent/guardian present to come to the shop because, if actually
enforced in this neighbourhood, we would never see _any_ of these
kids. Most of the time our mechanics are busy helping members & not
able to drop everything to supervise, step-by-step, a kid working on
overhauling a BB or something.
We've suggested that they come with an older sibling or something, but
this is still an unsatisfactory situation.
The best thing we've been able to come up with is getting the kid
(everyone under 16) to have their parent sign the waiver that we get
all members to sign. This at least lets the parent know that the kid
is out there, and then we (hypothetically) have their phone number for
when/if the kid steals tools...
Issue: Kids offering to "volunteer"; but really just cause havoc. This
was a difficult situation with one kid in particular. He has a good
heart & a not-good home life, so he wanted to hang out at the shop and
"work" for us. Problem was that he was relentlessly attention seeking
(see home life), and wouldn't pay attention or follow through on any
tasks we tried to give him. He was really disruptive when new members
came down. We had numerous chats with him, but ultimately nothing
changed. Eventually I had to come down hard and ask him to leave.
Resolution: We've resolved to only allow kids with these kinds of
interests to show up _one_ day out of the three that we're open; where
they are then allowed to spend time doing some organizational etc
tasks we've set up for the day. They are _not_ allowed to work on
bikes until they've shown an ongoing commitment to the shop & a
legitimate commitment to learning.
We also have a "you're only here if you're gonna volunteer" rule;
where, if there's nothing to do, they can't just hang out (because
this inevitably leads to grabbing random bikes and crashing them into
walls/bikes/members etc. ...The big workshop is a blessing & a curse).
Issue: Kids stealing & wrecking tools
Resolution: Any expensive tools or delicate repairs (i.e.,
chainbreaks) are ALWAYS used under supervision. We are generally aware
of who was using tool X the day it went missing; so we can use the
waiver form phone numbers to get them back.
Our wednesday nights are a sort of free-for-all, where non-members &
kids can come down for free to work on their bikes. This gives us some
leverage when we're talking to surly/klepto youth -- I say something
like "why bother stealing the tool when you know you can always come
down for free on wednesdays? It'll always be here!"
Not a comprehensive list, and I really look forward to seeing what
others have come up with!
Cheers, Clifford McCarten Director, B!ke: The Peterborough Community Bike Shop 400 Wolfe St Peterborough, Ontario (705) 745-2103 http://www.communitybikeshop.org
On 16-Jan-09, at 4:09 PM, thethinktank-request@bikecollectives.org
wrote:
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Today's Topics:
- your org's policy on working with kids? (veganboyjosh@gmail.com)
Message: 1 Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2009 22:22:30 -0700 From: veganboyjosh@gmail.com Subject: [TheThinkTank] your org's policy on working with kids? To: The Think Tank thethinktank@bikecollectives.org Message-ID: 53e5a1720901152122w1c040b10xcb8e9c8ccc958960@mail.gmail.com Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
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.