Hey ThinkTank,
One of NYC's larger city agencies, DCAS, has opened up a request for expressions of interest https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/dcas/downloads/pdf/business/rfp-rfb-rfei/rfei-021.pdf for facilities-based bike programming, due Dec 9, which includes categories for things that line up exactly with what the Mechanical Gardens has done and aspires to do. The things they're looking for – including bike supply recovery and remanufacturing, small-scale and mobile repair, bike rental and more – feel like EXACTLY the right fit for what we've been seeking from the city for years. It's a really exciting opportunity.
The application, however, is a large lift. I am wondering a couple of things:
- Is anyone here interested in working with me on it? My hometown team
is pretty low on capacity at the moment, and the skills for creating a professional-ass government-facing application are not abundant in my group. Maybe you have some capacity to share, or some experience doing this kind of thing. Or perhaps you're a person who is less involved in your coop than you used to be, and you're looking to pitch in somewhere else. I could really use a team on this, and maybe you want to come on board.
- Has anyone here filled out a big proposal for something similar
before, and would you be willing to share your application materials? In part I'm looking for language, images, and specifics that we can model some of our answers on. In part, I'm just eager to be able to present examples from other places that are running successful programs.
Please consider checking out the language in the RFEI https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/dcas/downloads/pdf/business/rfp-rfb-rfei/rfei-021.pdf(it's not very obtuse and doesn't have a lot of fluff) and let me know what you think.
Josh
Josh Bisker | 914-500-9890 http://voice.google.com/calls?a=nc,%2B19145009890| Executive Director, Mechanical Gardens Bike Co-op http://bikecoop.nyc/ 2022 Donation Drive is ON! Support Bike Equity in NYC Today! http://bikecoop.nyc/donate Funkrust Brass Band http://funkrust.com/ | Kessel Run Radio Show on Maker Park Radio https://makerparkradio.nyc/shows/the-kessel-run-w-joshjoshjosh/