I'm the Executive Director of BikeAthens here in Athens GA. I've been the administrator for our Earn A Bike Program for over five years. We use social service partners in our area to refer clients to us that need transportation.

How do you avoid means testing? You do that by letting it be someone else's job. In theory, you and the other collective members are a) excited about bikes and b) have other jobs and responsibilities that don't revolve around being full-time social workers. I don't decide who gets a bike. I just decide which one they get. The referring organization does the heavy lifting by having interviewed and worked with the potential client. Often they are licensed social workers to some extent or another. They are in a much better position to make that judgment call. It also gives me an easy way out of the conversation when a random person shows up telling me that they heard if they come down here they can get a free bike. I even have a pamphlet I give them that explains our referral process.

We have a very low threshold for what types of organizations we partner with. Any reasonably legit third party that is willing to email or call on behalf of someone they know that needs a bike is in. That is to say, pretty much any 501c3 non-profit, school or church organization can send a request on behalf of a client. Our expectations are just that they believe that having a bike would help their client better find a job, get to school, and access social services or healthcare. We don't require an MOU unless they want one. Some partner organizations have their own criteria for whether or not they will send us a request. For example, the Salvation Army in Athens will only send a referral if the client already has a job. A local addiction recovery organization requires the client to sign a contract that they will take care of the bike, keep it locked, and return it if they are no longer using it. If the partner organization would like to protect a client's identity, that's fine. They can make up a client number or send me initials. As long as they tell me how tall they are, we're good.

You may not have the same community partners over time, there is decent turnover in a lot of other social service organizations and sometimes new people aren't aware they can even help their clients find help with bikes.

Let me know if that is helpful or if you have any other questions.

Thanks

Scott