Dear everyone,

YESSSSS! So many great ideas! May I suggest a working group/committee to carry the idea forward from here?

I feel like the financials could take some work. I was thinking for international travel folks from paid shops could arrange to be paid by their own shop for hours worked elsewhere, and that shop would then doubly benefit from the contribution of thier exchange mechanic and what their own mechanic brings home.  Or if shops can collaborate to fundraise for travel costs or provide housing and hosting that could majorly offset costs for unpaid mechanics.  Other skills like grant writing or facilitation or outreach strategy would be great to share as well.

I'm envisioning a minimally intensive online system - a site where shops login with accounts outlining profiles of what they're available for and what they offer. Individual mechanics can participate as reps of thier shops, with skill bios under thier shop account maybe. ??

Anyway we are smart and capable so lets do this. Can I request that anyone who wants to be a core organizer for this email me personally? Bonus if you can suggest a platform for meeting and organizing long distance.  Skype + asana?

Eeeeeeeeeeee! Now if you'll excuse me i have to go fantasize about my deeply rewarding working vacay doing all the things I love best.

Jazzed.
Lauren

On 2014-01-19 4:27 PM, "Darren Knox" <darren.knox@gmail.com> wrote:

I really hope this idea will get off the ground! It has the potential to be so exciting and enriching!

I'm wondering if anyone has thought of logistics like: how would travel/room/board get paid for? It seems like Lauren was proposing a paid exchange which is an ideal option but many shops either don't have paid staff or have budgets that are limited. This would mean that people participating in certain exchanges would just be taking a vacation and volunteering a lot which is super cool but wouldn't be the most accessible option financially. 

It seems like one ideal model would take advantage of the seasonal-ness of the bike industry. Sending mechanics south in the winter months and north in the summer months could be really efficient. Also, offering other skills such as translation, graphic design or website design could be even more valuable for certain projects and worthy of investment.

Creating a database of organizations that are interested that details what they have to offer and what they need seems like a good first action step to me.

On Sun, Jan 19, 2014 at 7:15 AM, Matthew VanSlyke <vanslyke.matthew@gmail.com> wrote:

Sam,

This is so true. It would be great to bring/send newly recruited mechanics to other shops so they could learn what the deal is. Like Andrew said, we in upstate NY have a good chance to do that and I would imagine other new shops would agree that this would help recruit and maintain mechanics.

Matt

Utica Bike Rescue

On Sat, Jan 18, 2014 at 11:30 AM, Samuel <samuelchristianjensen@gmail.com> wrote:

It would be really cool if there was a way for coops that are just starting up to participate, too. That way they could get experienced mechanics from other shops to help give advice about shop set up, tools, etc.

Sam, Iowa City Bike Library

Den 18-01-2014 10:13, Recycle skrev:

Exciting idea. We are a young shop in Little Rock, Arkansas but we would be open to hosting a mechanic for a week or so. 

Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 18, 2014, at 9:24 AM, Andrew L <breathingplanet@gmail.com> wrote:

Up here in upstate NY, (Troy), this has been oft discussed in the past too.

we are at an exciting moment, where there has been a shop founded in Utica, NY and a founding group meeting in Schenectady NY, which we are supporting.
Along with Albany Bike Rescue, Troy Bike Rescue, and Bikeatoga in Saratoga Springs, we have a cluster of FIVE independent community bike spaces totally bikeable to and from one another.

we are:

 a weeks ride from Toronto

4 days ride to Boston

3 days ride to Montreal or Burlington

2 days ride to NYC

On Sat, Jan 18, 2014 at 10:12 AM, Josh Bisker <jbisker@gmail.com> wrote:

Sending along general sparkles to this: rad idea! NYC is severely coop-challenged at the moment but I can see a future where many of us would love to help make this happen

On Jan 18, 2014, at 9:25 AM, Ainsley Naylor <needleandthread@gmail.com> wrote:

We did talk about this when we had the workshop on International Cooperation (not sure what we called it), and were unsure as to the best forum or format to organize this. Long ago information regarding interest and ability to exchange or wwoof at each shop was being added to the Shockingly Large Spreadsheet that Josh had begun, but that format ended up being cumbersome and not totally accessible.

I agree that this needs to HAPPEN! and that we need a space where you can easily access info on who is willing to participate :)

ainsley.

On Sat, Jan 18, 2014 at 4:25 AM, Jesse Doud <jessedoud@gmail.com> wrote:

Rad rad rad idea. I don't think that'll work for us island folk :/

Jesse @ Mechanical Tempest, Wellington

On Sat, Jan 18, 2014 at 7:39 PM, Lauren Warbeck <lauren.warbeck@gmail.com> wrote:

Hey yall -

A few of us have been talking for years about developing a mechanic exchange between shops in and between Canada and the US, so that #1 broke ass bike mechanics can travel to sweet rad places for working vacays, and #2 so that we can learn about the intricacies of how other shops run and how we can make our own shops better.

Is this on anyone's radar?  Was this talked about in NOLA?  Did I miss a really obvious thread about it?

Cause if no one's working on this, maybe it'll be my baby this yearrrr...

Get at me if you want to collaborate/don't want to have to do any more work but are full of great ideas/think it would be rad so I know I'm not the only one still fantasizing about this.

<3 Lauren @ OCB Vancouver

 

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