This community (The Bicycle Collective) is the largest global network of non-profit/do good bicycle shops. There is a maintained wiki with a whole bunch of really great resources and most of the email discussions here are archived and searchable online. They've also been very involved in organizing BikeBike in real life, and virtually.
It sounds like what you're seeking (similar to myself) is somewhere/something with more/easier engagement and conversation. In your case, maybe regionally. In my case, I just want folks to interact with from anywhere, that are doing similar work than me. Call it a federation or coalition or whatever. Personally, I just want somewhere where there is active discussion about "how do y'all do this at your shop", "get a load of this shit" etc. I think we all have similar enough goals that there doesn't need to be 'an organization'.
ThinkCollective organizers/managers/founders have been hesitant to develop or encourage discussions in this regard, outside of this space/network. Point being, using alternative services provided by for-profit companies and corporations create accessibility/ownership barriers, defies the 'collective fundamentals' that the network was founded on and directly interfere with some anti-capitalist notions that they've busted their ass to not be a part of. They're a non-profit that maintain all their own servers and rely on open-source software and services to operate and organize volunteer translators to translate a lot of their resources. If you're reading this, you owe them a huge thank you. Thanks y'all. This bike co-op stuff has changed my life, for real.
I've deleted a bit of this email where I had written about alternative ways to communicate outside the Bike Collective Network, out of respect.
I love and fully support the fundamentals and efforts made by Bike Collective to create a self sustaining and accessible trove of information and discussion. I (as well as others) would really love(need?) a 'living online space' where co-op organizers/volunteers/managers/board members/ etc. can help each other and communicate. This email listserv and the archives are not it.
People want an app on their phone that is easy to use and looks good where they can send short form text messages, and create threads and channels/rooms and direct replies and send pictures and videos and stupid gifs. Younger generations of adults who are now managing/developing non-profit bicycles cooperative are not going to search an online archive or use a wiki. This discussion exists there, and it keeps happening due to this fact. People organize and communicate online much differently now, than they did when this network was founded. I hate the means by which this comes, but it's not going to change how people behave.
Anyone is welcome to reply to me if you're interested in an alternative space to organize/chat outside of this network. It sucks to fork/branch/divide efforts made here, but it's going to happen if not managed internally. I've had a chat with BikeCollective organizers, and they have done a whole bunch of work to organize this email listserv archive but it seems they are not interested/don't have the time/space/money to maintain any more than what exists here.
On Sun, Jul 9, 2023 at 11:16 AM Geoffrey B via TheThinkTank < thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org> wrote:
It has happened several times in Toronto. I'd say the opposite is beneficial. When a group gets too big, they lose something.
It happens every few decades. Groups lose faith and merge, but it never ends well.
My group lost a lot of its integrity when they focused on the massive rent due every month. We all worked for the landlord and not the community.
Mandates get lost, and members leave from burnout.
The smaller the operation, the better. Especially in a city like Montreal.
On Sun, Jul 9, 2023, 2:13 a.m. Emory Shaw via TheThinkTank < thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org> wrote:
HI all,
I'm just doing a bit of research and I figured this would be a good place to ask a question: does anyone know of a case where community bike shops have united together to form some kind of federation or coalition ? Many cities are dotted with such shops that tend to share a similar social mission: are there any examples of cities or regions where they have come together to better address shared challenges (re volunteers, suppliers, financing etc.)? It would be great to get some insight on this, as there are talks of doing this kind of thing in the city I'm in (Montreal). I'm curious to know if and how other places might have succeeded or not at achieving this. Any thoughts or leads would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
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