I'm  doing bike repair as a form of 'social cohesie' work in the ( government owned) Immigrant warehouse apartment buildings of Amsterdam. 
I'm struck by this similarity..

Almost new, unridable Chinese-made kids' bikes … I'm constantly wrestling with bad V-brakes and chains that fall off inside fully enclosed chain guards.

Most Dutch bikes are too tall for the adult immigrants, and many of them have not held a screwdriver in their hands before.
Many people don't even know what part of the bike to look at when something goes wrong…

(However it's great to work in their neighborhoods and get to know people.)

We are losing a lot of people to scooter ridership.
Are you in the Americas also seeing this?

Wendy Monroe
De Fiets Fee






On 22 Mar 2012, at 05:19, Jeff Neven wrote:

I work in the affordable housing sector.  What do you want to know?  
 
My suggestion is to go, spend time with people.  Ask lots of questions about what their transportation needs are and ask what it would take for them to ride a bike and if that would help.  If you don't ride a bike, why not?  Take your time and build relationships.
The best way to get to meet people is to do an onsite bike tune-up day.  Poster the buildings and get all your volunteers to offer free bike repair.  You will meet lots of people, have fun, get people on bikes and have your questions answered.
 
We are working with inner city schools to increase ridership and the common concerns are road safety (low safety skills, cars or sketchy people on the way), bike safety (disrepair, theft or vandalism) and pride (I don't want anyone to see me riding an old bike). Our experience is that most kids have a bike but for some reason, they are not rideable. (Often they are fairly new department store bikes that are still not rideable.)
 
Jeff Neven
New Hope Bike Co-op
Hamilton, ON
 
 
Date: Wed, 21 Mar 2012 12:20:31 -0500
From: micah@cyclesforchange.org
To: thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org
Subject: [TheThinkTank] Partnering with public housing

Does anyone have any experience working with public housing? We were approached to coordinate programming around increasing ridership among public housing patrons. I appreciate any advice that you may be able to offer.
Sincerely,
Micah Thompson



-- 

Micah Thompson LCI #3275
Youth Programs Coordinator
Cycles for Change neé (Sibley Bike Depot)
712 University Ave W, St. Paul, Mn 55104
651-222-2080
419-601-3189 (cell phone)
Cycles for Change's mission is to be an open, accessible space to educate and empower people to use bicycles as transportation, helping to build a sustainable environment and community.  Volunteer with us to help build a bicycling movement in the Twin Cities!






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