Hey everyone. We're trying to sort through a couple of issues at the shop right now, and I'd like to see if any others have experiences with similar situations that they could share.
- We like to keep as many open shop hours as our volunteer capacity
will allow, which doesn't leave much left for running other programs.
Our shop is located in a poor part of town, and we're finding a lot of
schools, community centres, and immigrant organizations are asking us to
run workshops for kids. The said community organizations, though, are
often willing to provide honoraria for this work. In the past we've
just had the money donated back to the bike project, but now people who
run the programs are starting to keep it for themselves, and we're kind
of feeling torn. On the one hand, partnering with community
organizations so that kids can have access to bikes and bike repair
tools & skills is amazing, and is basically why we exist, and giving our
volunteers, most of whom are low-income, some monetary compensation is
great, especially since we are a very financially stable shop. On the
other hand, there is also the concern that if volunteers start to be
paid, it will take them away from our open shop hours, and leave other
volunteers to do essentially the same work, only without getting paid.
This could seemingly cause resentment, hard feelings, and the general
deterioration of our shop. We're not, at this time, able to or
interested in paying all volunteer mechanics all of the time. So this
is something we have to find a way to reasonably resolve.
- This question is especially directed at shops that view themselves
as committed to radical social change, but answers from anyone are welcome. We've just switched over from a "free-for-all" kind of setup where people can waltz in to the shop, start wrenching away, and ask for help if anyone is around to offer it, to our new setup where people need to sign in with a greeter and if there are no available mechanics, they have to wait outside. This has almost eliminated the chaos and frustration that was until recently a staple at the shop, but also has people worried. We are starting to feel like we are "policing" people and treating those who use the shop with suspicion, and that the shop is starting to feel much more like a regular liberal social work program or soup kitchen where there is a clear divide between staff ("you've already had your one bowl of soup!") and people fixing their bikes, rather than a space where different people are welcome to make a meaningful contribution, and become empowered to be invested in the space and take a leadership role.
Has anyone experienced either of these things in their shop? Any thoughts? Solutions?
Thanks, Macho of the Bike Dump http://bike-dump.ca