Re: [TheThinkTank] Earn-a-Bike Programs (Nicole Muratore)
Wow! Very insightful replies so far and cause for me to pause and think about how our "everyone that puts something into the collective, gets something out of it" vibe is preventing us from helping people. Scott, you're absolutely right. Third party vetting certainly takes a lot of skilled work off our shoulders. A hybrid of volunteering, third-party vetting, and even accepting community work done elsewhere will likely be where we land.
Nicholas, I'm curious about the pay-what-you-want model and wonder how it would go over in our shop. We're a bike flipper's mecca and these items are often used as currency among our unhoused patrons - especially right now with COVID and folks being unhoused as a result of some major rent hikes. Is it abused much that you know? Are there limits to the level of componentry? Is it this way for bikes, too? Thanks again for the thorough and thoughtful response.
Carlyn, do you usually have enough work trade for someone to earn a bike in a reasonable amount of time? Do folks come back and complete their hours most of the time? I love that your program has high utilization! I hope ours will, too.
Nicole
On Wed, Jan 12, 2022 at 2:03 PM < thethinktank-request@lists.bikecollectives.org> wrote:
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When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Thethinktank digest..." Today's Topics:
- Earn-a-Bike Programs (Nicole Muratore)
- Re: Earn-a-Bike Programs (Scott Long)
- Re: Earn-a-Bike Programs (cyclista@inventati.org)
- Re: Earn-a-Bike Programs (Carlyn Arteaga)
- Bike!Bike! ?Dondequiera! / Everywhere! 2021 in review / en revisi?n (Angel York)
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Nicole Muratore nicole@bikesaviours.org To: thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 14:54:39 -0700 Subject: [TheThinkTank] Earn-a-Bike Programs The last iteration of ours required an individual to volunteer 12 hours of time in exchange for a bike we'd teach them to fix up, a set of lights, and a lock. These folks are already facing transportation issues and have difficulty returning to the shop to complete the hours they started.
Separate from earn-a-bike we offer work trade at a rate of $10/hour for shop credit that can be used for stand time or regular-priced parts needed to fix one's bike.
If your shop has an earn-a-bike program or similar, how does it work? And is utilization of the program high? Any input, documentation, etc. is appreciated!
Cheers, *Nicole Muratore, Shop Manager* (she/her) Bike Saviours Bicycle Collective (602) 429-9369 | bikesaviours.org | @bikesaviours
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Scott Long scott.m.long@gmail.com To: The Think Tank thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 17:34:33 -0500 Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Earn-a-Bike Programs Hi Nicole,
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
On Tue, Jan 11, 2022 at 4:54 PM Nicole Muratore nicole@bikesaviours.org wrote:
The last iteration of ours required an individual to volunteer 12 hours of time in exchange for a bike we'd teach them to fix up, a set of lights, and a lock. These folks are already facing transportation issues and have difficulty returning to the shop to complete the hours they started.
Separate from earn-a-bike we offer work trade at a rate of $10/hour for shop credit that can be used for stand time or regular-priced parts needed to fix one's bike.
If your shop has an earn-a-bike program or similar, how does it work? And is utilization of the program high? Any input, documentation, etc. is appreciated!
Cheers, *Nicole Muratore, Shop Manager* (she/her) Bike Saviours Bicycle Collective (602) 429-9369 | bikesaviours.org | @bikesaviours ____________________________________
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---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: cyclista@inventati.org To: thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 23:22:48 +0000 Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Earn-a-Bike Programs Hi Nicole,
At RIBs, for many years, we had similar requirements to those you describe for your shop. At one point we also had a different, simpler system, wherein the applicant was required to fix up one bike for someone else in order to be allowed to fix up one bike for themselves.
What we found was exactly what you have found, which was that the highest need groups found both of these bars too high to reach. In many cases, the policy was also seen as unfriendly: some people needing the resource were in an especially high state of life stress, as well as being subject to social ostracism generally, and being told they must not only navigate this difficult learning curve, but do work that didn't further their own immediate (read: urgent) needs was, frankly, inconsiderate. Even though we at the shop were good people only trying to help, we just didn't understand.
So the lesson was that higher order concepts like community development and mutual aid aren't really great to evangelize to people undergoing crisis. In kind, that we in the shop had bad calibration wrt what represented crisis. We might have thought of it as extreme things such as "are you being evicted" or "have you lost housing because your partner threatened your life and your only other housing options are with substance abusing people you had been trying to separate yourself from because you are trying to stay clean to regain legal custody of your children", but in reality significant states of crisis can be much more insidious and mundane. Someone can be in a state of significant, ongoing crisis simply because they are disrespected at their job and their childcare involves significant emotional burden, and they feel unloved in their partner relationship. Crisis can be difficult to recognize for someone not familiar with it, especially where it stems from conditions such as generational poverty and trauma. And crisis isn't necessarily a transitory state. It can last for most or all of a person's life, especiallly where generational effects are involved.
So what we did was entirely remove our requirements for volunteering in return for use of the space, and replaced them with only a pay-what-you-want requirement for parts and a polite reminder that we accept donations.
What we saw was a dramatic reduction in ghosting. Nearly all participants of every demographic returned to complete their projects. A rough guess would be that around 2% abandoned projects they started, most of those being students with busy academic/social schedules or hobbyists who lost interest in a frivolous idea. Over the four years we had these relaxed policies, nearly all in-need participants completed their bikes (or repairs) and left with safe and satisfying wheels under them.
This higher rate of effectiveness did come at a cost, however. When we had volunteer requirements, it did force a lot more people to stay and be part of the environment for longer periods of time, contributing to shop culture and character. Requirements also forced kids to learn: most of the street-level kids in our community don't stay and learn unless they are made to. In these cases the reward-incentive-for-work concept seems to be something that must be imposed, rather than guided or facilitated, in order to take root. So though we retained significant child attendance in the case of those visiting with various guardians, we also lost a lot (actually most) of our solo child participation by removing requirements.
In general, I'd say our volunteer community was reduced by about half by these measures, with only people who volunteered out of passion and joy remaining. Our shop was small and had never really run on exclusively volunteer labor except at the beginning (thirty years ago) when it was even smaller and being run out of random garages, so this wasn't a lethal change for us. It did create much greater demands/stress on paid staff and primary volunteers.
I think it's possible to not go entirely one way or another, for instance to have volunteer requirements for children but not adults (though it might be painful to justify to kids who noticed the disparity), or create tiers of service/use some of which would required volunteering. We just basically treated the shop as a library and the staff and primary volunteers as librarians, and let the community use the space so long as they did so without harming it.
An idea for a tier of access that could require volunteer hours might be keyed off-hours access. This is really only sustainable now with the advent of [more] affordable electronic locks - in the past people with keys made copies, kept them essentially forever, and any abuse would require changing the locks. I'd encourage shop budget to be spent on this kind of lock, or even the more expensive mechanical versions, even though it involves significant expense. In retrospect, it was the lack of this investment that prevented us from exploring options such as the one suggested above, and eventually we were making enough money that we could have afforded it. It's so difficult to see every option in every moment when you're busy af with so many things.
~cyclista Nicholas
On 2022-01-11 21:54, Nicole Muratore wrote:
The last iteration of ours required an individual to volunteer 12 hours of time in exchange for a bike we'd teach them to fix up, a set of lights, and a lock. These folks are already facing transportation issues and have difficulty returning to the shop to complete the hours they started.
Separate from earn-a-bike we offer work trade at a rate of $10/hour for shop credit that can be used for stand time or regular-priced parts needed to fix one's bike.
If your shop has an earn-a-bike program or similar, how does it work? And is utilization of the program high? Any input, documentation, etc. is appreciated!
Cheers, *Nicole Muratore, Shop Manager* (she/her) Bike Saviours Bicycle Collective (602) 429-9369 | bikesaviours.org | @bikesaviours
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---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Carlyn Arteaga carlyn.arteaga@bicas.org To: The Think Tank thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 16:49:11 -0700 Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Earn-a-Bike Programs Hi Nicole, Carlyn from BICAS in Tucson, AZ here. Our Earn-a-Bike program is encapsulated into our Work Trade Program -- Folks earn $12/hr to help us out around the shop and they can use that credit towards 1 bike per year, used parts, and Community Tools (stand time) to fix it up. All the bikes in our shop are priced, so folks just calculate how much work they need to do to earn whichever bike they like. It is a very heavily-used program and we get referrals from social services orgs all over the county. We currently have a cap of $200 per person per year, although we are currently evaluating that cap as well as the Work Trade rate. Feel free to reach out if you have any other questions. Sincerely, ~Carlyn
On Tue, Jan 11, 2022 at 3:34 PM Scott Long scott.m.long@gmail.com wrote:
Hi Nicole,
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
On Tue, Jan 11, 2022 at 4:54 PM Nicole Muratore nicole@bikesaviours.org wrote:
The last iteration of ours required an individual to volunteer 12 hours of time in exchange for a bike we'd teach them to fix up, a set of lights, and a lock. These folks are already facing transportation issues and have difficulty returning to the shop to complete the hours they started.
Separate from earn-a-bike we offer work trade at a rate of $10/hour for shop credit that can be used for stand time or regular-priced parts needed to fix one's bike.
If your shop has an earn-a-bike program or similar, how does it work? And is utilization of the program high? Any input, documentation, etc. is appreciated!
Cheers, *Nicole Muratore, Shop Manager* (she/her) Bike Saviours Bicycle Collective (602) 429-9369 | bikesaviours.org | @bikesaviours ____________________________________
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--
*Carlyn Arteaga*
*pronouns: they/them/theirs*
Youth Program Coordinator
*BICAS*
2001 N. 7th Ave. | Tucson, AZ 85701 | Shop: 520-628-7950
carlyn.arteaga@bicas.org | www.bicas.org | Facebook http://www.facebook.com/bicascollective/ | Instagram http://www.instagram.com/bicastucson/
*Through advocacy and bicycle salvage, our mission is to participate in affordable bicycle transportation, education, and creative recycling with our greater Tucson community.*
https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail&utm_term=icon Virus-free. www.avast.com https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail&utm_term=link <#m_866031958163314982_DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Angel York aniola@gmail.com To: The Think Tank thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 20:03:14 -0800 Subject: [TheThinkTank] Bike!Bike! ¡Dondequiera! / Everywhere! 2021 in review / en revisión
*Español abajo*
Hi everyone,
Thanks for helping make Bike!Bike! Everywhere! 2021 such a hoppin' weekend!
*OVERVIEW*
There were a couple dozen events over 3-4 days (depending on how you count time zones).
About 175 people registered. Or maybe 198! Anyway, lots of people came.
About 1400 US dollars were donated and are being distributed as a stipend to the interpreters (minus fees).
Piles of people volunteered in one way or another.
New connections have formed.
Friends were made.
100% of all germs stayed local.
*ARCHIVED VIDEOS* Workshops are nearly all posted in English and are still going up in Spanish. Here's the link to the *archived videos:* *https://archive.org/details/@bikebikeeverywhere* https://archive.org/details/@bikebikeeverywhere . If you want to help organize the archive data, please send an email to bikebikeeverywhere@gmail.com.
*SURVEY RESULTS* Results from the survey were overwhelmingly positive. Suggestions were mostly things we know we need to work on, and we're working on them. They'll happen faster with more committed volunteers, so come join us! We can find a place for you for a wide range of roles/interests and at every skill level.
*GET INVOLVED WITH BIKE!BIKE! EVERYWHERE!*
*If you've tried to reach out and get involved before* and didn't get to put your awesome skills to their best use, *please try again. We'd love to have you.* We have a better sense of what needs doing. There's more work than volunteers, we're all having a lot of fun, and we'd love your company.
*If there is enough core volunteer availability, there will probably be another B!B!E! in early November 2022. We need you to help make it happen! Here's how:*
Join the new *planning email list* at http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/bikebike-everywhere-bikecollec... and start *attending meetings* ( https://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/Meetings_and_minutes).
Find something to do the *volunteer roles* list at https://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/Bike!Bike!_Everywhere!_Volunteer_Roles and email bikebikeeverywhere@gmail.com.
*BIKE!BIKE! MEXICO CITY 2022* Mujerxs al Pedal (mujerxsalpedal@gmail.com) is hosting an in-person Bike!Bike! in Mexico City (CDMX) June or July 2022. They are planning to do a partial hybrid with online streaming. B!B!E! and B!B!CDMX are in contact and working together to share resources. *Stay tuned at* *bikebike.org*
http://bikebike.org *for B!B!CDMX sign-ups (coming soon).*
Hola a todxs,
Gracias por ayudarnos a que Bike!Bike! En todas partes! 2021 fuera un fin de semana tan animado.
*INFORMACIÓN GENERAL*
Hubo dos docenas de eventos a lo largo de 3 o 4 días (dependiendo de cómo cuentes los husos horarios).
Se registraron alrededor de 175 personas ¡o tal vez 198! Como sea, mucha gente vino.
Fueron donados alrededor de 1400 dólares y están siendo distribuidos (menos algunas cuotas) como remuneración entre lxs intérpretes.
Montones de personas voluntariaron de una manera u otra.
Nuevas conexiones han sido formadas.
Amistades han sido hechas.
100% de los gérmenes se quedaron en su lugar.
*VIDEOS ARCHIVADOS*
Casi todos los talleres fueron subidos en inglés y están siendo subidos en español. Aquí hay un link a los *videos archivados:* *https://archive.org/details/@bikebikeeverywhere* https://archive.org/details/@bikebikeeverywhere. Si te interesa ayudar a organizar la información del archivo, por favor manda un correo a bikebikeeverywhere@gmail.com.
*RESULTADOS DE LA ENCUESTA* Los resultados de la encuesta fueron abrumadoramente positivos. Las sugerencias fueron mayormente cosas que sabemos que tenemos que trabajar, y estamos trabajando en ellas. Se lograrán más rápidamente con más voluntarixs dedicadxs, ¡así que únete a nosotrxs! Podemos encontrar un lugar para ti dentro de un amplio rango de roles/intereses y en cualquier nivel.
*INVOLÚCRATE CON BIKE!BIKE! EN TODAS PARTES!*
*Si trataste de acercarte e involucrarte antes* y no pudiste aprovechar tus geniales habilidades, *por favor inténtalo de nuevo. Nos encantaría tenerte.* Ya tenemos una mejor idea de lo que necesita hacerse. Hay más trabajo que voluntarixs, todxs nos estamos divirtiendo mucho y nos encantaría contar con tu compañía.
*Si hay suficiente disponibilidad de voluntarixs, probablemente habrá otro B!B!E! a principios de noviembre de 2022. Necesitamos de tu ayuda para hacer que eso suceda! Aquí está cómo apoyar:*
Únete a la nueva *lista de correo de planeación* en http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/bikebike-everywhere-bikecollec... y empieza a *asistir a las reuniones* ( https://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/Meetings_and_minutes).
Encuentra algo que hacer en la *lista de roles para voluntarixs,* en https://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/Bike!Bike!_Everywhere!_Volunteer_Roles/... y manda un correo a bikebikeeverywhere@gmail.com.
*BIKE!BIKE! CIUDAD DE MÉXICO 2022*
Mujerxs al Pedal (mujerxsalpedal@gmail.com) serán anfirionxs de un Bike!Bike! en persona en la Ciudad de México (CDMX) en junio o julio de 2011. Están planeando hacer un evento parcialmente híbrido con transmisiones en línea. B!B!E! y B!B!CDMX están en contacto y trabajando juntxs para compartir recursos. *Mantente al pendiente de* *bikebike.org*
http://bikebike.org/ *para los registros para B!B!CDMX (próximamente).*
This was issue #5 of Bike!Bike! Everywhere!. You can subscribe https://buttondown.email/bikebikeeverywhere or view this email online https://buttondown.email/bikebikeeverywhere/subscribers/3651fb41-ae2f-4dbc-ab0a-dba56dbe9880/archive/bikebike-everywhere-2021-in-review . http:///api/emails/canary/3651fb41-ae2f-4dbc-ab0a-dba56dbe9880/553bdfb9-9f60-450b-8783-3d9869d48d98/ _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org
http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o...
Bike Walk Wichita has been successful tracking volunteer hours and letting people spend time like money. All used parts are priced in hours/$'s and our system lets us know "how many hours I got?" at a glance. Voucher bikes are ready to roll with lights lock, given to people who've received a voucher from one of the various nonprofits we partner with. Some nonprofits we limit to 1 voucher per quarter, others don't have a limit. This helps nonprofits understand the value of a completed bike, and they can refer clients who are able to put in the time to our 15 hour Build a Bike program and do that discernment on who gets a free bike. Jack Murphy
On Wed, Jan 12, 2022 at 3:50 PM Nicole Muratore nicole@bikesaviours.org wrote:
Wow! Very insightful replies so far and cause for me to pause and think about how our "everyone that puts something into the collective, gets something out of it" vibe is preventing us from helping people. Scott, you're absolutely right. Third party vetting certainly takes a lot of skilled work off our shoulders. A hybrid of volunteering, third-party vetting, and even accepting community work done elsewhere will likely be where we land.
Nicholas, I'm curious about the pay-what-you-want model and wonder how it would go over in our shop. We're a bike flipper's mecca and these items are often used as currency among our unhoused patrons - especially right now with COVID and folks being unhoused as a result of some major rent hikes. Is it abused much that you know? Are there limits to the level of componentry? Is it this way for bikes, too? Thanks again for the thorough and thoughtful response.
Carlyn, do you usually have enough work trade for someone to earn a bike in a reasonable amount of time? Do folks come back and complete their hours most of the time? I love that your program has high utilization! I hope ours will, too.
Nicole
On Wed, Jan 12, 2022 at 2:03 PM < thethinktank-request@lists.bikecollectives.org> wrote:
Send Thethinktank mailing list submissions to thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org
To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
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or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to thethinktank-request@lists.bikecollectives.org
You can reach the person managing the list at thethinktank-owner@lists.bikecollectives.org
When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Thethinktank digest..." Today's Topics:
- Earn-a-Bike Programs (Nicole Muratore)
- Re: Earn-a-Bike Programs (Scott Long)
- Re: Earn-a-Bike Programs (cyclista@inventati.org)
- Re: Earn-a-Bike Programs (Carlyn Arteaga)
- Bike!Bike! ?Dondequiera! / Everywhere! 2021 in review / en revisi?n (Angel York)
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Nicole Muratore nicole@bikesaviours.org To: thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 14:54:39 -0700 Subject: [TheThinkTank] Earn-a-Bike Programs The last iteration of ours required an individual to volunteer 12 hours of time in exchange for a bike we'd teach them to fix up, a set of lights, and a lock. These folks are already facing transportation issues and have difficulty returning to the shop to complete the hours they started.
Separate from earn-a-bike we offer work trade at a rate of $10/hour for shop credit that can be used for stand time or regular-priced parts needed to fix one's bike.
If your shop has an earn-a-bike program or similar, how does it work? And is utilization of the program high? Any input, documentation, etc. is appreciated!
Cheers, *Nicole Muratore, Shop Manager* (she/her) Bike Saviours Bicycle Collective (602) 429-9369 | bikesaviours.org | @bikesaviours
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Scott Long scott.m.long@gmail.com To: The Think Tank thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 17:34:33 -0500 Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Earn-a-Bike Programs Hi Nicole,
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
On Tue, Jan 11, 2022 at 4:54 PM Nicole Muratore nicole@bikesaviours.org wrote:
The last iteration of ours required an individual to volunteer 12 hours of time in exchange for a bike we'd teach them to fix up, a set of lights, and a lock. These folks are already facing transportation issues and have difficulty returning to the shop to complete the hours they started.
Separate from earn-a-bike we offer work trade at a rate of $10/hour for shop credit that can be used for stand time or regular-priced parts needed to fix one's bike.
If your shop has an earn-a-bike program or similar, how does it work? And is utilization of the program high? Any input, documentation, etc. is appreciated!
Cheers, *Nicole Muratore, Shop Manager* (she/her) Bike Saviours Bicycle Collective (602) 429-9369 | bikesaviours.org | @bikesaviours ____________________________________
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---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: cyclista@inventati.org To: thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 23:22:48 +0000 Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Earn-a-Bike Programs Hi Nicole,
At RIBs, for many years, we had similar requirements to those you describe for your shop. At one point we also had a different, simpler system, wherein the applicant was required to fix up one bike for someone else in order to be allowed to fix up one bike for themselves.
What we found was exactly what you have found, which was that the highest need groups found both of these bars too high to reach. In many cases, the policy was also seen as unfriendly: some people needing the resource were in an especially high state of life stress, as well as being subject to social ostracism generally, and being told they must not only navigate this difficult learning curve, but do work that didn't further their own immediate (read: urgent) needs was, frankly, inconsiderate. Even though we at the shop were good people only trying to help, we just didn't understand.
So the lesson was that higher order concepts like community development and mutual aid aren't really great to evangelize to people undergoing crisis. In kind, that we in the shop had bad calibration wrt what represented crisis. We might have thought of it as extreme things such as "are you being evicted" or "have you lost housing because your partner threatened your life and your only other housing options are with substance abusing people you had been trying to separate yourself from because you are trying to stay clean to regain legal custody of your children", but in reality significant states of crisis can be much more insidious and mundane. Someone can be in a state of significant, ongoing crisis simply because they are disrespected at their job and their childcare involves significant emotional burden, and they feel unloved in their partner relationship. Crisis can be difficult to recognize for someone not familiar with it, especially where it stems from conditions such as generational poverty and trauma. And crisis isn't necessarily a transitory state. It can last for most or all of a person's life, especiallly where generational effects are involved.
So what we did was entirely remove our requirements for volunteering in return for use of the space, and replaced them with only a pay-what-you-want requirement for parts and a polite reminder that we accept donations.
What we saw was a dramatic reduction in ghosting. Nearly all participants of every demographic returned to complete their projects. A rough guess would be that around 2% abandoned projects they started, most of those being students with busy academic/social schedules or hobbyists who lost interest in a frivolous idea. Over the four years we had these relaxed policies, nearly all in-need participants completed their bikes (or repairs) and left with safe and satisfying wheels under them.
This higher rate of effectiveness did come at a cost, however. When we had volunteer requirements, it did force a lot more people to stay and be part of the environment for longer periods of time, contributing to shop culture and character. Requirements also forced kids to learn: most of the street-level kids in our community don't stay and learn unless they are made to. In these cases the reward-incentive-for-work concept seems to be something that must be imposed, rather than guided or facilitated, in order to take root. So though we retained significant child attendance in the case of those visiting with various guardians, we also lost a lot (actually most) of our solo child participation by removing requirements.
In general, I'd say our volunteer community was reduced by about half by these measures, with only people who volunteered out of passion and joy remaining. Our shop was small and had never really run on exclusively volunteer labor except at the beginning (thirty years ago) when it was even smaller and being run out of random garages, so this wasn't a lethal change for us. It did create much greater demands/stress on paid staff and primary volunteers.
I think it's possible to not go entirely one way or another, for instance to have volunteer requirements for children but not adults (though it might be painful to justify to kids who noticed the disparity), or create tiers of service/use some of which would required volunteering. We just basically treated the shop as a library and the staff and primary volunteers as librarians, and let the community use the space so long as they did so without harming it.
An idea for a tier of access that could require volunteer hours might be keyed off-hours access. This is really only sustainable now with the advent of [more] affordable electronic locks - in the past people with keys made copies, kept them essentially forever, and any abuse would require changing the locks. I'd encourage shop budget to be spent on this kind of lock, or even the more expensive mechanical versions, even though it involves significant expense. In retrospect, it was the lack of this investment that prevented us from exploring options such as the one suggested above, and eventually we were making enough money that we could have afforded it. It's so difficult to see every option in every moment when you're busy af with so many things.
~cyclista Nicholas
On 2022-01-11 21:54, Nicole Muratore wrote:
The last iteration of ours required an individual to volunteer 12 hours of time in exchange for a bike we'd teach them to fix up, a set of lights, and a lock. These folks are already facing transportation issues and have difficulty returning to the shop to complete the hours they started.
Separate from earn-a-bike we offer work trade at a rate of $10/hour for shop credit that can be used for stand time or regular-priced parts needed to fix one's bike.
If your shop has an earn-a-bike program or similar, how does it work? And is utilization of the program high? Any input, documentation, etc. is appreciated!
Cheers, *Nicole Muratore, Shop Manager* (she/her) Bike Saviours Bicycle Collective (602) 429-9369 | bikesaviours.org | @bikesaviours
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---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Carlyn Arteaga carlyn.arteaga@bicas.org To: The Think Tank thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 16:49:11 -0700 Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Earn-a-Bike Programs Hi Nicole, Carlyn from BICAS in Tucson, AZ here. Our Earn-a-Bike program is encapsulated into our Work Trade Program -- Folks earn $12/hr to help us out around the shop and they can use that credit towards 1 bike per year, used parts, and Community Tools (stand time) to fix it up. All the bikes in our shop are priced, so folks just calculate how much work they need to do to earn whichever bike they like. It is a very heavily-used program and we get referrals from social services orgs all over the county. We currently have a cap of $200 per person per year, although we are currently evaluating that cap as well as the Work Trade rate. Feel free to reach out if you have any other questions. Sincerely, ~Carlyn
On Tue, Jan 11, 2022 at 3:34 PM Scott Long scott.m.long@gmail.com wrote:
Hi Nicole,
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
On Tue, Jan 11, 2022 at 4:54 PM Nicole Muratore nicole@bikesaviours.org wrote:
The last iteration of ours required an individual to volunteer 12 hours of time in exchange for a bike we'd teach them to fix up, a set of lights, and a lock. These folks are already facing transportation issues and have difficulty returning to the shop to complete the hours they started.
Separate from earn-a-bike we offer work trade at a rate of $10/hour for shop credit that can be used for stand time or regular-priced parts needed to fix one's bike.
If your shop has an earn-a-bike program or similar, how does it work? And is utilization of the program high? Any input, documentation, etc. is appreciated!
Cheers, *Nicole Muratore, Shop Manager* (she/her) Bike Saviours Bicycle Collective (602) 429-9369 | bikesaviours.org | @bikesaviours ____________________________________
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*Carlyn Arteaga*
*pronouns: they/them/theirs*
Youth Program Coordinator
*BICAS*
2001 N. 7th Ave. | Tucson, AZ 85701 | Shop: 520-628-7950
carlyn.arteaga@bicas.org | www.bicas.org | Facebook http://www.facebook.com/bicascollective/ | Instagram http://www.instagram.com/bicastucson/
*Through advocacy and bicycle salvage, our mission is to participate in affordable bicycle transportation, education, and creative recycling with our greater Tucson community.*
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---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Angel York aniola@gmail.com To: The Think Tank thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 20:03:14 -0800 Subject: [TheThinkTank] Bike!Bike! ¡Dondequiera! / Everywhere! 2021 in review / en revisión
*Español abajo*
Hi everyone,
Thanks for helping make Bike!Bike! Everywhere! 2021 such a hoppin' weekend!
*OVERVIEW*
There were a couple dozen events over 3-4 days (depending on how you count time zones).
About 175 people registered. Or maybe 198! Anyway, lots of people came.
About 1400 US dollars were donated and are being distributed as a stipend to the interpreters (minus fees).
Piles of people volunteered in one way or another.
New connections have formed.
Friends were made.
100% of all germs stayed local.
*ARCHIVED VIDEOS* Workshops are nearly all posted in English and are still going up in Spanish. Here's the link to the *archived videos:* *https://archive.org/details/@bikebikeeverywhere* https://archive.org/details/@bikebikeeverywhere . If you want to help organize the archive data, please send an email to bikebikeeverywhere@gmail.com.
*SURVEY RESULTS* Results from the survey were overwhelmingly positive. Suggestions were mostly things we know we need to work on, and we're working on them. They'll happen faster with more committed volunteers, so come join us! We can find a place for you for a wide range of roles/interests and at every skill level.
*GET INVOLVED WITH BIKE!BIKE! EVERYWHERE!*
*If you've tried to reach out and get involved before* and didn't get to put your awesome skills to their best use, *please try again. We'd love to have you.* We have a better sense of what needs doing. There's more work than volunteers, we're all having a lot of fun, and we'd love your company.
*If there is enough core volunteer availability, there will probably be another B!B!E! in early November 2022. We need you to help make it happen! Here's how:*
Join the new *planning email list* at http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/bikebike-everywhere-bikecollec... and start *attending meetings* ( https://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/Meetings_and_minutes).
Find something to do the *volunteer roles* list at https://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/Bike!Bike!_Everywhere!_Volunteer_Roles and email bikebikeeverywhere@gmail.com.
*BIKE!BIKE! MEXICO CITY 2022* Mujerxs al Pedal (mujerxsalpedal@gmail.com) is hosting an in-person Bike!Bike! in Mexico City (CDMX) June or July 2022. They are planning to do a partial hybrid with online streaming. B!B!E! and B!B!CDMX are in contact and working together to share resources. *Stay tuned at* *bikebike.org*
http://bikebike.org *for B!B!CDMX sign-ups (coming soon).*
Hola a todxs,
Gracias por ayudarnos a que Bike!Bike! En todas partes! 2021 fuera un fin de semana tan animado.
*INFORMACIÓN GENERAL*
Hubo dos docenas de eventos a lo largo de 3 o 4 días (dependiendo de cómo cuentes los husos horarios).
Se registraron alrededor de 175 personas ¡o tal vez 198! Como sea, mucha gente vino.
Fueron donados alrededor de 1400 dólares y están siendo distribuidos (menos algunas cuotas) como remuneración entre lxs intérpretes.
Montones de personas voluntariaron de una manera u otra.
Nuevas conexiones han sido formadas.
Amistades han sido hechas.
100% de los gérmenes se quedaron en su lugar.
*VIDEOS ARCHIVADOS*
Casi todos los talleres fueron subidos en inglés y están siendo subidos en español. Aquí hay un link a los *videos archivados:* *https://archive.org/details/@bikebikeeverywhere* https://archive.org/details/@bikebikeeverywhere. Si te interesa ayudar a organizar la información del archivo, por favor manda un correo a bikebikeeverywhere@gmail.com.
*RESULTADOS DE LA ENCUESTA* Los resultados de la encuesta fueron abrumadoramente positivos. Las sugerencias fueron mayormente cosas que sabemos que tenemos que trabajar, y estamos trabajando en ellas. Se lograrán más rápidamente con más voluntarixs dedicadxs, ¡así que únete a nosotrxs! Podemos encontrar un lugar para ti dentro de un amplio rango de roles/intereses y en cualquier nivel.
*INVOLÚCRATE CON BIKE!BIKE! EN TODAS PARTES!*
*Si trataste de acercarte e involucrarte antes* y no pudiste aprovechar tus geniales habilidades, *por favor inténtalo de nuevo. Nos encantaría tenerte.* Ya tenemos una mejor idea de lo que necesita hacerse. Hay más trabajo que voluntarixs, todxs nos estamos divirtiendo mucho y nos encantaría contar con tu compañía.
*Si hay suficiente disponibilidad de voluntarixs, probablemente habrá otro B!B!E! a principios de noviembre de 2022. Necesitamos de tu ayuda para hacer que eso suceda! Aquí está cómo apoyar:*
Únete a la nueva *lista de correo de planeación* en http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/bikebike-everywhere-bikecollec... y empieza a *asistir a las reuniones* ( https://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/Meetings_and_minutes).
Encuentra algo que hacer en la *lista de roles para voluntarixs,* en https://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/Bike!Bike!_Everywhere!_Volunteer_Roles/... y manda un correo a bikebikeeverywhere@gmail.com.
*BIKE!BIKE! CIUDAD DE MÉXICO 2022*
Mujerxs al Pedal (mujerxsalpedal@gmail.com) serán anfirionxs de un Bike!Bike! en persona en la Ciudad de México (CDMX) en junio o julio de 2011. Están planeando hacer un evento parcialmente híbrido con transmisiones en línea. B!B!E! y B!B!CDMX están en contacto y trabajando juntxs para compartir recursos. *Mantente al pendiente de* *bikebike.org*
http://bikebike.org/ *para los registros para B!B!CDMX (próximamente).*
This was issue #5 of Bike!Bike! Everywhere!. You can subscribe https://buttondown.email/bikebikeeverywhere or view this email online https://buttondown.email/bikebikeeverywhere/subscribers/3651fb41-ae2f-4dbc-ab0a-dba56dbe9880/archive/bikebike-everywhere-2021-in-review . http:///api/emails/canary/3651fb41-ae2f-4dbc-ab0a-dba56dbe9880/553bdfb9-9f60-450b-8783-3d9869d48d98/ _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org
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Nicole,
Another long response (sorry to people who hate these) -
Our pay-what-you-want policy only extended to components not being sold in the retail area. Non-retail components comprised the majority of our stock. It did not apply to complete/ready-to-ride bikes, as those were also retail items.
It did apply to incomplete or non-fixed bikes, but those were subject to our safety requirements, those being that a bike was not allowed to leave the shop until it was cleared as safe to ride according to our checklist. So a participant actually could fix up a bike and pay whatever they wanted for it ("nothing" was not considered an amount; many people paid with pocket change though). This process typically took several workdays, and since we were only open three days a week, sometimes it would take several weeks.
We did have a problem with some (not the majority) homeless or shelter-housed participants trying to fix up bikes and sell them, it being a problem because those specific participants were always fighting with us about whether a bike was safe to ride or not. They wanted to fix up a bike in a day and take it out on the street and immediately sell it for cash or trade it. There has been a lot of extreme desperation in our community over the pandemic and the two years or so leading up to it, and these "flippers" didn't want to take any time with a repair or a build.
We eventually created two systems to address these dynamics:
A participant would be limited to building one bike every three months
A participant that had adequate skills could get paid in cash (!) as a
contractor, at our hourly shop rate of $15/hr to help us fix up bikes set aside for sale. Considering that most bikes would at minimum sell for $100, and according to our incoming bike sorting process, a bike set aside for sale could only take a maximum of two hours to complete ($30), it was considered a net gain for everyone, and a way for us to get extra help in the shop. Literally no one ever took us up on this offer, which stood for at least the last two years of the shop's existence, and we never got any feedback on why not. My guess has been that either people didn't fully understand it, or that they felt that a solid $30 was less attractive than the full price of the bike they wanted.
A missing detail here for readers might be that we had four categories for incoming bikes: strip, scrap, build, or sell. The bikes set aside for sale were ones deemed to require minimal work, i.e. an hour of work, maximum two. Bikes in the sale category were not available to participants on a pay-what-you-want basis; they were simply set aside until they could be repaired and priced. A large part of our shop income was from seasonal bike sales, and we barely broke even every year. We couldn't afford to lose any sale stock.
Many of the flippers expressed a belief of entitlement to any or all of our bikes, including those set aside to fix for sale, since "we got them for free", and saw no reason that they shouldn't have just as much opportunity to monetize them as we did. In other words, the flippers had a sense that "first fix first sell" was more fair, and resented us for obstructing access to bikes for this purpose. We had a constant problem with people jumping the fence and stealing bikes from the yard; we'd later find these bikes on the street, minimally repaired and having been sold for cash or traded.
As for the pay-what-you-want model specifically for components and accessories, the only limitation was that it was not available to resellers. In other words, no one was allowed to raid our parts room and then go sell it all on ebay or Craigslist (or the street). This was an honor system more or less, and with one or two exceptions seemed to be respected. We never allowed complete un-fixed bikes to leave the shop, but bare or nearly bare framesets were considered components and could be acquired under the pay-what-you-want system.
I would have liked to have a better approach for the flippers, who despite being disrespectful, argumentative, and demanding, were after all homeless, or for other reasons desperate. I don't sympathize merely for altruistsic reasons; I was homeless myself on and off for almost twenty years, including the time during which I was introduced to community bike shops as a concept.
In retrospect, we did end up with significantly more bikes set aside to fix and sell than we could keep up with, and it might have been a good idea to have a subcategory of them available to flippers to sell on their own outside the shop, so long as the bikes in question upheld our safety standards, and the shop code of conduct was held up by the flippers while doing the work in the shop (the latter being a whole topic in and of itself).
~cyclista Nicholas
On 2022-01-12 21:50, Nicole Muratore wrote:
Wow! Very insightful replies so far and cause for me to pause and think about how our "everyone that puts something into the collective, gets something out of it" vibe is preventing us from helping people. Scott, you're absolutely right. Third party vetting certainly takes a lot of skilled work off our shoulders. A hybrid of volunteering, third-party vetting, and even accepting community work done elsewhere will likely be where we land.
Nicholas, I'm curious about the pay-what-you-want model and wonder how it would go over in our shop. We're a bike flipper's mecca and these items are often used as currency among our unhoused patrons - especially right now with COVID and folks being unhoused as a result of some major rent hikes. Is it abused much that you know? Are there limits to the level of componentry? Is it this way for bikes, too? Thanks again for the thorough and thoughtful response.
Carlyn, do you usually have enough work trade for someone to earn a bike in a reasonable amount of time? Do folks come back and complete their hours most of the time? I love that your program has high utilization! I hope ours will, too.
Nicole
On Wed, Jan 12, 2022 at 2:03 PM < thethinktank-request@lists.bikecollectives.org> wrote:
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When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Thethinktank digest..." Today's Topics:
- Earn-a-Bike Programs (Nicole Muratore)
- Re: Earn-a-Bike Programs (Scott Long)
- Re: Earn-a-Bike Programs (cyclista@inventati.org)
- Re: Earn-a-Bike Programs (Carlyn Arteaga)
- Bike!Bike! ?Dondequiera! / Everywhere! 2021 in review / en revisi?n (Angel York)
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Nicole Muratore nicole@bikesaviours.org To: thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 14:54:39 -0700 Subject: [TheThinkTank] Earn-a-Bike Programs The last iteration of ours required an individual to volunteer 12 hours of time in exchange for a bike we'd teach them to fix up, a set of lights, and a lock. These folks are already facing transportation issues and have difficulty returning to the shop to complete the hours they started.
Separate from earn-a-bike we offer work trade at a rate of $10/hour for shop credit that can be used for stand time or regular-priced parts needed to fix one's bike.
If your shop has an earn-a-bike program or similar, how does it work? And is utilization of the program high? Any input, documentation, etc. is appreciated!
Cheers, *Nicole Muratore, Shop Manager* (she/her) Bike Saviours Bicycle Collective (602) 429-9369 | bikesaviours.org | @bikesaviours
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Scott Long scott.m.long@gmail.com To: The Think Tank thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 17:34:33 -0500 Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Earn-a-Bike Programs Hi Nicole,
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
On Tue, Jan 11, 2022 at 4:54 PM Nicole Muratore nicole@bikesaviours.org wrote:
The last iteration of ours required an individual to volunteer 12 hours of time in exchange for a bike we'd teach them to fix up, a set of lights, and a lock. These folks are already facing transportation issues and have difficulty returning to the shop to complete the hours they started.
Separate from earn-a-bike we offer work trade at a rate of $10/hour for shop credit that can be used for stand time or regular-priced parts needed to fix one's bike.
If your shop has an earn-a-bike program or similar, how does it work? And is utilization of the program high? Any input, documentation, etc. is appreciated!
Cheers, *Nicole Muratore, Shop Manager* (she/her) Bike Saviours Bicycle Collective (602) 429-9369 | bikesaviours.org | @bikesaviours ____________________________________
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Unsubscribe from this list here: http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.or...
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: cyclista@inventati.org To: thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 23:22:48 +0000 Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Earn-a-Bike Programs Hi Nicole,
At RIBs, for many years, we had similar requirements to those you describe for your shop. At one point we also had a different, simpler system, wherein the applicant was required to fix up one bike for someone else in order to be allowed to fix up one bike for themselves.
What we found was exactly what you have found, which was that the highest need groups found both of these bars too high to reach. In many cases, the policy was also seen as unfriendly: some people needing the resource were in an especially high state of life stress, as well as being subject to social ostracism generally, and being told they must not only navigate this difficult learning curve, but do work that didn't further their own immediate (read: urgent) needs was, frankly, inconsiderate. Even though we at the shop were good people only trying to help, we just didn't understand.
So the lesson was that higher order concepts like community development and mutual aid aren't really great to evangelize to people undergoing crisis. In kind, that we in the shop had bad calibration wrt what represented crisis. We might have thought of it as extreme things such as "are you being evicted" or "have you lost housing because your partner threatened your life and your only other housing options are with substance abusing people you had been trying to separate yourself from because you are trying to stay clean to regain legal custody of your children", but in reality significant states of crisis can be much more insidious and mundane. Someone can be in a state of significant, ongoing crisis simply because they are disrespected at their job and their childcare involves significant emotional burden, and they feel unloved in their partner relationship. Crisis can be difficult to recognize for someone not familiar with it, especially where it stems from conditions such as generational poverty and trauma. And crisis isn't necessarily a transitory state. It can last for most or all of a person's life, especiallly where generational effects are involved.
So what we did was entirely remove our requirements for volunteering in return for use of the space, and replaced them with only a pay-what-you-want requirement for parts and a polite reminder that we accept donations.
What we saw was a dramatic reduction in ghosting. Nearly all participants of every demographic returned to complete their projects. A rough guess would be that around 2% abandoned projects they started, most of those being students with busy academic/social schedules or hobbyists who lost interest in a frivolous idea. Over the four years we had these relaxed policies, nearly all in-need participants completed their bikes (or repairs) and left with safe and satisfying wheels under them.
This higher rate of effectiveness did come at a cost, however. When we had volunteer requirements, it did force a lot more people to stay and be part of the environment for longer periods of time, contributing to shop culture and character. Requirements also forced kids to learn: most of the street-level kids in our community don't stay and learn unless they are made to. In these cases the reward-incentive-for-work concept seems to be something that must be imposed, rather than guided or facilitated, in order to take root. So though we retained significant child attendance in the case of those visiting with various guardians, we also lost a lot (actually most) of our solo child participation by removing requirements.
In general, I'd say our volunteer community was reduced by about half by these measures, with only people who volunteered out of passion and joy remaining. Our shop was small and had never really run on exclusively volunteer labor except at the beginning (thirty years ago) when it was even smaller and being run out of random garages, so this wasn't a lethal change for us. It did create much greater demands/stress on paid staff and primary volunteers.
I think it's possible to not go entirely one way or another, for instance to have volunteer requirements for children but not adults (though it might be painful to justify to kids who noticed the disparity), or create tiers of service/use some of which would required volunteering. We just basically treated the shop as a library and the staff and primary volunteers as librarians, and let the community use the space so long as they did so without harming it.
An idea for a tier of access that could require volunteer hours might be keyed off-hours access. This is really only sustainable now with the advent of [more] affordable electronic locks - in the past people with keys made copies, kept them essentially forever, and any abuse would require changing the locks. I'd encourage shop budget to be spent on this kind of lock, or even the more expensive mechanical versions, even though it involves significant expense. In retrospect, it was the lack of this investment that prevented us from exploring options such as the one suggested above, and eventually we were making enough money that we could have afforded it. It's so difficult to see every option in every moment when you're busy af with so many things.
~cyclista Nicholas
On 2022-01-11 21:54, Nicole Muratore wrote:
The last iteration of ours required an individual to volunteer 12 hours of time in exchange for a bike we'd teach them to fix up, a set of lights, and a lock. These folks are already facing transportation issues and have difficulty returning to the shop to complete the hours they started.
Separate from earn-a-bike we offer work trade at a rate of $10/hour for shop credit that can be used for stand time or regular-priced parts needed to fix one's bike.
If your shop has an earn-a-bike program or similar, how does it work? And is utilization of the program high? Any input, documentation, etc. is appreciated!
Cheers, *Nicole Muratore, Shop Manager* (she/her) Bike Saviours Bicycle Collective (602) 429-9369 | bikesaviours.org | @bikesaviours
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---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Carlyn Arteaga carlyn.arteaga@bicas.org To: The Think Tank thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 16:49:11 -0700 Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Earn-a-Bike Programs Hi Nicole, Carlyn from BICAS in Tucson, AZ here. Our Earn-a-Bike program is encapsulated into our Work Trade Program -- Folks earn $12/hr to help us out around the shop and they can use that credit towards 1 bike per year, used parts, and Community Tools (stand time) to fix it up. All the bikes in our shop are priced, so folks just calculate how much work they need to do to earn whichever bike they like. It is a very heavily-used program and we get referrals from social services orgs all over the county. We currently have a cap of $200 per person per year, although we are currently evaluating that cap as well as the Work Trade rate. Feel free to reach out if you have any other questions. Sincerely, ~Carlyn
On Tue, Jan 11, 2022 at 3:34 PM Scott Long scott.m.long@gmail.com wrote:
Hi Nicole,
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
On Tue, Jan 11, 2022 at 4:54 PM Nicole Muratore nicole@bikesaviours.org wrote:
The last iteration of ours required an individual to volunteer 12 hours of time in exchange for a bike we'd teach them to fix up, a set of lights, and a lock. These folks are already facing transportation issues and have difficulty returning to the shop to complete the hours they started.
Separate from earn-a-bike we offer work trade at a rate of $10/hour for shop credit that can be used for stand time or regular-priced parts needed to fix one's bike.
If your shop has an earn-a-bike program or similar, how does it work? And is utilization of the program high? Any input, documentation, etc. is appreciated!
Cheers, *Nicole Muratore, Shop Manager* (she/her) Bike Saviours Bicycle Collective (602) 429-9369 | bikesaviours.org | @bikesaviours ____________________________________
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*Carlyn Arteaga*
*pronouns: they/them/theirs*
Youth Program Coordinator
*BICAS*
2001 N. 7th Ave. | Tucson, AZ 85701 | Shop: 520-628-7950
carlyn.arteaga@bicas.org | www.bicas.org | Facebook http://www.facebook.com/bicascollective/ | Instagram http://www.instagram.com/bicastucson/
*Through advocacy and bicycle salvage, our mission is to participate in affordable bicycle transportation, education, and creative recycling with our greater Tucson community.*
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---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Angel York aniola@gmail.com To: The Think Tank thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 20:03:14 -0800 Subject: [TheThinkTank] Bike!Bike! ¡Dondequiera! / Everywhere! 2021 in review / en revisión
*Español abajo*
Hi everyone,
Thanks for helping make Bike!Bike! Everywhere! 2021 such a hoppin' weekend!
*OVERVIEW*
There were a couple dozen events over 3-4 days (depending on how you count time zones).
About 175 people registered. Or maybe 198! Anyway, lots of people came.
About 1400 US dollars were donated and are being distributed as a stipend to the interpreters (minus fees).
Piles of people volunteered in one way or another.
New connections have formed.
Friends were made.
100% of all germs stayed local.
*ARCHIVED VIDEOS* Workshops are nearly all posted in English and are still going up in Spanish. Here's the link to the *archived videos:* *https://archive.org/details/@bikebikeeverywhere* https://archive.org/details/@bikebikeeverywhere . If you want to help organize the archive data, please send an email to bikebikeeverywhere@gmail.com.
*SURVEY RESULTS* Results from the survey were overwhelmingly positive. Suggestions were mostly things we know we need to work on, and we're working on them. They'll happen faster with more committed volunteers, so come join us! We can find a place for you for a wide range of roles/interests and at every skill level.
*GET INVOLVED WITH BIKE!BIKE! EVERYWHERE!*
*If you've tried to reach out and get involved before* and didn't get to put your awesome skills to their best use, *please try again. We'd love to have you.* We have a better sense of what needs doing. There's more work than volunteers, we're all having a lot of fun, and we'd love your company.
*If there is enough core volunteer availability, there will probably be another B!B!E! in early November 2022. We need you to help make it happen! Here's how:*
Join the new *planning email list* at
http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/bikebike-everywhere-bikecollec... and start *attending meetings* ( https://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/Meetings_and_minutes).
Find something to do the *volunteer roles* list at
https://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/Bike!Bike!_Everywhere!_Volunteer_Roles and email bikebikeeverywhere@gmail.com.
*BIKE!BIKE! MEXICO CITY 2022* Mujerxs al Pedal (mujerxsalpedal@gmail.com) is hosting an in-person Bike!Bike! in Mexico City (CDMX) June or July 2022. They are planning to do a partial hybrid with online streaming. B!B!E! and B!B!CDMX are in contact and working together to share resources. *Stay tuned at* *bikebike.org*
http://bikebike.org *for B!B!CDMX sign-ups (coming soon).*
Hola a todxs,
Gracias por ayudarnos a que Bike!Bike! En todas partes! 2021 fuera un fin de semana tan animado.
*INFORMACIÓN GENERAL*
Hubo dos docenas de eventos a lo largo de 3 o 4 días (dependiendo de cómo cuentes los husos horarios).
Se registraron alrededor de 175 personas ¡o tal vez 198! Como sea, mucha gente vino.
Fueron donados alrededor de 1400 dólares y están siendo distribuidos (menos algunas cuotas) como remuneración entre lxs intérpretes.
Montones de personas voluntariaron de una manera u otra.
Nuevas conexiones han sido formadas.
Amistades han sido hechas.
100% de los gérmenes se quedaron en su lugar.
*VIDEOS ARCHIVADOS*
Casi todos los talleres fueron subidos en inglés y están siendo subidos en español. Aquí hay un link a los *videos archivados:* *https://archive.org/details/@bikebikeeverywhere* https://archive.org/details/@bikebikeeverywhere. Si te interesa ayudar a organizar la información del archivo, por favor manda un correo a bikebikeeverywhere@gmail.com.
*RESULTADOS DE LA ENCUESTA* Los resultados de la encuesta fueron abrumadoramente positivos. Las sugerencias fueron mayormente cosas que sabemos que tenemos que trabajar, y estamos trabajando en ellas. Se lograrán más rápidamente con más voluntarixs dedicadxs, ¡así que únete a nosotrxs! Podemos encontrar un lugar para ti dentro de un amplio rango de roles/intereses y en cualquier nivel.
*INVOLÚCRATE CON BIKE!BIKE! EN TODAS PARTES!*
*Si trataste de acercarte e involucrarte antes* y no pudiste aprovechar tus geniales habilidades, *por favor inténtalo de nuevo. Nos encantaría tenerte.* Ya tenemos una mejor idea de lo que necesita hacerse. Hay más trabajo que voluntarixs, todxs nos estamos divirtiendo mucho y nos encantaría contar con tu compañía.
*Si hay suficiente disponibilidad de voluntarixs, probablemente habrá otro B!B!E! a principios de noviembre de 2022. Necesitamos de tu ayuda para hacer que eso suceda! Aquí está cómo apoyar:*
Únete a la nueva *lista de correo de planeación* en
http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/bikebike-everywhere-bikecollec... y empieza a *asistir a las reuniones* ( https://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/Meetings_and_minutes).
Encuentra algo que hacer en la *lista de roles para voluntarixs,* en
https://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/Bike!Bike!_Everywhere!_Volunteer_Roles/... y manda un correo a bikebikeeverywhere@gmail.com.
*BIKE!BIKE! CIUDAD DE MÉXICO 2022*
Mujerxs al Pedal (mujerxsalpedal@gmail.com) serán anfirionxs de un Bike!Bike! en persona en la Ciudad de México (CDMX) en junio o julio de 2011. Están planeando hacer un evento parcialmente híbrido con transmisiones en línea. B!B!E! y B!B!CDMX están en contacto y trabajando juntxs para compartir recursos. *Mantente al pendiente de* *bikebike.org* http://bikebike.org/ *para los registros para B!B!CDMX (próximamente).*
This was issue #5 of Bike!Bike! Everywhere!. You can subscribe https://buttondown.email/bikebikeeverywhere or view this email online https://buttondown.email/bikebikeeverywhere/subscribers/3651fb41-ae2f-4dbc-ab0a-dba56dbe9880/archive/bikebike-everywhere-2021-in-review . http:///api/emails/canary/3651fb41-ae2f-4dbc-ab0a-dba56dbe9880/553bdfb9-9f60-450b-8783-3d9869d48d98/ _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org
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I believe I should also realte why we used an hourly repair limit to identify bikes to set aside for sale.
Many other CBS I've been to seem to use a metric wherein the sale bikes (if that shop sells bikes) are chosen for arbitrary or value-based motives. In other words, the bikes for sale are either chosen for aesthetic or personal reasons, or they are chsoen because of the final price (read: high) they might sell for.
The problem with the latter rationale is effeciency, range, and volume. In our case, we sold literally anything that was trivial to fix, regardless of its "cool" factor or final sale price, and this meant that we had a) more time to devote to other things, such as organizing the shop or helping participants, b) a constant supply of bikes available for sale, making the shop attractive to customers, and c) bikes available in all price ranges, also making us attractive to customers and the community at large.
We did end up with more bikes set aside in this category than we could process for sale, but it really was profitable in several senses for us to hoard these "low hanging fruits". At one time, we kept up with all incoming sale bikes, either because our shop was less busy or because we were getting fewer bikes, and that was why our policy on them was strict.
It really is difficult to see all the things when you're in the thick of it, especially when change is involved - the change of them accumulating to surplus happened slowly (creep) and was difficult to track. If I had noticed and been able to reconcile this new condition against the previous rationale, I might have seen that offering some to flippers might have cleared space in the yard and reduced enmity with the local desperados.
In any case, I can tell the story of it now for y'all -_^
~cyclista Nicholas
On 2022-01-13 01:49, cyclista@inventati.org wrote:
Nicole,
Another long response (sorry to people who hate these) -
Our pay-what-you-want policy only extended to components not being sold in the retail area. Non-retail components comprised the majority of our stock. It did not apply to complete/ready-to-ride bikes, as those were also retail items.
It did apply to incomplete or non-fixed bikes, but those were subject to our safety requirements, those being that a bike was not allowed to leave the shop until it was cleared as safe to ride according to our checklist. So a participant actually could fix up a bike and pay whatever they wanted for it ("nothing" was not considered an amount; many people paid with pocket change though). This process typically took several workdays, and since we were only open three days a week, sometimes it would take several weeks.
We did have a problem with some (not the majority) homeless or shelter-housed participants trying to fix up bikes and sell them, it being a problem because those specific participants were always fighting with us about whether a bike was safe to ride or not. They wanted to fix up a bike in a day and take it out on the street and immediately sell it for cash or trade it. There has been a lot of extreme desperation in our community over the pandemic and the two years or so leading up to it, and these "flippers" didn't want to take any time with a repair or a build.
We eventually created two systems to address these dynamics:
- A participant would be limited to building one bike every three
months
- A participant that had adequate skills could get paid in cash (!) as
a contractor, at our hourly shop rate of $15/hr to help us fix up bikes set aside for sale. Considering that most bikes would at minimum sell for $100, and according to our incoming bike sorting process, a bike set aside for sale could only take a maximum of two hours to complete ($30), it was considered a net gain for everyone, and a way for us to get extra help in the shop. Literally no one ever took us up on this offer, which stood for at least the last two years of the shop's existence, and we never got any feedback on why not. My guess has been that either people didn't fully understand it, or that they felt that a solid $30 was less attractive than the full price of the bike they wanted.
A missing detail here for readers might be that we had four categories for incoming bikes: strip, scrap, build, or sell. The bikes set aside for sale were ones deemed to require minimal work, i.e. an hour of work, maximum two. Bikes in the sale category were not available to participants on a pay-what-you-want basis; they were simply set aside until they could be repaired and priced. A large part of our shop income was from seasonal bike sales, and we barely broke even every year. We couldn't afford to lose any sale stock.
Many of the flippers expressed a belief of entitlement to any or all of our bikes, including those set aside to fix for sale, since "we got them for free", and saw no reason that they shouldn't have just as much opportunity to monetize them as we did. In other words, the flippers had a sense that "first fix first sell" was more fair, and resented us for obstructing access to bikes for this purpose. We had a constant problem with people jumping the fence and stealing bikes from the yard; we'd later find these bikes on the street, minimally repaired and having been sold for cash or traded.
As for the pay-what-you-want model specifically for components and accessories, the only limitation was that it was not available to resellers. In other words, no one was allowed to raid our parts room and then go sell it all on ebay or Craigslist (or the street). This was an honor system more or less, and with one or two exceptions seemed to be respected. We never allowed complete un-fixed bikes to leave the shop, but bare or nearly bare framesets were considered components and could be acquired under the pay-what-you-want system.
I would have liked to have a better approach for the flippers, who despite being disrespectful, argumentative, and demanding, were after all homeless, or for other reasons desperate. I don't sympathize merely for altruistsic reasons; I was homeless myself on and off for almost twenty years, including the time during which I was introduced to community bike shops as a concept.
In retrospect, we did end up with significantly more bikes set aside to fix and sell than we could keep up with, and it might have been a good idea to have a subcategory of them available to flippers to sell on their own outside the shop, so long as the bikes in question upheld our safety standards, and the shop code of conduct was held up by the flippers while doing the work in the shop (the latter being a whole topic in and of itself).
~cyclista Nicholas
On 2022-01-12 21:50, Nicole Muratore wrote:
Wow! Very insightful replies so far and cause for me to pause and think about how our "everyone that puts something into the collective, gets something out of it" vibe is preventing us from helping people.
Scott, you're absolutely right. Third party vetting certainly takes a lot of skilled work off our shoulders. A hybrid of volunteering, third-party vetting, and even accepting community work done elsewhere will likely be where we land.Nicholas, I'm curious about the pay-what-you-want model and wonder how it would go over in our shop. We're a bike flipper's mecca and these items are often used as currency among our unhoused patrons - especially right now with COVID and folks being unhoused as a result of some major rent hikes. Is it abused much that you know? Are there limits to the level of componentry? Is it this way for bikes, too? Thanks again for the thorough and thoughtful response.
Carlyn, do you usually have enough work trade for someone to earn a bike in a reasonable amount of time? Do folks come back and complete their hours most of the time? I love that your program has high utilization! I hope ours will, too.
Nicole
On Wed, Jan 12, 2022 at 2:03 PM < thethinktank-request@lists.bikecollectives.org> wrote:
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When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Thethinktank digest..." Today's Topics:
- Earn-a-Bike Programs (Nicole Muratore)
- Re: Earn-a-Bike Programs (Scott Long)
- Re: Earn-a-Bike Programs (cyclista@inventati.org)
- Re: Earn-a-Bike Programs (Carlyn Arteaga)
- Bike!Bike! ?Dondequiera! / Everywhere! 2021 in review / en revisi?n (Angel York)
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Nicole Muratore nicole@bikesaviours.org To: thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 14:54:39 -0700 Subject: [TheThinkTank] Earn-a-Bike Programs The last iteration of ours required an individual to volunteer 12 hours of time in exchange for a bike we'd teach them to fix up, a set of lights, and a lock. These folks are already facing transportation issues and have difficulty returning to the shop to complete the hours they started.
Separate from earn-a-bike we offer work trade at a rate of $10/hour for shop credit that can be used for stand time or regular-priced parts needed to fix one's bike.
If your shop has an earn-a-bike program or similar, how does it work? And is utilization of the program high? Any input, documentation, etc. is appreciated!
Cheers, *Nicole Muratore, Shop Manager* (she/her) Bike Saviours Bicycle Collective (602) 429-9369 | bikesaviours.org | @bikesaviours
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Scott Long scott.m.long@gmail.com To: The Think Tank thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 17:34:33 -0500 Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Earn-a-Bike Programs Hi Nicole,
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
On Tue, Jan 11, 2022 at 4:54 PM Nicole Muratore nicole@bikesaviours.org wrote:
The last iteration of ours required an individual to volunteer 12 hours of time in exchange for a bike we'd teach them to fix up, a set of lights, and a lock. These folks are already facing transportation issues and have difficulty returning to the shop to complete the hours they started.
Separate from earn-a-bike we offer work trade at a rate of $10/hour for shop credit that can be used for stand time or regular-priced parts needed to fix one's bike.
If your shop has an earn-a-bike program or similar, how does it work? And is utilization of the program high? Any input, documentation, etc. is appreciated!
Cheers, *Nicole Muratore, Shop Manager* (she/her) Bike Saviours Bicycle Collective (602) 429-9369 | bikesaviours.org | @bikesaviours ____________________________________
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---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: cyclista@inventati.org To: thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 23:22:48 +0000 Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Earn-a-Bike Programs Hi Nicole,
At RIBs, for many years, we had similar requirements to those you describe for your shop. At one point we also had a different, simpler system, wherein the applicant was required to fix up one bike for someone else in order to be allowed to fix up one bike for themselves.
What we found was exactly what you have found, which was that the highest need groups found both of these bars too high to reach. In many cases, the policy was also seen as unfriendly: some people needing the resource were in an especially high state of life stress, as well as being subject to social ostracism generally, and being told they must not only navigate this difficult learning curve, but do work that didn't further their own immediate (read: urgent) needs was, frankly, inconsiderate. Even though we at the shop were good people only trying to help, we just didn't understand.
So the lesson was that higher order concepts like community development and mutual aid aren't really great to evangelize to people undergoing crisis. In kind, that we in the shop had bad calibration wrt what represented crisis. We might have thought of it as extreme things such as "are you being evicted" or "have you lost housing because your partner threatened your life and your only other housing options are with substance abusing people you had been trying to separate yourself from because you are trying to stay clean to regain legal custody of your children", but in reality significant states of crisis can be much more insidious and mundane. Someone can be in a state of significant, ongoing crisis simply because they are disrespected at their job and their childcare involves significant emotional burden, and they feel unloved in their partner relationship. Crisis can be difficult to recognize for someone not familiar with it, especially where it stems from conditions such as generational poverty and trauma. And crisis isn't necessarily a transitory state. It can last for most or all of a person's life, especiallly where generational effects are involved.
So what we did was entirely remove our requirements for volunteering in return for use of the space, and replaced them with only a pay-what-you-want requirement for parts and a polite reminder that we accept donations.
What we saw was a dramatic reduction in ghosting. Nearly all participants of every demographic returned to complete their projects. A rough guess would be that around 2% abandoned projects they started, most of those being students with busy academic/social schedules or hobbyists who lost interest in a frivolous idea. Over the four years we had these relaxed policies, nearly all in-need participants completed their bikes (or repairs) and left with safe and satisfying wheels under them.
This higher rate of effectiveness did come at a cost, however. When we had volunteer requirements, it did force a lot more people to stay and be part of the environment for longer periods of time, contributing to shop culture and character. Requirements also forced kids to learn: most of the street-level kids in our community don't stay and learn unless they are made to. In these cases the reward-incentive-for-work concept seems to be something that must be imposed, rather than guided or facilitated, in order to take root. So though we retained significant child attendance in the case of those visiting with various guardians, we also lost a lot (actually most) of our solo child participation by removing requirements.
In general, I'd say our volunteer community was reduced by about half by these measures, with only people who volunteered out of passion and joy remaining. Our shop was small and had never really run on exclusively volunteer labor except at the beginning (thirty years ago) when it was even smaller and being run out of random garages, so this wasn't a lethal change for us. It did create much greater demands/stress on paid staff and primary volunteers.
I think it's possible to not go entirely one way or another, for instance to have volunteer requirements for children but not adults (though it might be painful to justify to kids who noticed the disparity), or create tiers of service/use some of which would required volunteering. We just basically treated the shop as a library and the staff and primary volunteers as librarians, and let the community use the space so long as they did so without harming it.
An idea for a tier of access that could require volunteer hours might be keyed off-hours access. This is really only sustainable now with the advent of [more] affordable electronic locks - in the past people with keys made copies, kept them essentially forever, and any abuse would require changing the locks. I'd encourage shop budget to be spent on this kind of lock, or even the more expensive mechanical versions, even though it involves significant expense. In retrospect, it was the lack of this investment that prevented us from exploring options such as the one suggested above, and eventually we were making enough money that we could have afforded it. It's so difficult to see every option in every moment when you're busy af with so many things.
~cyclista Nicholas
On 2022-01-11 21:54, Nicole Muratore wrote:
The last iteration of ours required an individual to volunteer 12 hours of time in exchange for a bike we'd teach them to fix up, a set of lights, and a lock. These folks are already facing transportation issues and have difficulty returning to the shop to complete the hours they started.
Separate from earn-a-bike we offer work trade at a rate of $10/hour for shop credit that can be used for stand time or regular-priced parts needed to fix one's bike.
If your shop has an earn-a-bike program or similar, how does it work? And is utilization of the program high? Any input, documentation, etc. is appreciated!
Cheers, *Nicole Muratore, Shop Manager* (she/her) Bike Saviours Bicycle Collective (602) 429-9369 | bikesaviours.org | @bikesaviours
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---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Carlyn Arteaga carlyn.arteaga@bicas.org To: The Think Tank thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 16:49:11 -0700 Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Earn-a-Bike Programs Hi Nicole, Carlyn from BICAS in Tucson, AZ here. Our Earn-a-Bike program is encapsulated into our Work Trade Program -- Folks earn $12/hr to help us out around the shop and they can use that credit towards 1 bike per year, used parts, and Community Tools (stand time) to fix it up. All the bikes in our shop are priced, so folks just calculate how much work they need to do to earn whichever bike they like. It is a very heavily-used program and we get referrals from social services orgs all over the county. We currently have a cap of $200 per person per year, although we are currently evaluating that cap as well as the Work Trade rate. Feel free to reach out if you have any other questions. Sincerely, ~Carlyn
On Tue, Jan 11, 2022 at 3:34 PM Scott Long scott.m.long@gmail.com wrote:
Hi Nicole,
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
On Tue, Jan 11, 2022 at 4:54 PM Nicole Muratore nicole@bikesaviours.org wrote:
The last iteration of ours required an individual to volunteer 12 hours of time in exchange for a bike we'd teach them to fix up, a set of lights, and a lock. These folks are already facing transportation issues and have difficulty returning to the shop to complete the hours they started.
Separate from earn-a-bike we offer work trade at a rate of $10/hour for shop credit that can be used for stand time or regular-priced parts needed to fix one's bike.
If your shop has an earn-a-bike program or similar, how does it work? And is utilization of the program high? Any input, documentation, etc. is appreciated!
Cheers, *Nicole Muratore, Shop Manager* (she/her) Bike Saviours Bicycle Collective (602) 429-9369 | bikesaviours.org | @bikesaviours ____________________________________
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*Carlyn Arteaga*
*pronouns: they/them/theirs*
Youth Program Coordinator
*BICAS*
2001 N. 7th Ave. | Tucson, AZ 85701 | Shop: 520-628-7950
carlyn.arteaga@bicas.org | www.bicas.org | Facebook http://www.facebook.com/bicascollective/ | Instagram http://www.instagram.com/bicastucson/
*Through advocacy and bicycle salvage, our mission is to participate in affordable bicycle transportation, education, and creative recycling with our greater Tucson community.*
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---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Angel York aniola@gmail.com To: The Think Tank thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 20:03:14 -0800 Subject: [TheThinkTank] Bike!Bike! ¡Dondequiera! / Everywhere! 2021 in review / en revisión
*Español abajo*
Hi everyone,
Thanks for helping make Bike!Bike! Everywhere! 2021 such a hoppin' weekend!
*OVERVIEW*
There were a couple dozen events over 3-4 days (depending on how you count time zones).
About 175 people registered. Or maybe 198! Anyway, lots of people came.
About 1400 US dollars were donated and are being distributed as a stipend to the interpreters (minus fees).
Piles of people volunteered in one way or another.
New connections have formed.
Friends were made.
100% of all germs stayed local.
*ARCHIVED VIDEOS* Workshops are nearly all posted in English and are still going up in Spanish. Here's the link to the *archived videos:* *https://archive.org/details/@bikebikeeverywhere* https://archive.org/details/@bikebikeeverywhere . If you want to help organize the archive data, please send an email to bikebikeeverywhere@gmail.com.
*SURVEY RESULTS* Results from the survey were overwhelmingly positive. Suggestions were mostly things we know we need to work on, and we're working on them. They'll happen faster with more committed volunteers, so come join us! We can find a place for you for a wide range of roles/interests and at every skill level.
*GET INVOLVED WITH BIKE!BIKE! EVERYWHERE!*
*If you've tried to reach out and get involved before* and didn't get to put your awesome skills to their best use, *please try again. We'd love to have you.* We have a better sense of what needs doing. There's more work than volunteers, we're all having a lot of fun, and we'd love your company.
*If there is enough core volunteer availability, there will probably be another B!B!E! in early November 2022. We need you to help make it happen! Here's how:*
Join the new *planning email list* at
http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/bikebike-everywhere-bikecollec... and start *attending meetings* ( https://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/Meetings_and_minutes).
Find something to do the *volunteer roles* list at
https://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/Bike!Bike!_Everywhere!_Volunteer_Roles and email bikebikeeverywhere@gmail.com.
*BIKE!BIKE! MEXICO CITY 2022* Mujerxs al Pedal (mujerxsalpedal@gmail.com) is hosting an in-person Bike!Bike! in Mexico City (CDMX) June or July 2022. They are planning to do a partial hybrid with online streaming. B!B!E! and B!B!CDMX are in contact and working together to share resources. *Stay tuned at* *bikebike.org*
http://bikebike.org *for B!B!CDMX sign-ups (coming soon).*
Hola a todxs,
Gracias por ayudarnos a que Bike!Bike! En todas partes! 2021 fuera un fin de semana tan animado.
*INFORMACIÓN GENERAL*
Hubo dos docenas de eventos a lo largo de 3 o 4 días (dependiendo de cómo cuentes los husos horarios).
Se registraron alrededor de 175 personas ¡o tal vez 198! Como sea, mucha gente vino.
Fueron donados alrededor de 1400 dólares y están siendo distribuidos (menos algunas cuotas) como remuneración entre lxs intérpretes.
Montones de personas voluntariaron de una manera u otra.
Nuevas conexiones han sido formadas.
Amistades han sido hechas.
100% de los gérmenes se quedaron en su lugar.
*VIDEOS ARCHIVADOS*
Casi todos los talleres fueron subidos en inglés y están siendo subidos en español. Aquí hay un link a los *videos archivados:* *https://archive.org/details/@bikebikeeverywhere* https://archive.org/details/@bikebikeeverywhere. Si te interesa ayudar a organizar la información del archivo, por favor manda un correo a bikebikeeverywhere@gmail.com.
*RESULTADOS DE LA ENCUESTA* Los resultados de la encuesta fueron abrumadoramente positivos. Las sugerencias fueron mayormente cosas que sabemos que tenemos que trabajar, y estamos trabajando en ellas. Se lograrán más rápidamente con más voluntarixs dedicadxs, ¡así que únete a nosotrxs! Podemos encontrar un lugar para ti dentro de un amplio rango de roles/intereses y en cualquier nivel.
*INVOLÚCRATE CON BIKE!BIKE! EN TODAS PARTES!*
*Si trataste de acercarte e involucrarte antes* y no pudiste aprovechar tus geniales habilidades, *por favor inténtalo de nuevo. Nos encantaría tenerte.* Ya tenemos una mejor idea de lo que necesita hacerse. Hay más trabajo que voluntarixs, todxs nos estamos divirtiendo mucho y nos encantaría contar con tu compañía.
*Si hay suficiente disponibilidad de voluntarixs, probablemente habrá otro B!B!E! a principios de noviembre de 2022. Necesitamos de tu ayuda para hacer que eso suceda! Aquí está cómo apoyar:*
Únete a la nueva *lista de correo de planeación* en
http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/bikebike-everywhere-bikecollec... y empieza a *asistir a las reuniones* ( https://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/Meetings_and_minutes).
Encuentra algo que hacer en la *lista de roles para voluntarixs,* en
https://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/Bike!Bike!_Everywhere!_Volunteer_Roles/... y manda un correo a bikebikeeverywhere@gmail.com.
*BIKE!BIKE! CIUDAD DE MÉXICO 2022*
Mujerxs al Pedal (mujerxsalpedal@gmail.com) serán anfirionxs de un Bike!Bike! en persona en la Ciudad de México (CDMX) en junio o julio de 2011. Están planeando hacer un evento parcialmente híbrido con transmisiones en línea. B!B!E! y B!B!CDMX están en contacto y trabajando juntxs para compartir recursos. *Mantente al pendiente de* *bikebike.org* http://bikebike.org/ *para los registros para B!B!CDMX (próximamente).*
This was issue #5 of Bike!Bike! Everywhere!. You can subscribe https://buttondown.email/bikebikeeverywhere or view this email online https://buttondown.email/bikebikeeverywhere/subscribers/3651fb41-ae2f-4dbc-ab0a-dba56dbe9880/archive/bikebike-everywhere-2021-in-review . http:///api/emails/canary/3651fb41-ae2f-4dbc-ab0a-dba56dbe9880/553bdfb9-9f60-450b-8783-3d9869d48d98/ _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org
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When I was at the Davis Bike Collective, we basically did "we're not naming a price, you just pay something." and mostly it just made people uncomfortable.
They have since switched to the following much simpler system, boldly labeled on a sandwich board:
*Build-a-Bike (frame, + used parts for 1 year) – $50*
*Parts (used) – Fair Value As Labeled*
*Shop Use during Open Shop for 1 year – $50*
*Shop Use for 1 day – $5*
On Wed, Jan 12, 2022 at 1:50 PM Nicole Muratore nicole@bikesaviours.org wrote:
Wow! Very insightful replies so far and cause for me to pause and think about how our "everyone that puts something into the collective, gets something out of it" vibe is preventing us from helping people. Scott, you're absolutely right. Third party vetting certainly takes a lot of skilled work off our shoulders. A hybrid of volunteering, third-party vetting, and even accepting community work done elsewhere will likely be where we land.
Nicholas, I'm curious about the pay-what-you-want model and wonder how it would go over in our shop. We're a bike flipper's mecca and these items are often used as currency among our unhoused patrons - especially right now with COVID and folks being unhoused as a result of some major rent hikes. Is it abused much that you know? Are there limits to the level of componentry? Is it this way for bikes, too? Thanks again for the thorough and thoughtful response.
Carlyn, do you usually have enough work trade for someone to earn a bike in a reasonable amount of time? Do folks come back and complete their hours most of the time? I love that your program has high utilization! I hope ours will, too.
Nicole
On Wed, Jan 12, 2022 at 2:03 PM < thethinktank-request@lists.bikecollectives.org> wrote:
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When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Thethinktank digest..." Today's Topics:
- Earn-a-Bike Programs (Nicole Muratore)
- Re: Earn-a-Bike Programs (Scott Long)
- Re: Earn-a-Bike Programs (cyclista@inventati.org)
- Re: Earn-a-Bike Programs (Carlyn Arteaga)
- Bike!Bike! ?Dondequiera! / Everywhere! 2021 in review / en revisi?n (Angel York)
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Nicole Muratore nicole@bikesaviours.org To: thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 14:54:39 -0700 Subject: [TheThinkTank] Earn-a-Bike Programs The last iteration of ours required an individual to volunteer 12 hours of time in exchange for a bike we'd teach them to fix up, a set of lights, and a lock. These folks are already facing transportation issues and have difficulty returning to the shop to complete the hours they started.
Separate from earn-a-bike we offer work trade at a rate of $10/hour for shop credit that can be used for stand time or regular-priced parts needed to fix one's bike.
If your shop has an earn-a-bike program or similar, how does it work? And is utilization of the program high? Any input, documentation, etc. is appreciated!
Cheers, *Nicole Muratore, Shop Manager* (she/her) Bike Saviours Bicycle Collective (602) 429-9369 | bikesaviours.org | @bikesaviours
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Scott Long scott.m.long@gmail.com To: The Think Tank thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 17:34:33 -0500 Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Earn-a-Bike Programs Hi Nicole,
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
On Tue, Jan 11, 2022 at 4:54 PM Nicole Muratore nicole@bikesaviours.org wrote:
The last iteration of ours required an individual to volunteer 12 hours of time in exchange for a bike we'd teach them to fix up, a set of lights, and a lock. These folks are already facing transportation issues and have difficulty returning to the shop to complete the hours they started.
Separate from earn-a-bike we offer work trade at a rate of $10/hour for shop credit that can be used for stand time or regular-priced parts needed to fix one's bike.
If your shop has an earn-a-bike program or similar, how does it work? And is utilization of the program high? Any input, documentation, etc. is appreciated!
Cheers, *Nicole Muratore, Shop Manager* (she/her) Bike Saviours Bicycle Collective (602) 429-9369 | bikesaviours.org | @bikesaviours ____________________________________
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---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: cyclista@inventati.org To: thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 23:22:48 +0000 Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Earn-a-Bike Programs Hi Nicole,
At RIBs, for many years, we had similar requirements to those you describe for your shop. At one point we also had a different, simpler system, wherein the applicant was required to fix up one bike for someone else in order to be allowed to fix up one bike for themselves.
What we found was exactly what you have found, which was that the highest need groups found both of these bars too high to reach. In many cases, the policy was also seen as unfriendly: some people needing the resource were in an especially high state of life stress, as well as being subject to social ostracism generally, and being told they must not only navigate this difficult learning curve, but do work that didn't further their own immediate (read: urgent) needs was, frankly, inconsiderate. Even though we at the shop were good people only trying to help, we just didn't understand.
So the lesson was that higher order concepts like community development and mutual aid aren't really great to evangelize to people undergoing crisis. In kind, that we in the shop had bad calibration wrt what represented crisis. We might have thought of it as extreme things such as "are you being evicted" or "have you lost housing because your partner threatened your life and your only other housing options are with substance abusing people you had been trying to separate yourself from because you are trying to stay clean to regain legal custody of your children", but in reality significant states of crisis can be much more insidious and mundane. Someone can be in a state of significant, ongoing crisis simply because they are disrespected at their job and their childcare involves significant emotional burden, and they feel unloved in their partner relationship. Crisis can be difficult to recognize for someone not familiar with it, especially where it stems from conditions such as generational poverty and trauma. And crisis isn't necessarily a transitory state. It can last for most or all of a person's life, especiallly where generational effects are involved.
So what we did was entirely remove our requirements for volunteering in return for use of the space, and replaced them with only a pay-what-you-want requirement for parts and a polite reminder that we accept donations.
What we saw was a dramatic reduction in ghosting. Nearly all participants of every demographic returned to complete their projects. A rough guess would be that around 2% abandoned projects they started, most of those being students with busy academic/social schedules or hobbyists who lost interest in a frivolous idea. Over the four years we had these relaxed policies, nearly all in-need participants completed their bikes (or repairs) and left with safe and satisfying wheels under them.
This higher rate of effectiveness did come at a cost, however. When we had volunteer requirements, it did force a lot more people to stay and be part of the environment for longer periods of time, contributing to shop culture and character. Requirements also forced kids to learn: most of the street-level kids in our community don't stay and learn unless they are made to. In these cases the reward-incentive-for-work concept seems to be something that must be imposed, rather than guided or facilitated, in order to take root. So though we retained significant child attendance in the case of those visiting with various guardians, we also lost a lot (actually most) of our solo child participation by removing requirements.
In general, I'd say our volunteer community was reduced by about half by these measures, with only people who volunteered out of passion and joy remaining. Our shop was small and had never really run on exclusively volunteer labor except at the beginning (thirty years ago) when it was even smaller and being run out of random garages, so this wasn't a lethal change for us. It did create much greater demands/stress on paid staff and primary volunteers.
I think it's possible to not go entirely one way or another, for instance to have volunteer requirements for children but not adults (though it might be painful to justify to kids who noticed the disparity), or create tiers of service/use some of which would required volunteering. We just basically treated the shop as a library and the staff and primary volunteers as librarians, and let the community use the space so long as they did so without harming it.
An idea for a tier of access that could require volunteer hours might be keyed off-hours access. This is really only sustainable now with the advent of [more] affordable electronic locks - in the past people with keys made copies, kept them essentially forever, and any abuse would require changing the locks. I'd encourage shop budget to be spent on this kind of lock, or even the more expensive mechanical versions, even though it involves significant expense. In retrospect, it was the lack of this investment that prevented us from exploring options such as the one suggested above, and eventually we were making enough money that we could have afforded it. It's so difficult to see every option in every moment when you're busy af with so many things.
~cyclista Nicholas
On 2022-01-11 21:54, Nicole Muratore wrote:
The last iteration of ours required an individual to volunteer 12 hours of time in exchange for a bike we'd teach them to fix up, a set of lights, and a lock. These folks are already facing transportation issues and have difficulty returning to the shop to complete the hours they started.
Separate from earn-a-bike we offer work trade at a rate of $10/hour for shop credit that can be used for stand time or regular-priced parts needed to fix one's bike.
If your shop has an earn-a-bike program or similar, how does it work? And is utilization of the program high? Any input, documentation, etc. is appreciated!
Cheers, *Nicole Muratore, Shop Manager* (she/her) Bike Saviours Bicycle Collective (602) 429-9369 | bikesaviours.org | @bikesaviours
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---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Carlyn Arteaga carlyn.arteaga@bicas.org To: The Think Tank thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 16:49:11 -0700 Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Earn-a-Bike Programs Hi Nicole, Carlyn from BICAS in Tucson, AZ here. Our Earn-a-Bike program is encapsulated into our Work Trade Program -- Folks earn $12/hr to help us out around the shop and they can use that credit towards 1 bike per year, used parts, and Community Tools (stand time) to fix it up. All the bikes in our shop are priced, so folks just calculate how much work they need to do to earn whichever bike they like. It is a very heavily-used program and we get referrals from social services orgs all over the county. We currently have a cap of $200 per person per year, although we are currently evaluating that cap as well as the Work Trade rate. Feel free to reach out if you have any other questions. Sincerely, ~Carlyn
On Tue, Jan 11, 2022 at 3:34 PM Scott Long scott.m.long@gmail.com wrote:
Hi Nicole,
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
On Tue, Jan 11, 2022 at 4:54 PM Nicole Muratore nicole@bikesaviours.org wrote:
The last iteration of ours required an individual to volunteer 12 hours of time in exchange for a bike we'd teach them to fix up, a set of lights, and a lock. These folks are already facing transportation issues and have difficulty returning to the shop to complete the hours they started.
Separate from earn-a-bike we offer work trade at a rate of $10/hour for shop credit that can be used for stand time or regular-priced parts needed to fix one's bike.
If your shop has an earn-a-bike program or similar, how does it work? And is utilization of the program high? Any input, documentation, etc. is appreciated!
Cheers, *Nicole Muratore, Shop Manager* (she/her) Bike Saviours Bicycle Collective (602) 429-9369 | bikesaviours.org | @bikesaviours ____________________________________
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*Carlyn Arteaga*
*pronouns: they/them/theirs*
Youth Program Coordinator
*BICAS*
2001 N. 7th Ave. | Tucson, AZ 85701 | Shop: 520-628-7950
carlyn.arteaga@bicas.org | www.bicas.org | Facebook http://www.facebook.com/bicascollective/ | Instagram http://www.instagram.com/bicastucson/
*Through advocacy and bicycle salvage, our mission is to participate in affordable bicycle transportation, education, and creative recycling with our greater Tucson community.*
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---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Angel York aniola@gmail.com To: The Think Tank thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 20:03:14 -0800 Subject: [TheThinkTank] Bike!Bike! ¡Dondequiera! / Everywhere! 2021 in review / en revisión
*Español abajo*
Hi everyone,
Thanks for helping make Bike!Bike! Everywhere! 2021 such a hoppin' weekend!
*OVERVIEW*
There were a couple dozen events over 3-4 days (depending on how you count time zones).
About 175 people registered. Or maybe 198! Anyway, lots of people came.
About 1400 US dollars were donated and are being distributed as a stipend to the interpreters (minus fees).
Piles of people volunteered in one way or another.
New connections have formed.
Friends were made.
100% of all germs stayed local.
*ARCHIVED VIDEOS* Workshops are nearly all posted in English and are still going up in Spanish. Here's the link to the *archived videos:* *https://archive.org/details/@bikebikeeverywhere* https://archive.org/details/@bikebikeeverywhere . If you want to help organize the archive data, please send an email to bikebikeeverywhere@gmail.com.
*SURVEY RESULTS* Results from the survey were overwhelmingly positive. Suggestions were mostly things we know we need to work on, and we're working on them. They'll happen faster with more committed volunteers, so come join us! We can find a place for you for a wide range of roles/interests and at every skill level.
*GET INVOLVED WITH BIKE!BIKE! EVERYWHERE!*
*If you've tried to reach out and get involved before* and didn't get to put your awesome skills to their best use, *please try again. We'd love to have you.* We have a better sense of what needs doing. There's more work than volunteers, we're all having a lot of fun, and we'd love your company.
*If there is enough core volunteer availability, there will probably be another B!B!E! in early November 2022. We need you to help make it happen! Here's how:*
Join the new *planning email list* at http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/bikebike-everywhere-bikecollec... and start *attending meetings* ( https://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/Meetings_and_minutes).
Find something to do the *volunteer roles* list at https://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/Bike!Bike!_Everywhere!_Volunteer_Roles and email bikebikeeverywhere@gmail.com.
*BIKE!BIKE! MEXICO CITY 2022* Mujerxs al Pedal (mujerxsalpedal@gmail.com) is hosting an in-person Bike!Bike! in Mexico City (CDMX) June or July 2022. They are planning to do a partial hybrid with online streaming. B!B!E! and B!B!CDMX are in contact and working together to share resources. *Stay tuned at* *bikebike.org*
http://bikebike.org *for B!B!CDMX sign-ups (coming soon).*
Hola a todxs,
Gracias por ayudarnos a que Bike!Bike! En todas partes! 2021 fuera un fin de semana tan animado.
*INFORMACIÓN GENERAL*
Hubo dos docenas de eventos a lo largo de 3 o 4 días (dependiendo de cómo cuentes los husos horarios).
Se registraron alrededor de 175 personas ¡o tal vez 198! Como sea, mucha gente vino.
Fueron donados alrededor de 1400 dólares y están siendo distribuidos (menos algunas cuotas) como remuneración entre lxs intérpretes.
Montones de personas voluntariaron de una manera u otra.
Nuevas conexiones han sido formadas.
Amistades han sido hechas.
100% de los gérmenes se quedaron en su lugar.
*VIDEOS ARCHIVADOS*
Casi todos los talleres fueron subidos en inglés y están siendo subidos en español. Aquí hay un link a los *videos archivados:* *https://archive.org/details/@bikebikeeverywhere* https://archive.org/details/@bikebikeeverywhere. Si te interesa ayudar a organizar la información del archivo, por favor manda un correo a bikebikeeverywhere@gmail.com.
*RESULTADOS DE LA ENCUESTA* Los resultados de la encuesta fueron abrumadoramente positivos. Las sugerencias fueron mayormente cosas que sabemos que tenemos que trabajar, y estamos trabajando en ellas. Se lograrán más rápidamente con más voluntarixs dedicadxs, ¡así que únete a nosotrxs! Podemos encontrar un lugar para ti dentro de un amplio rango de roles/intereses y en cualquier nivel.
*INVOLÚCRATE CON BIKE!BIKE! EN TODAS PARTES!*
*Si trataste de acercarte e involucrarte antes* y no pudiste aprovechar tus geniales habilidades, *por favor inténtalo de nuevo. Nos encantaría tenerte.* Ya tenemos una mejor idea de lo que necesita hacerse. Hay más trabajo que voluntarixs, todxs nos estamos divirtiendo mucho y nos encantaría contar con tu compañía.
*Si hay suficiente disponibilidad de voluntarixs, probablemente habrá otro B!B!E! a principios de noviembre de 2022. Necesitamos de tu ayuda para hacer que eso suceda! Aquí está cómo apoyar:*
Únete a la nueva *lista de correo de planeación* en http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/bikebike-everywhere-bikecollec... y empieza a *asistir a las reuniones* ( https://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/Meetings_and_minutes).
Encuentra algo que hacer en la *lista de roles para voluntarixs,* en https://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/Bike!Bike!_Everywhere!_Volunteer_Roles/... y manda un correo a bikebikeeverywhere@gmail.com.
*BIKE!BIKE! CIUDAD DE MÉXICO 2022*
Mujerxs al Pedal (mujerxsalpedal@gmail.com) serán anfirionxs de un Bike!Bike! en persona en la Ciudad de México (CDMX) en junio o julio de 2011. Están planeando hacer un evento parcialmente híbrido con transmisiones en línea. B!B!E! y B!B!CDMX están en contacto y trabajando juntxs para compartir recursos. *Mantente al pendiente de* *bikebike.org*
http://bikebike.org/ *para los registros para B!B!CDMX (próximamente).*
This was issue #5 of Bike!Bike! Everywhere!. You can subscribe https://buttondown.email/bikebikeeverywhere or view this email online https://buttondown.email/bikebikeeverywhere/subscribers/3651fb41-ae2f-4dbc-ab0a-dba56dbe9880/archive/bikebike-everywhere-2021-in-review . http:///api/emails/canary/3651fb41-ae2f-4dbc-ab0a-dba56dbe9880/553bdfb9-9f60-450b-8783-3d9869d48d98/ _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org
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In France we have stocks of "social bikes", we check them lightly to be in running condition ( though not to the standard of the regular bikes we sell), and have fellow organizations let know their members that they can have a bike for cheap if they come to the kitchens. The public for those bikes is usually undocumented migrants, and unhoused people, they usually sell for 50 euros ( if lightly checked) or 35 if they buy the frame and fix it themselves ( they usually don't go for that option). An unwritten rule is that you can ask for pay what you can, but this is usually to the discretion of the mechanic serving them, and subject to the local rules of the kitchen.
Le jeu. 13 janv. 2022 à 10:59, Angel York aniola@gmail.com a écrit :
When I was at the Davis Bike Collective, we basically did "we're not naming a price, you just pay something." and mostly it just made people uncomfortable.
They have since switched to the following much simpler system, boldly labeled on a sandwich board:
*Build-a-Bike (frame, + used parts for 1 year) – $50*
*Parts (used) – Fair Value As Labeled*
*Shop Use during Open Shop for 1 year – $50*
*Shop Use for 1 day – $5*
On Wed, Jan 12, 2022 at 1:50 PM Nicole Muratore nicole@bikesaviours.org wrote:
Wow! Very insightful replies so far and cause for me to pause and think about how our "everyone that puts something into the collective, gets something out of it" vibe is preventing us from helping people. Scott, you're absolutely right. Third party vetting certainly takes a lot of skilled work off our shoulders. A hybrid of volunteering, third-party vetting, and even accepting community work done elsewhere will likely be where we land.
Nicholas, I'm curious about the pay-what-you-want model and wonder how it would go over in our shop. We're a bike flipper's mecca and these items are often used as currency among our unhoused patrons - especially right now with COVID and folks being unhoused as a result of some major rent hikes. Is it abused much that you know? Are there limits to the level of componentry? Is it this way for bikes, too? Thanks again for the thorough and thoughtful response.
Carlyn, do you usually have enough work trade for someone to earn a bike in a reasonable amount of time? Do folks come back and complete their hours most of the time? I love that your program has high utilization! I hope ours will, too.
Nicole
On Wed, Jan 12, 2022 at 2:03 PM < thethinktank-request@lists.bikecollectives.org> wrote:
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When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Thethinktank digest..." Today's Topics:
- Earn-a-Bike Programs (Nicole Muratore)
- Re: Earn-a-Bike Programs (Scott Long)
- Re: Earn-a-Bike Programs (cyclista@inventati.org)
- Re: Earn-a-Bike Programs (Carlyn Arteaga)
- Bike!Bike! ?Dondequiera! / Everywhere! 2021 in review / en revisi?n (Angel York)
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Nicole Muratore nicole@bikesaviours.org To: thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 14:54:39 -0700 Subject: [TheThinkTank] Earn-a-Bike Programs The last iteration of ours required an individual to volunteer 12 hours of time in exchange for a bike we'd teach them to fix up, a set of lights, and a lock. These folks are already facing transportation issues and have difficulty returning to the shop to complete the hours they started.
Separate from earn-a-bike we offer work trade at a rate of $10/hour for shop credit that can be used for stand time or regular-priced parts needed to fix one's bike.
If your shop has an earn-a-bike program or similar, how does it work? And is utilization of the program high? Any input, documentation, etc. is appreciated!
Cheers, *Nicole Muratore, Shop Manager* (she/her) Bike Saviours Bicycle Collective (602) 429-9369 | bikesaviours.org | @bikesaviours
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Scott Long scott.m.long@gmail.com To: The Think Tank thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 17:34:33 -0500 Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Earn-a-Bike Programs Hi Nicole,
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
On Tue, Jan 11, 2022 at 4:54 PM Nicole Muratore nicole@bikesaviours.org wrote:
The last iteration of ours required an individual to volunteer 12 hours of time in exchange for a bike we'd teach them to fix up, a set of lights, and a lock. These folks are already facing transportation issues and have difficulty returning to the shop to complete the hours they started.
Separate from earn-a-bike we offer work trade at a rate of $10/hour for shop credit that can be used for stand time or regular-priced parts needed to fix one's bike.
If your shop has an earn-a-bike program or similar, how does it work? And is utilization of the program high? Any input, documentation, etc. is appreciated!
Cheers, *Nicole Muratore, Shop Manager* (she/her) Bike Saviours Bicycle Collective (602) 429-9369 | bikesaviours.org | @bikesaviours ____________________________________
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---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: cyclista@inventati.org To: thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 23:22:48 +0000 Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Earn-a-Bike Programs Hi Nicole,
At RIBs, for many years, we had similar requirements to those you describe for your shop. At one point we also had a different, simpler system, wherein the applicant was required to fix up one bike for someone else in order to be allowed to fix up one bike for themselves.
What we found was exactly what you have found, which was that the highest need groups found both of these bars too high to reach. In many cases, the policy was also seen as unfriendly: some people needing the resource were in an especially high state of life stress, as well as being subject to social ostracism generally, and being told they must not only navigate this difficult learning curve, but do work that didn't further their own immediate (read: urgent) needs was, frankly, inconsiderate. Even though we at the shop were good people only trying to help, we just didn't understand.
So the lesson was that higher order concepts like community development and mutual aid aren't really great to evangelize to people undergoing crisis. In kind, that we in the shop had bad calibration wrt what represented crisis. We might have thought of it as extreme things such as "are you being evicted" or "have you lost housing because your partner threatened your life and your only other housing options are with substance abusing people you had been trying to separate yourself from because you are trying to stay clean to regain legal custody of your children", but in reality significant states of crisis can be much more insidious and mundane. Someone can be in a state of significant, ongoing crisis simply because they are disrespected at their job and their childcare involves significant emotional burden, and they feel unloved in their partner relationship. Crisis can be difficult to recognize for someone not familiar with it, especially where it stems from conditions such as generational poverty and trauma. And crisis isn't necessarily a transitory state. It can last for most or all of a person's life, especiallly where generational effects are involved.
So what we did was entirely remove our requirements for volunteering in return for use of the space, and replaced them with only a pay-what-you-want requirement for parts and a polite reminder that we accept donations.
What we saw was a dramatic reduction in ghosting. Nearly all participants of every demographic returned to complete their projects. A rough guess would be that around 2% abandoned projects they started, most of those being students with busy academic/social schedules or hobbyists who lost interest in a frivolous idea. Over the four years we had these relaxed policies, nearly all in-need participants completed their bikes (or repairs) and left with safe and satisfying wheels under them.
This higher rate of effectiveness did come at a cost, however. When we had volunteer requirements, it did force a lot more people to stay and be part of the environment for longer periods of time, contributing to shop culture and character. Requirements also forced kids to learn: most of the street-level kids in our community don't stay and learn unless they are made to. In these cases the reward-incentive-for-work concept seems to be something that must be imposed, rather than guided or facilitated, in order to take root. So though we retained significant child attendance in the case of those visiting with various guardians, we also lost a lot (actually most) of our solo child participation by removing requirements.
In general, I'd say our volunteer community was reduced by about half by these measures, with only people who volunteered out of passion and joy remaining. Our shop was small and had never really run on exclusively volunteer labor except at the beginning (thirty years ago) when it was even smaller and being run out of random garages, so this wasn't a lethal change for us. It did create much greater demands/stress on paid staff and primary volunteers.
I think it's possible to not go entirely one way or another, for instance to have volunteer requirements for children but not adults (though it might be painful to justify to kids who noticed the disparity), or create tiers of service/use some of which would required volunteering. We just basically treated the shop as a library and the staff and primary volunteers as librarians, and let the community use the space so long as they did so without harming it.
An idea for a tier of access that could require volunteer hours might be keyed off-hours access. This is really only sustainable now with the advent of [more] affordable electronic locks - in the past people with keys made copies, kept them essentially forever, and any abuse would require changing the locks. I'd encourage shop budget to be spent on this kind of lock, or even the more expensive mechanical versions, even though it involves significant expense. In retrospect, it was the lack of this investment that prevented us from exploring options such as the one suggested above, and eventually we were making enough money that we could have afforded it. It's so difficult to see every option in every moment when you're busy af with so many things.
~cyclista Nicholas
On 2022-01-11 21:54, Nicole Muratore wrote:
The last iteration of ours required an individual to volunteer 12
hours
of time in exchange for a bike we'd teach them to fix up, a set of
lights,
and a lock. These folks are already facing transportation issues and have difficulty returning to the shop to complete the hours they started.
Separate from earn-a-bike we offer work trade at a rate of $10/hour for shop credit that can be used for stand time or regular-priced parts needed to fix one's bike.
If your shop has an earn-a-bike program or similar, how does it work? And is utilization of the program high? Any input, documentation, etc. is appreciated!
Cheers, *Nicole Muratore, Shop Manager* (she/her) Bike Saviours Bicycle Collective (602) 429-9369 | bikesaviours.org | @bikesaviours
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---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Carlyn Arteaga carlyn.arteaga@bicas.org To: The Think Tank thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 16:49:11 -0700 Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Earn-a-Bike Programs Hi Nicole, Carlyn from BICAS in Tucson, AZ here. Our Earn-a-Bike program is encapsulated into our Work Trade Program -- Folks earn $12/hr to help us out around the shop and they can use that credit towards 1 bike per year, used parts, and Community Tools (stand time) to fix it up. All the bikes in our shop are priced, so folks just calculate how much work they need to do to earn whichever bike they like. It is a very heavily-used program and we get referrals from social services orgs all over the county. We currently have a cap of $200 per person per year, although we are currently evaluating that cap as well as the Work Trade rate. Feel free to reach out if you have any other questions. Sincerely, ~Carlyn
On Tue, Jan 11, 2022 at 3:34 PM Scott Long scott.m.long@gmail.com wrote:
Hi Nicole,
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
On Tue, Jan 11, 2022 at 4:54 PM Nicole Muratore < nicole@bikesaviours.org> wrote:
The last iteration of ours required an individual to volunteer 12 hours of time in exchange for a bike we'd teach them to fix up, a set of lights, and a lock. These folks are already facing transportation issues and have difficulty returning to the shop to complete the hours they started.
Separate from earn-a-bike we offer work trade at a rate of $10/hour for shop credit that can be used for stand time or regular-priced parts needed to fix one's bike.
If your shop has an earn-a-bike program or similar, how does it work? And is utilization of the program high? Any input, documentation, etc. is appreciated!
Cheers, *Nicole Muratore, Shop Manager* (she/her) Bike Saviours Bicycle Collective (602) 429-9369 | bikesaviours.org | @bikesaviours ____________________________________
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--
*Carlyn Arteaga*
*pronouns: they/them/theirs*
Youth Program Coordinator
*BICAS*
2001 N. 7th Ave. | Tucson, AZ 85701 | Shop: 520-628-7950
carlyn.arteaga@bicas.org | www.bicas.org | Facebook http://www.facebook.com/bicascollective/ | Instagram http://www.instagram.com/bicastucson/
*Through advocacy and bicycle salvage, our mission is to participate in affordable bicycle transportation, education, and creative recycling with our greater Tucson community.*
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---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Angel York aniola@gmail.com To: The Think Tank thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 20:03:14 -0800 Subject: [TheThinkTank] Bike!Bike! ¡Dondequiera! / Everywhere! 2021 in review / en revisión
*Español abajo*
Hi everyone,
Thanks for helping make Bike!Bike! Everywhere! 2021 such a hoppin' weekend!
*OVERVIEW*
There were a couple dozen events over 3-4 days (depending on how you count time zones).
About 175 people registered. Or maybe 198! Anyway, lots of people came.
About 1400 US dollars were donated and are being distributed as a stipend to the interpreters (minus fees).
Piles of people volunteered in one way or another.
New connections have formed.
Friends were made.
100% of all germs stayed local.
*ARCHIVED VIDEOS* Workshops are nearly all posted in English and are still going up in Spanish. Here's the link to the *archived videos:* *https://archive.org/details/@bikebikeeverywhere* https://archive.org/details/@bikebikeeverywhere . If you want to help organize the archive data, please send an email to bikebikeeverywhere@gmail.com.
*SURVEY RESULTS* Results from the survey were overwhelmingly positive. Suggestions were mostly things we know we need to work on, and we're working on them. They'll happen faster with more committed volunteers, so come join us! We can find a place for you for a wide range of roles/interests and at every skill level.
*GET INVOLVED WITH BIKE!BIKE! EVERYWHERE!*
*If you've tried to reach out and get involved before* and didn't get to put your awesome skills to their best use, *please try again. We'd love to have you.* We have a better sense of what needs doing. There's more work than volunteers, we're all having a lot of fun, and we'd love your company.
*If there is enough core volunteer availability, there will probably be another B!B!E! in early November 2022. We need you to help make it happen! Here's how:*
Join the new *planning email list* at http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/bikebike-everywhere-bikecollec... and start *attending meetings* ( https://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/Meetings_and_minutes).
Find something to do the *volunteer roles* list at https://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/Bike!Bike!_Everywhere!_Volunteer_Roles and email bikebikeeverywhere@gmail.com.
*BIKE!BIKE! MEXICO CITY 2022* Mujerxs al Pedal (mujerxsalpedal@gmail.com) is hosting an in-person Bike!Bike! in Mexico City (CDMX) June or July 2022. They are planning to do a partial hybrid with online streaming. B!B!E! and B!B!CDMX are in contact and working together to share resources. *Stay tuned at* *bikebike.org*
http://bikebike.org *for B!B!CDMX sign-ups (coming soon).*
Hola a todxs,
Gracias por ayudarnos a que Bike!Bike! En todas partes! 2021 fuera un fin de semana tan animado.
*INFORMACIÓN GENERAL*
Hubo dos docenas de eventos a lo largo de 3 o 4 días (dependiendo de cómo cuentes los husos horarios).
Se registraron alrededor de 175 personas ¡o tal vez 198! Como sea, mucha gente vino.
Fueron donados alrededor de 1400 dólares y están siendo distribuidos (menos algunas cuotas) como remuneración entre lxs intérpretes.
Montones de personas voluntariaron de una manera u otra.
Nuevas conexiones han sido formadas.
Amistades han sido hechas.
100% de los gérmenes se quedaron en su lugar.
*VIDEOS ARCHIVADOS*
Casi todos los talleres fueron subidos en inglés y están siendo subidos en español. Aquí hay un link a los *videos archivados:* *https://archive.org/details/@bikebikeeverywhere* https://archive.org/details/@bikebikeeverywhere. Si te interesa ayudar a organizar la información del archivo, por favor manda un correo a bikebikeeverywhere@gmail.com.
*RESULTADOS DE LA ENCUESTA* Los resultados de la encuesta fueron abrumadoramente positivos. Las sugerencias fueron mayormente cosas que sabemos que tenemos que trabajar, y estamos trabajando en ellas. Se lograrán más rápidamente con más voluntarixs dedicadxs, ¡así que únete a nosotrxs! Podemos encontrar un lugar para ti dentro de un amplio rango de roles/intereses y en cualquier nivel.
*INVOLÚCRATE CON BIKE!BIKE! EN TODAS PARTES!*
*Si trataste de acercarte e involucrarte antes* y no pudiste aprovechar tus geniales habilidades, *por favor inténtalo de nuevo. Nos encantaría tenerte.* Ya tenemos una mejor idea de lo que necesita hacerse. Hay más trabajo que voluntarixs, todxs nos estamos divirtiendo mucho y nos encantaría contar con tu compañía.
*Si hay suficiente disponibilidad de voluntarixs, probablemente habrá otro B!B!E! a principios de noviembre de 2022. Necesitamos de tu ayuda para hacer que eso suceda! Aquí está cómo apoyar:*
Únete a la nueva *lista de correo de planeación* en http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/bikebike-everywhere-bikecollec... y empieza a *asistir a las reuniones* ( https://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/Meetings_and_minutes).
Encuentra algo que hacer en la *lista de roles para voluntarixs,* en https://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/Bike!Bike!_Everywhere!_Volunteer_Roles/... y manda un correo a bikebikeeverywhere@gmail.com.
*BIKE!BIKE! CIUDAD DE MÉXICO 2022*
Mujerxs al Pedal (mujerxsalpedal@gmail.com) serán anfirionxs de un Bike!Bike! en persona en la Ciudad de México (CDMX) en junio o julio de 2011. Están planeando hacer un evento parcialmente híbrido con transmisiones en línea. B!B!E! y B!B!CDMX están en contacto y trabajando juntxs para compartir recursos. *Mantente al pendiente de* *bikebike.org* http://bikebike.org/ *para los registros para B!B!CDMX (próximamente).*
This was issue #5 of Bike!Bike! Everywhere!. You can subscribe https://buttondown.email/bikebikeeverywhere or view this email online https://buttondown.email/bikebikeeverywhere/subscribers/3651fb41-ae2f-4dbc-ab0a-dba56dbe9880/archive/bikebike-everywhere-2021-in-review . http:///api/emails/canary/3651fb41-ae2f-4dbc-ab0a-dba56dbe9880/553bdfb9-9f60-450b-8783-3d9869d48d98/ _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org
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I can vouch with complete sincerity that while some participants were clearly incredulous, no one was made (at least visibly) uncomfortable by our pay-what-you-want-donation policy. They might have been uncomfortable if we had stood there with our hand held out, or expectantly at a cash register, but neither were the case.
We had a donation box that was physically attached to the fron desk, and pointing it out and how to use it was part of introduction/orientation. Participants were made aware that was where donations for parts went, or for bikes when they were completed and before they left the building. We did not monitor people as they deposited money in the box; most of the time we were not even in the room. One time someone stole all the money in the box ($400!! a group had just paid for their bike rentals) when we accidentally left it unlocked, but that was the only problem we had with the system.
We also had a great many participants who were in extreme poverty. $50 would have been way too much for many of them for a bike.
Sliding scales for that kind of use case also are problematic. They remind people of their poverty and make them feel ashamed when they have to attest to it in an interaction that more or less constitutes asking for a favor.
~cyclista Nicholas
On 2022-01-13 15:58, Angel York wrote:
When I was at the Davis Bike Collective, we basically did "we're not naming a price, you just pay something." and mostly it just made people uncomfortable.
They have since switched to the following much simpler system, boldly labeled on a sandwich board:
*Build-a-Bike (frame, + used parts for 1 year) – $50*
*Parts (used) – Fair Value As Labeled*
*Shop Use during Open Shop for 1 year – $50*
*Shop Use for 1 day – $5*
On Wed, Jan 12, 2022 at 1:50 PM Nicole Muratore nicole@bikesaviours.org wrote:
Wow! Very insightful replies so far and cause for me to pause and think about how our "everyone that puts something into the collective, gets something out of it" vibe is preventing us from helping people.
Scott, you're absolutely right. Third party vetting certainly takes a lot of skilled work off our shoulders. A hybrid of volunteering, third-party vetting, and even accepting community work done elsewhere will likely be where we land.Nicholas, I'm curious about the pay-what-you-want model and wonder how it would go over in our shop. We're a bike flipper's mecca and these items are often used as currency among our unhoused patrons - especially right now with COVID and folks being unhoused as a result of some major rent hikes. Is it abused much that you know? Are there limits to the level of componentry? Is it this way for bikes, too? Thanks again for the thorough and thoughtful response.
Carlyn, do you usually have enough work trade for someone to earn a bike in a reasonable amount of time? Do folks come back and complete their hours most of the time? I love that your program has high utilization! I hope ours will, too.
Nicole
On Wed, Jan 12, 2022 at 2:03 PM < thethinktank-request@lists.bikecollectives.org> wrote:
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When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Thethinktank digest..." Today's Topics:
- Earn-a-Bike Programs (Nicole Muratore)
- Re: Earn-a-Bike Programs (Scott Long)
- Re: Earn-a-Bike Programs (cyclista@inventati.org)
- Re: Earn-a-Bike Programs (Carlyn Arteaga)
- Bike!Bike! ?Dondequiera! / Everywhere! 2021 in review / en revisi?n (Angel York)
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Nicole Muratore nicole@bikesaviours.org To: thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 14:54:39 -0700 Subject: [TheThinkTank] Earn-a-Bike Programs The last iteration of ours required an individual to volunteer 12 hours of time in exchange for a bike we'd teach them to fix up, a set of lights, and a lock. These folks are already facing transportation issues and have difficulty returning to the shop to complete the hours they started.
Separate from earn-a-bike we offer work trade at a rate of $10/hour for shop credit that can be used for stand time or regular-priced parts needed to fix one's bike.
If your shop has an earn-a-bike program or similar, how does it work? And is utilization of the program high? Any input, documentation, etc. is appreciated!
Cheers, *Nicole Muratore, Shop Manager* (she/her) Bike Saviours Bicycle Collective (602) 429-9369 | bikesaviours.org | @bikesaviours
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Scott Long scott.m.long@gmail.com To: The Think Tank thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 17:34:33 -0500 Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Earn-a-Bike Programs Hi Nicole,
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
On Tue, Jan 11, 2022 at 4:54 PM Nicole Muratore nicole@bikesaviours.org wrote:
The last iteration of ours required an individual to volunteer 12 hours of time in exchange for a bike we'd teach them to fix up, a set of lights, and a lock. These folks are already facing transportation issues and have difficulty returning to the shop to complete the hours they started.
Separate from earn-a-bike we offer work trade at a rate of $10/hour for shop credit that can be used for stand time or regular-priced parts needed to fix one's bike.
If your shop has an earn-a-bike program or similar, how does it work? And is utilization of the program high? Any input, documentation, etc. is appreciated!
Cheers, *Nicole Muratore, Shop Manager* (she/her) Bike Saviours Bicycle Collective (602) 429-9369 | bikesaviours.org | @bikesaviours ____________________________________
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---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: cyclista@inventati.org To: thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 23:22:48 +0000 Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Earn-a-Bike Programs Hi Nicole,
At RIBs, for many years, we had similar requirements to those you describe for your shop. At one point we also had a different, simpler system, wherein the applicant was required to fix up one bike for someone else in order to be allowed to fix up one bike for themselves.
What we found was exactly what you have found, which was that the highest need groups found both of these bars too high to reach. In many cases, the policy was also seen as unfriendly: some people needing the resource were in an especially high state of life stress, as well as being subject to social ostracism generally, and being told they must not only navigate this difficult learning curve, but do work that didn't further their own immediate (read: urgent) needs was, frankly, inconsiderate. Even though we at the shop were good people only trying to help, we just didn't understand.
So the lesson was that higher order concepts like community development and mutual aid aren't really great to evangelize to people undergoing crisis. In kind, that we in the shop had bad calibration wrt what represented crisis. We might have thought of it as extreme things such as "are you being evicted" or "have you lost housing because your partner threatened your life and your only other housing options are with substance abusing people you had been trying to separate yourself from because you are trying to stay clean to regain legal custody of your children", but in reality significant states of crisis can be much more insidious and mundane. Someone can be in a state of significant, ongoing crisis simply because they are disrespected at their job and their childcare involves significant emotional burden, and they feel unloved in their partner relationship. Crisis can be difficult to recognize for someone not familiar with it, especially where it stems from conditions such as generational poverty and trauma. And crisis isn't necessarily a transitory state. It can last for most or all of a person's life, especiallly where generational effects are involved.
So what we did was entirely remove our requirements for volunteering in return for use of the space, and replaced them with only a pay-what-you-want requirement for parts and a polite reminder that we accept donations.
What we saw was a dramatic reduction in ghosting. Nearly all participants of every demographic returned to complete their projects. A rough guess would be that around 2% abandoned projects they started, most of those being students with busy academic/social schedules or hobbyists who lost interest in a frivolous idea. Over the four years we had these relaxed policies, nearly all in-need participants completed their bikes (or repairs) and left with safe and satisfying wheels under them.
This higher rate of effectiveness did come at a cost, however. When we had volunteer requirements, it did force a lot more people to stay and be part of the environment for longer periods of time, contributing to shop culture and character. Requirements also forced kids to learn: most of the street-level kids in our community don't stay and learn unless they are made to. In these cases the reward-incentive-for-work concept seems to be something that must be imposed, rather than guided or facilitated, in order to take root. So though we retained significant child attendance in the case of those visiting with various guardians, we also lost a lot (actually most) of our solo child participation by removing requirements.
In general, I'd say our volunteer community was reduced by about half by these measures, with only people who volunteered out of passion and joy remaining. Our shop was small and had never really run on exclusively volunteer labor except at the beginning (thirty years ago) when it was even smaller and being run out of random garages, so this wasn't a lethal change for us. It did create much greater demands/stress on paid staff and primary volunteers.
I think it's possible to not go entirely one way or another, for instance to have volunteer requirements for children but not adults (though it might be painful to justify to kids who noticed the disparity), or create tiers of service/use some of which would required volunteering. We just basically treated the shop as a library and the staff and primary volunteers as librarians, and let the community use the space so long as they did so without harming it.
An idea for a tier of access that could require volunteer hours might be keyed off-hours access. This is really only sustainable now with the advent of [more] affordable electronic locks - in the past people with keys made copies, kept them essentially forever, and any abuse would require changing the locks. I'd encourage shop budget to be spent on this kind of lock, or even the more expensive mechanical versions, even though it involves significant expense. In retrospect, it was the lack of this investment that prevented us from exploring options such as the one suggested above, and eventually we were making enough money that we could have afforded it. It's so difficult to see every option in every moment when you're busy af with so many things.
~cyclista Nicholas
On 2022-01-11 21:54, Nicole Muratore wrote:
The last iteration of ours required an individual to volunteer 12 hours of time in exchange for a bike we'd teach them to fix up, a set of lights, and a lock. These folks are already facing transportation issues and have difficulty returning to the shop to complete the hours they started.
Separate from earn-a-bike we offer work trade at a rate of $10/hour for shop credit that can be used for stand time or regular-priced parts needed to fix one's bike.
If your shop has an earn-a-bike program or similar, how does it work? And is utilization of the program high? Any input, documentation, etc. is appreciated!
Cheers, *Nicole Muratore, Shop Manager* (she/her) Bike Saviours Bicycle Collective (602) 429-9369 | bikesaviours.org | @bikesaviours
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---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Carlyn Arteaga carlyn.arteaga@bicas.org To: The Think Tank thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 16:49:11 -0700 Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Earn-a-Bike Programs Hi Nicole, Carlyn from BICAS in Tucson, AZ here. Our Earn-a-Bike program is encapsulated into our Work Trade Program -- Folks earn $12/hr to help us out around the shop and they can use that credit towards 1 bike per year, used parts, and Community Tools (stand time) to fix it up. All the bikes in our shop are priced, so folks just calculate how much work they need to do to earn whichever bike they like. It is a very heavily-used program and we get referrals from social services orgs all over the county. We currently have a cap of $200 per person per year, although we are currently evaluating that cap as well as the Work Trade rate. Feel free to reach out if you have any other questions. Sincerely, ~Carlyn
On Tue, Jan 11, 2022 at 3:34 PM Scott Long scott.m.long@gmail.com wrote:
Hi Nicole,
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
On Tue, Jan 11, 2022 at 4:54 PM Nicole Muratore nicole@bikesaviours.org wrote:
The last iteration of ours required an individual to volunteer 12 hours of time in exchange for a bike we'd teach them to fix up, a set of lights, and a lock. These folks are already facing transportation issues and have difficulty returning to the shop to complete the hours they started.
Separate from earn-a-bike we offer work trade at a rate of $10/hour for shop credit that can be used for stand time or regular-priced parts needed to fix one's bike.
If your shop has an earn-a-bike program or similar, how does it work? And is utilization of the program high? Any input, documentation, etc. is appreciated!
Cheers, *Nicole Muratore, Shop Manager* (she/her) Bike Saviours Bicycle Collective (602) 429-9369 | bikesaviours.org | @bikesaviours ____________________________________
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--
*Carlyn Arteaga*
*pronouns: they/them/theirs*
Youth Program Coordinator
*BICAS*
2001 N. 7th Ave. | Tucson, AZ 85701 | Shop: 520-628-7950
carlyn.arteaga@bicas.org | www.bicas.org | Facebook http://www.facebook.com/bicascollective/ | Instagram http://www.instagram.com/bicastucson/
*Through advocacy and bicycle salvage, our mission is to participate in affordable bicycle transportation, education, and creative recycling with our greater Tucson community.*
https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail&utm_term=icon Virus-free. www.avast.com https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail&utm_term=link <#m_5921636142658950865_m_-4768909345775083750_m_866031958163314982_DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Angel York aniola@gmail.com To: The Think Tank thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2022 20:03:14 -0800 Subject: [TheThinkTank] Bike!Bike! ¡Dondequiera! / Everywhere! 2021 in review / en revisión
*Español abajo*
Hi everyone,
Thanks for helping make Bike!Bike! Everywhere! 2021 such a hoppin' weekend!
*OVERVIEW*
There were a couple dozen events over 3-4 days (depending on how you count time zones).
About 175 people registered. Or maybe 198! Anyway, lots of people came.
About 1400 US dollars were donated and are being distributed as a stipend to the interpreters (minus fees).
Piles of people volunteered in one way or another.
New connections have formed.
Friends were made.
100% of all germs stayed local.
*ARCHIVED VIDEOS* Workshops are nearly all posted in English and are still going up in Spanish. Here's the link to the *archived videos:* *https://archive.org/details/@bikebikeeverywhere* https://archive.org/details/@bikebikeeverywhere . If you want to help organize the archive data, please send an email to bikebikeeverywhere@gmail.com.
*SURVEY RESULTS* Results from the survey were overwhelmingly positive. Suggestions were mostly things we know we need to work on, and we're working on them. They'll happen faster with more committed volunteers, so come join us! We can find a place for you for a wide range of roles/interests and at every skill level.
*GET INVOLVED WITH BIKE!BIKE! EVERYWHERE!*
*If you've tried to reach out and get involved before* and didn't get to put your awesome skills to their best use, *please try again. We'd love to have you.* We have a better sense of what needs doing. There's more work than volunteers, we're all having a lot of fun, and we'd love your company.
*If there is enough core volunteer availability, there will probably be another B!B!E! in early November 2022. We need you to help make it happen! Here's how:*
Join the new *planning email list* at
http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/bikebike-everywhere-bikecollec... and start *attending meetings* ( https://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/Meetings_and_minutes).
Find something to do the *volunteer roles* list at
https://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/Bike!Bike!_Everywhere!_Volunteer_Roles and email bikebikeeverywhere@gmail.com.
*BIKE!BIKE! MEXICO CITY 2022* Mujerxs al Pedal (mujerxsalpedal@gmail.com) is hosting an in-person Bike!Bike! in Mexico City (CDMX) June or July 2022. They are planning to do a partial hybrid with online streaming. B!B!E! and B!B!CDMX are in contact and working together to share resources. *Stay tuned at* *bikebike.org*
http://bikebike.org *for B!B!CDMX sign-ups (coming soon).*
Hola a todxs,
Gracias por ayudarnos a que Bike!Bike! En todas partes! 2021 fuera un fin de semana tan animado.
*INFORMACIÓN GENERAL*
Hubo dos docenas de eventos a lo largo de 3 o 4 días (dependiendo de cómo cuentes los husos horarios).
Se registraron alrededor de 175 personas ¡o tal vez 198! Como sea, mucha gente vino.
Fueron donados alrededor de 1400 dólares y están siendo distribuidos (menos algunas cuotas) como remuneración entre lxs intérpretes.
Montones de personas voluntariaron de una manera u otra.
Nuevas conexiones han sido formadas.
Amistades han sido hechas.
100% de los gérmenes se quedaron en su lugar.
*VIDEOS ARCHIVADOS*
Casi todos los talleres fueron subidos en inglés y están siendo subidos en español. Aquí hay un link a los *videos archivados:* *https://archive.org/details/@bikebikeeverywhere* https://archive.org/details/@bikebikeeverywhere. Si te interesa ayudar a organizar la información del archivo, por favor manda un correo a bikebikeeverywhere@gmail.com.
*RESULTADOS DE LA ENCUESTA* Los resultados de la encuesta fueron abrumadoramente positivos. Las sugerencias fueron mayormente cosas que sabemos que tenemos que trabajar, y estamos trabajando en ellas. Se lograrán más rápidamente con más voluntarixs dedicadxs, ¡así que únete a nosotrxs! Podemos encontrar un lugar para ti dentro de un amplio rango de roles/intereses y en cualquier nivel.
*INVOLÚCRATE CON BIKE!BIKE! EN TODAS PARTES!*
*Si trataste de acercarte e involucrarte antes* y no pudiste aprovechar tus geniales habilidades, *por favor inténtalo de nuevo. Nos encantaría tenerte.* Ya tenemos una mejor idea de lo que necesita hacerse. Hay más trabajo que voluntarixs, todxs nos estamos divirtiendo mucho y nos encantaría contar con tu compañía.
*Si hay suficiente disponibilidad de voluntarixs, probablemente habrá otro B!B!E! a principios de noviembre de 2022. Necesitamos de tu ayuda para hacer que eso suceda! Aquí está cómo apoyar:*
Únete a la nueva *lista de correo de planeación* en
http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/bikebike-everywhere-bikecollec... y empieza a *asistir a las reuniones* ( https://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/Meetings_and_minutes).
Encuentra algo que hacer en la *lista de roles para voluntarixs,* en
https://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/Bike!Bike!_Everywhere!_Volunteer_Roles/... y manda un correo a bikebikeeverywhere@gmail.com.
*BIKE!BIKE! CIUDAD DE MÉXICO 2022*
Mujerxs al Pedal (mujerxsalpedal@gmail.com) serán anfirionxs de un Bike!Bike! en persona en la Ciudad de México (CDMX) en junio o julio de 2011. Están planeando hacer un evento parcialmente híbrido con transmisiones en línea. B!B!E! y B!B!CDMX están en contacto y trabajando juntxs para compartir recursos. *Mantente al pendiente de* *bikebike.org* http://bikebike.org/ *para los registros para B!B!CDMX (próximamente).*
This was issue #5 of Bike!Bike! Everywhere!. You can subscribe https://buttondown.email/bikebikeeverywhere or view this email online https://buttondown.email/bikebikeeverywhere/subscribers/3651fb41-ae2f-4dbc-ab0a-dba56dbe9880/archive/bikebike-everywhere-2021-in-review . http:///api/emails/canary/3651fb41-ae2f-4dbc-ab0a-dba56dbe9880/553bdfb9-9f60-450b-8783-3d9869d48d98/ _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org
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participants (5)
-
Alejandro Manga Tinoco -
Angel York -
cyclista＠inventati.org -
Jack Murphy -
Nicole Muratore