Hey everyone,
Back Alley Bikes is super excited to announce a brand new program. We are able to start this new effort by scaling back one of our existing programs. I know, scaling back on something never sounds good, so let me explain…
Right in our mission we put youth development. We are really into that concept here with a vast majority of our programs being geared toward youth. Our youth earn-a-bike program educates youth on bicycle mechanics and empowers them to build their own bicycle. The youth ride club demonstrates that bicycles can be for transportation as well as play and empowers youth to take their rightful place in the road. Our mechanic-in-training program empowers youth to teach other youth the skills they have learned here while getting experience in our retail shop, The Hub of Detroit.
Sounds pretty good doesn’t it? We think so too, but we’ve noticed something missing.
The ride club and mechanic-in-training goes all summer long and then stops. Youth earn-a-bike ends when you earn that bicycle. So how can youth that want to stay involved here stick around?
Until now, we didn’t have this space for our youth and development takes time. So if we are going to truly develop the youth that come to our shop we need to build longer relationships that give more opportunity for learning and growth. So may I present to you – YOUTH VOLUNTEER TIME.
I know super exciting right? Starting Thursday, October 3rd we are going to have youth aged 12-18 come by the shop to learn more about mechanics and give back a little bit.
So Thursday night adult volunteer time has been scaled back to give our youth some time to be at the shop. The youth coming by will be doing many things our adult volunteers do such as sorting parts, building bikes for our give-a-way program, stripping damaged bikes and other tasks.
Not only will this time allow youth to learn more skills and just hang out with each other at Back Alley Bikes, but for the youth that want to rise into leadership positions, they now have a venue for that. Think of it as a step towards the Mechanic-in-Training program.
Also, this will be a year round program allowing youth to have more options for being at Back Alley Bikes every month of the year.
Read more about the program here. And of course contact us with any questions or if you have someone 12-18 years of age that wants to get involved!