Re: Starting a Youth Bike Program

I wrote this a while back, thought I should put it here, instead of tossing it... =================================== R. I. P. Chain Reaction Chain Reaction, a Washington, DC, community bike and youth program, shut down in 2006. It had been around for 10 years, give or take, and had become a genuine community resource. I have lots of strong feelings about this, likely because I spent a few years working with the kids there, a while back. If you're thinking about Bike/Youth programs, and you're starting with THE KIDS, then you're right on target. Recycle-A-Bicycle is a good resource. Karen Overton, their ED, has written two books on starting neighborhood bike projects. One is the mechanical side--teaching kids how to fix'em up. The other is about ride clubs--how to help them develop safe habits. She is a terrific person, and was happy to sit down with me and talk turkey, but I would start with her book One Revolution at a Time. There are lots of bike programs out there. I think someone started keeping a comprehensive list, but its tough, since they are usually very close to the ground (that is, grassroots). Some of my favorites are The Community Cycling Center in PDX and Bike Works in Seattle, there's a short list I've collected on The Practical Cyclist. I'm sure there is one nearer to you, though. If you can, visit a few of these places, or look at their websites. They're all unique, and it helps to see the different ways that folks have dealt with the various universal issues--some work in school systems, some stay independent, some have retail ops, some don't, etc. I strongly recommend that you should not start with the mechanical side of things. Chain Reaction was a "Youth Bike Shop," and while folks love the idea, and people would be banging down the doors to get us to fix their bikes, we ended up with a bifurcated program: one side for retail, on side for education. Retail, especially bike retail, is hard enough without having to teach as well. I've talked with Karen (from Recycle-a-...) a bit, and I think that she came around to the same conclusion, which is why she came out with the second book, One Revolution At A Time. The Ride Club is the ticket for maximum community involvement, and to maximize the "benefits of cycling" educational lessons, not to mention the love of bicycling. Now that said, be prepared to fix a lot of cheap, mistreated bikes. It's my opinion, however, that retail and education have fundamentally opposed goals (which are: do it right, do it quick v. make mistakes and learn from them). Bicycles, it turns out, are terrible vehicles [ha] for vocational training. It's one thing to teach a kid how to build a Hardrock from a box, and then have 'em repeat the process until they've got it down. It's somewhat different to give a kid a bunch of old bikes and help 'em work out the compatibility issues. Old bikes are a lesson in diversity, which is a good reason to love them, but makes them a difficult teaching tool. I mean really, do you want to give a bunch of disadvantaged kids a wacko bike obsession, or get them into a business (bicycle retail) that suffers from chronic unprofessionalism? (Not all, but certainly some. You know who I'm talking about.) Underserved communities, and especially poor kids, need to experience the joys of riding, rather than trauma of bicycle retail/repair. Bicycles are a fringe subculture in America. Poor kids don't need a subculture, they need access to mainstream culture. I know, mainstream culture means suburbs and SUVs and materialism and obesity. But it also means reasonable housing, nutrition, education, health, self-image... Safe Routes To School may be the only good thing in the Federal Budget. It is a program leveraging FHA funds for pedestrian and bicycle advocacy specifically focused on encouraging kids to walk and bike safely to and from school. Every state in the US has money designated for Safe Routes To School, and should have a Safe Routes To School Coordinator. Find them--efforts are multiplied when coordinated. There are several useful links at The Practical Cyclist. If there's an local bicycle advocacy group active in your area, they may have some ideas and resources, or a project up and running already. At the very least, they should be able to get you a couple dozen free helmets, which is a good place to start. The League of American Bicyclists is also a good resource, and as a member organization you can get some basic insurance coverage, which is not fun to think about, but even less fun to do without. I guess I'd been saving up for a good rant/rave.--d

Community Bike Programs

Hooray for a new bike project. Funny about the leadership vacuum, you get sucked right into the center, not that you shouldn't be there. That's terrific. I'll be happy to help in whatever way I can. I'm going to CC David Wilcox on this e-mail, because he is (a) a generally good person, one of the best I know, and (b) more experienced than I in the bike program universe.

(For David W: Hi there. I thought you might be interested, or have thoughts about this. I can't remember to what degree you and Kevin knew each other. Kevin was SEV/CR's spiritually serene IT and More volunteer. He lives in Indianapolis now.)

Lets start with the great bifurcation, and work toward re-unification: Bike Programs, more or less, come in two varieties: (a) those with a mission to work primarily with kids under the age of XX (13?), and (b) those started by activist youth, aged 15 to 30. Both are good.

In general, type (a) focuses on a particular underprivileged neighborhood and has goals more beyond the bike, providing a constructive activity for kids, safety education, social-skills/values/character building ("leadership"), exploration and exposure to diversity (for underprivileged kids, this means visiting "places of abundance"), mechanical skills building, and empowerment. Damn!

Type (b) is primarily interested in providing a resource for an established bicycling community, and maybe growing that community, and maybe recycling. This is often combined with other community projects, such as visual arts or music. The "Bicycle Punk" and "Bicycle Lifestyle" movements, if I can call them that, are examples of Type (b) at work. If they are programed at all, the programs grow organically, and have a collective governance model (something that doesn't work so well with a group of ten-year-olds; think Lord of the Flies).

I wrote the p-graphs below assuming your program is Type (a), then I went back and wrote the above bits. If your program is Type (b), I got nuthin, but I can refer you to some folks. IBF has links to lots of bike programs, Bicas in Tucson looks like a Type (b) program, as does North Portland Bicycle Works. Those are just ones I know about. I'm sure there are tons more. Are some programs both Types (a) and (b)? Certainly. Do (a) and (b) need different things? I think they do. Dave (W)?

Back to Type (a): Do you know about Recycle-A-Bicycle in NYC? Karen Overton was the director for a long time, and has written a couple of book on bike programs, very practical guides, both free, I think:

http://www.recycleabicycle.org/taxonomy/term/26

_Tools For Life_ is a bit dated, but is a guide to starting a program in the model of Recycle-A-Bicycle. Chain Reaction was started by a group of students using this as a manual.

_One Revolution At A Time_ is the more recent publication. It benefited from a lot of practical experience, and I think addresses some of the key problems with the first round of bicycle programs. This book recommends the "Ride Club" as the fundamental basis of a bike program, and is a guide to getting one going, and keeping it going.

The donation/repair/earn-a-bike stuff really ought to follow from bicycle use. Riding bikes, after all, is the point--it's fun, practical, and accessible to young kids. Also, you have to start with the safety and riding skills thing, otherwise you'll never catch up (you're left hold a helmet and they're two blocks away, riding against traffic...). When you have kids interested in the club who don't have bikes, then the repair part grows naturally.One recommendation that came from more than one program-director is to "programatize" tightly. That is, make sure the activities are well defined and structured. You can probably imagine the kind of stuff that is important here--having a beginning, middle, and end; specific goals for participants, and reflection on the experience; a sense of order, camaraderie, and belonging; blah blah blah. Beyond that, it really depends on the particulars of the programs you create.

Definitely find local resources: advocacy groups, neighborhood associations, city programs, local gov. folks (DOT), Safekids groups, local bike industry folks (nearby distributors, manufacturers, retailers), etc. The League of American Bicyclist has links to local and national organizations, and the Thunderhead Alliance is a hub for advocacy folks. Trips for Kids is a national organization with local chapters all over the country. They can help you get things rolling very quickly.

Like I said before, some of these links are on my goofy blog, thepracticalcyclist.blogspot.com.

In fact, I may put this whole message on my goofy blog. Maybe I should remane it "mygoofyblog."

--d

Postscript: I never got around to reunification. Next time perhaps. Also, the photo is shamelessly borrowed from the website of the Community Cycling Center, in Portland, OR.