Volunteer Pathways Class Series
The Volunteer Pathways program was created by volunteers for volunteers. This series focuses on building a mechanical skill set, teaching abilities, leadership abilities, and overall knowledge of BBP. Together, we’ll also be building ambassadors of our mission who can share the BBP experience with others.
The best learning opportunities happen when you have a tool in your hand and an educated person by your side to guide you through that process. Part of BBP’s Mission is to provide an educational workspace in a diverse and non-threatening environment. Insert Volunteer Pathways. Bike shops can be intimidating — lots of weird tools and parts; and at first glance, it appears everyone else knows more than you do (they don’t).
These classes focus on a hands-on experience with educational components centered on the following: correct tool usage, processes, and an introduction to the BBP Experience. We want to provide insight on what we do here and why. We want to build educated volunteers who feel good about the service they provide and feel as though they’ve learned a thing or two! The more knowledgeable people we have, the more teachers we have, and the better experience we have for all of our volunteers as a whole.
It is our goal to create a fun, interactive, and informative class based around four separate certifications: Take-a-part, Wheels, Kids Bikes, and later, Adult Bikes.
Please note that if you sign up for one of that Pathways classes, there are certain required commitments. Although we would love to offer this type of educational opportunity to each person every single volunteer night, with the nature of Volunteer Nights and the high number of people attending, we just aren’t able to do that. By setting aside Tuesdays to invest into you, we ask for a commitment to BBP in the form of sharing the newly acquired knowledge on Thursday Volunteer Nights. Please see below for guidelines.
Volunteer Pathway Guidelines and Requirements:
FULL Class-series attendance: the SAME group of participants for the entire series; each class builds off of skills learned the previous class
Commit to attend (at minimum) 12 hours of Thursday Volunteer Nights/Open Hour Volunteer/Youth Program shifts in a 3-month span after completion
Complete all certification requirements (i.e. complete a designated number of bikes/wheels/etc.)
Have fun! All we ask for is for you to share your freshly gained knowledge with us at the shop!
Take-a-part certification
Ever wonder what happens to a bicycle when it is donated to BBP? Insert our take-a-part certification. When bikes come in that are a little worse for wear and require a little too much for our mechanics to build back up, we pull all usable parts and recycle the rest. Those reusable parts then go onto other bikes we build and resell OR go to our parts room to be resold. All of which helps us continue to fund our programs and services to the community.
This 4-class series will go over in detail what we save, why we save it, and how to pull it off of the bike. We will cover tools and techniques to use, shop layout, and other processes that help keep things running smoothly.
First class will run 4 consecutive Tuesdays:
Coming Soon
Please visit our “Upcoming Volunteer Opportunities” link on the volunteer page to sign-up
Wheels and Hubs
Wheels make the shop go round.. and your bike. Sign-up for our second certification class — Wheels and Hubs. We will learn how to assess, open, and service hubs. Spokes loosen over time, so it is important to know how to adjust accordingly. We will learn how to true our wheels both laterally (side-to-side) and radially (up and down). Last but not least, we will ensure our rim is centered over our hub. Considering (most) bikes have two wheels, we see a huge buildup in the shop for donations. This certification will help us get more high quality wheels rolling out the door and onto a better life.
Class Schedule: February 4th, February 11th, February 18th, and February 25th
Please visit our “Upcoming Volunteer Opportunities” link on the volunteer page to sign-up
*Note* Please ensure you can attend full class series and meet commitment requirements.
Kids Bicycles
Fixing a kid’s bike is the easiest way to turn their frown upside down! Join us to learn the ins-and-outs of kids’ bikes over three class sessions (with a fourth session as optional practice time). We’ll start with the bike basics, so there’s no need to have any mechanic experience before taking this Pathways series!
The curriculum will have three focal points over the three weeks: Wheels/Tubes/Tires, Bearing Systems, and Brake Systems. Learn how to take apart, service, and build back kids’ bikes from start to finish. Gain the skills and feel empowered to work on kids’ bikes independently during open shop hours and in preparation for our Holiday Kids Bike Giveaway! Become beloved by the masses of kids that need working bikes!
Class Schedule:
Coming Soon