Community Bike Works teaches life lessons through bicycles and books. In our flagship Earn a Bike program, students team up with adult mentors for a 12-week course in bike mechanics and safety. Class topics include tires & tubes, hubs, brakes, headsets & more. Students learn additional skills including communication, teamwork, and perseverance as they see the satisfaction of turning a broken bike into a functional one. Once students complete their classes, they earn their refurbished bike and new helmet! Junior Earn a Bike teaches similar lessons with a social-emotional learning foundation, for students in second and third grades. In a typical year, more than 500 young people participate in Earn a Bike and Junior Earn a Bike, and 30% of those students engage with us in other programs. Earn a Bike and Junior Earn a Bike are held onsite at our two Allentown locations, downtown Allentown & East Allentown, and in community schools in Allentown and Bethlehem. We plan to open an Easton bike shop in the summer of 2021! During the public health crisis, we are offering both modified (smaller, outdoor) in-person classes, and new online versions of both Earn a Bike and Junior Earn a Bike. Once students are engaged, they are encouraged to participate in our full range of programs, including Earn a Book (reading and homework tutoring) and Afternoon Drop-in (less structured time to work on bikes or participate in other enrichment opportunities). Our cycling programs are also very popular. All students are encourage to participate in our recreational rides, held afternoons and on weekends, on local trails. Teens have the opportunity to participate in road, track, and mountain biking programs. Teens are also invited to participate in our year-round Youth Leadership program. A fall seminar focuses on college and careers, a spring program allows students to participate in a hands-on civic engagement project, and the summer is a book club or other arts experience. In recent semesters, teens have participated in Allentown's Vision2030 planning, and created their own documentary videos, and explored the school-to-prison pipeline. Youth Leaders also have the opportunity to sign on as youth volunteers, spending additional time with mentors and assisting other students. Community Bike Works' capstone experience is the Youth Apprentice program, in which students can earn their first paycheck as Earn a Bike instructors. Bike mentoring matters. In addition to reaping the tangible benefits of time spent fixing and riding bikes, students who participate in our programs may feel more engaged in their school, which can have an impact on long-term academic success. Of students at a United Way community school who completed Earn a Bike 2018-19, 72% improved or maintained their school attendance during the year they were in our program! Ninety-seven percent of students said that Earn a Bike helped them to “learn they can do things they didn’t think they could do before.” Ninety-six percent reported that their listening skills have improved because of Earn a Bike, and 92% shared that they work better as members of a team. Eighty-five percent of students said that they are more active since joining Earn a Bike. In Junior Earn a Bike, 100% of students improved their social-emotional skills, including hyperactivity, during the program. Our best measure of success is the personal feedback we receive. Xavier, 13, first came to Junior Earn a Bike at our Madison Street bike shop. His family then moved to East Allentown, and he spent nearly every day this summer participating in Earn a Bike and Drop-in at our East Allentown bike shop. As Xavier told us: “I knew how to fix bikes, but I didn’t know the little things. Now that I’ve done Earn a Bike, I know the bottom bracket, I know what’s in the headsets, and in the hubs. I also learned that when you find an interest you like, it helps with everything else in your life. When I am mad at my brother, working on and riding my bike helps me calm down.”
