Bikeworks -Neighborhood children learn about bikes and life. Photo by Nate Clark

Children Learn More Than Riding At Neighborhood Bike Works

There are a lot of agencies that deal with getting children off of the street, but none is more effective and creative than the Neighborhood Bike Works program (NBW) located at 3916 Locust Walk. The program promotes youth development by offering educational, recreational and career building opportunities through repairing, maintaining bicycles and learning about safety issues. NBW helps to create opportunities that lead to career options, fitness, positive life skills and personal development while promoting a clean environment through the use of bicycles as a means of transportation and fun. Bikes and parts are donated by the community.

NBW also provides out-of-school opportunities and helps children through the ages of 8 to 17, primarily from low-income neighborhoods in West Philadelphia, to become responsible, productive adults. Most of the children in the program are African Americans from the Haddington area. Some come to the program via their participation in the William Penn Foundation's Youth Opportunities Initiative. Others come through various schools, community organizations and by word of mouth. The program is very successful.

In the two years of their existence 168 children have finished the program. Four hundred bicycles have been donated, 298 of them renovated and earned by the chil-dren in the program or sold in the community. The youth staff at the facility has repaired hundreds of bikes and conducted 22 bike safety checks at community events throughout the city. Two of the young people in the program have moved on to become part-time employees with the organization as instructors. The agency participated in the ESPN X-games by providing bike parking. They also gave technical support to REI for the Bicycle Coalition's Freedom Valley Bike Ride. Gwen Foster, the city's Fitness Czar, received a bike from NBW that the students assembled. There are over 50 volunteers involved with the program who have contributed in excess of 1,500 hours. The program has been essential in helping children to stay on the right path.

Peggy O'Donald has been a mentor for Omar Barnes, one of the youngsters in the program for a year. O'Donald came in contact with Omar via a mentoring program at the Stanton School at 17th and Christian Streets. The mentors work with the children for one hour a week. Omar became involved in NBW when after a bike ride along Kelly Drive his brake cables broke, sending them to Trophy Bikes who referred them to NBW. It was a lucky move for Omar.

After calling the program director, Andy Dyson, who is one of 6 youth workers granted a full scholarship to Community College of Philadelphia, Omar joined Bike Works. O'Donald describes Omar as a wonderful child who is very bright, but was having problems at school. He kept getting into fights resulting in suspensions. Things changed for the youngster once he came to the program.

"He comes here and there are no issues like the ones that he was having at school. He accomplishes things. He gets along with the other kids. So, it's really been wonderful for Omar. It's a different environment with different goals than what is happening at school. I bring him here and he has a good time," she said.

"I like the program. I like to learn about fixing bikes. I am learning a lot, it's fun. "It's better than regular school, by a lot" he said.

Omar has two bikes now both of which he acquired through the program. He says that he plans to be a pediatric doctor when he grows up.

An excited Ikey Ross just entered the program. He already has knowledge of bike repair. Although he rides bikes, he does not yet own a bike, but hopes to earn one by working with the program. This year NBW distributed 200 used bikes, locks and helmets to children who earned them as a result of working with the program.

Ikey leaned about bike safety through the trauma of seeing someone hit by a car while riding a bicycle. The experience touched him so much that he decided to learn about bike safety. He enjoys the program so much that he wants to be a bike mechanic when he reaches adulthood.

Christopher Scarbrough has been affiliated with the program for a year. He is a Youth Advisor at the NBW. He has repaired 5 bikes from scratch. He found out about the agency from the Haddington Preteen Program. "The best thing about the program is earning a bike," he said. The teen is talented and hopes to pursue a career as an actor or a singer and marine when he grows up.

Brittany Fulton already had a bike when she came to NBW. She came to the program to learn how to fix bikes. She says that meeting people and learning to work together are high points of NBW. The Our Lady of Victory student wants to be a beautician when she is finished school.

Wayne Thomas is another child that the program has helped. He looks forward to attending the sessions and learning as well as teaching other children about bikes.

"I like working on my bike. I learn a lot here, about bikes and also about working together. Kids teach me a lot of stuff that I don't know. Like first when I came here I learned how to fix a flat and how to fix my brakes," he said.

Wayne already has his academic agenda picked out. He anticipates attending the University of Penn, Florida State or Virginia Tech. At this point he is interested in law enforcement.

Sergio Diggs is one of the student instructors at the agency who has helped a lot of children advance their people and bike repair skills. He loves his work in the program and looks forward to it. The youngster plans to work in law enforcement once he leaves school. He sees Major Taylor, the first Black man to be a world champion bike cyclist from 1900 to 1910, as his role model. Taylor had to flee to Europe in order to compete because of racial discrimination in the United States.

Examples like Major Taylor fuel the dreams of youngsters like the ones enrolled in Neighborhood Bike Works. One hundred and three children attend the program's drop-in bike repair and maintenance sessions. The agency's work does not stop with bike repair.

Thirty six children this year received 2 hours per week of help with their home-work prior to their bike repair sessions as a result of-the program's affiliation with the GEARUP Initiative at the Lea Middle School. The agency provides access to computers and has a special area for the students to use for studying.

NBW also takes the children on field trips to the Franklin Institute, the John Heinz Wildlife Preserve, the Penn Observatory and the Velodrome in Trexlerton. Their influence on children's academia has helped to earn 2 students new bikes through the Clean Air Council essay contest.

Neighborhood Bike Works began in 1996 when Michael McGettigan of the Bike Coalition decided to begin the program modeled after a similar program in New York. The agency has two full-time workers, seven part-time workers, twenty five volunteers and take in around 100 students a year. NBW has a variety of programs to accommodate two groups of students from Haddington and Lea. NBW's funding comes from various Philadelphia area foundations.