PROJECT
Located in the San Luis Valley of south central Colorado, a high mountain desert surrounded on three sides by striking rocky mountains, the Alamosa Bicycle Coalition (ABC) is a non-profit initiated by former MVS volunteers with a vision for encouraging a strong local bike culture, especially access to bikes for adults and youth not otherwise able to afford and repair their own. This position will help the ABC staff in the bike shop with receiving bicycle donations and refurbishing bicycles, while also assisting with coordinating and implementing bicycle related educational activities, in collaboration with local community volunteers and partner organizations, such as Boys & Girls Club, La Puente homeless prevention services, Immigrant Resource Center, and Generation Wild. These educational activities may include running bike repair workshops for both adult and youth participants; promoting public policy and awareness for local bikeways and biking safety; and coordinating low-barrier community bicycle rides and rodeos. ABC currently rents workshop and storage space, and also has equipped a bike trailer to bring pop-up bike repair to community events and neighborhood locations.
PLACEMENT
As ABC is a relatively small organization, this placement may be a part-time option. Depending on a volunteer’s interests and skills, this provides the opportunity to be paired with another complementary placement site with one of ABC’s many community partner organizations (see other posted listings in Alamosa for possibilities). Along with hands-on programming specific to bicycles and bicycling, this placement holds the opportunity for someone interested in project development and grant-writing to get hands-on experience. Selected applicants will gain skills as a bicycle mechanic through work in the shop, as well as professional classes depending on interest and availability. While much of the work can be done during normal weekday hours, flexibility will be needed for activities that entail some evening and weekend events.
QUALIFICATIONS
- A passion for commuter and recreational biking at the community level
- Ability to be flexible and to coordinate work tasks at varying locations
- Enjoy relating to a diverse range of community partners and potential users
- Interest in project start-up and/or community organizing
- Comfortable with verbal and written communications related to organizational activities
- Experience in Latino cultural settings and/or Spanish language skills a plus
- Experience with bicycle maintenance and repair a plus