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Youthworks

Discussion Issues

Transcribed by Jessica from Free Ride general meeting April 8th.

Questions about this year's program

• what problems have been encountered this year?
• how is student retention? what is our turnover rate with the kids?
• what feedback have the kids given us about the program?
• do the kids find it worthwhile? Are they bored, are the tasks worthwhile for them?
• what administration problems have occurred this year?
• how long does it take to train the kids?
• how many bikes per month do they fix once trained?

General discussion questions

• What is the resource - consumption impact of youthworks on Free Ride as a whole? Some collective members have expressed concern it is a drain on resources. Some YW staffers have expressed that they believe conducting the program increases our capacity to get things done at the shop and build bikes.
• To what extent Youthworks setting our agenda with their requirements for the grant and their timetable? Can we use this program to fulfill our mission in a way that we want to, or are the requirements of the Youthworks agency too restrictive?
• Are Free Ride's programs, as currently structured, classist, agist, and racist because of the age limit on kids in open shop, and the requirement that people have large amounts of time in order to participate? Or for other reasons?
• Is the Youthworks program a good way to attempt to redress a lack of opportunities for youth participation, and the current minimal involvment of the surrounding communities in the program?
• Does our program have clear goals, and is it meeting those goals?
• What are the Youthworks agency's goals, and are they congruent with FR's goals? How much do their goals impact our program?
• What are costs vs. benefits of the program?
  • costs
  • $2492 difference between costs of program salaries and maximum amount that can be applied for in grant. Free Ride must make up this money. Current plan is that a) the actual difference will be less, because this number is based on perfect attendance from all students and supervisors, and this year students had frequent absences. b) if each kid fixes one bike per month to be sold for at least $50, this will generate $3000.
  • Free Ride collective oversight
  • Administrative work not covered in the grant - a drain on collective members' energy that could be spent elsewhere?

• benefits
• Provides an opportunity for teen youth to participate in FR, which is currently very minimally available.
• Addresses ageism, classism, racism in structure of FR current programs
• Builds capacity - YW program can serve as a foundation for development of more extensive youth programs & programs accessible to diverse people (ie Bikes not Bombs, Recycle-a-Bike), and conducting this program gives us experience necessary & useful for such expansion: teaching, working with teens, learning from teens about their community, meeting administrative requirements of having employees & maintaining collective oversight.
• gets collective members around the shop more hours - can be around to learn things CJ doesn't bother to tell us, randomly accept donated heaters, etc.
• provides 5 employees each spending 10 hrs per week getting stuff done in the shop - building bikes, organizing things.
• provides a way for FR collective members to get paid for participation in FR.

Questions about next year's plan:

• who is staffing, and when?
• can YW kids be more integrated into FR as a whole? Be part of our decision-making process, meet & interact with other members of the collective, participate in other programs?
• can we have a clear understanding of the budget?
• what kind of job experience are we trying to provide for the kids? How do we reconcile the benefits of imparting preparedness for the demands of most jobs the kids will encounter, with our own ideals of non-hierarchical interactions, humane treatment of other people, and self-motivated participation?
• please propose tools to provide more transparency about the operation of the program for the full FR collective?
• how much time & effort would be required for collective oversight of the program? Time at meetings, increased work for individual collective members?

Program updates

5-23-07 

Andalusia is leaving for the summer, so Elijah and myself are filling in her times as Youthworks supervisors.  We have changed the program hours to 4-9pm Tuesdays and Thursdays to give them more Open Shop time.  The employees have been greeting in the open shop for a few weeks now and have shown much enthusiasm for assisting others.  For now we will continue to only employ 3 youth, and only hire more if we get the grant for next year.

-Scott

Forms (timesheets, independent contractor documentation)

yw-admin independent contractor invoice

• yw supervisors - fill out this form for administrative work. Submit to Kitty at Bike Pittsburgh (mail it or deliver it) once a month by the same deadline as the kids' timesheets.

yw-supervisor independent contractor invoice

• yw supervisors - fill out this form for time in the shop supervising the kids. Submit to Kitty at Bike Pittsburgh (mail it or deliver it) once a month by the same deadline as the kids' timesheets.

timesheet for kids

• this is the timesheet for the kids. They should fill out one per month, for the term of 16th thru 15th of current month. Submit to Scott at Bike Pittsburgh by the third thursday of each month, checks sent out the last friday of each month.

Record of communications with YW

• 4/9/07 - grant proposal for 2007 submitted. 2007 proposal