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Old 05-13-22, 04:57 PM
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downtube42
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Go to bikecollectives.org for a wealth of information.

I was at the infancy of the Bicycle Action Project in Indianapolis, which started, died, and was reborn as Indy Cog. BAP literally started when a guy told a buddy about his idea, the buddy put the story in the local paper, and next thing you know there was a pile of donated bikes and stuff. A space was acquired, volunteers found, and off it went. There was no plan.

Some years later I started volunteering at the Columbus Bike Co-op (Columbus, IN) when it was literally a few friends doing a thing out of a donated garage with nothing but their spare time and bike know-how. No real plan, just the idea they got by hearing about a co-op in Bloomington, IN. That was probably 20 years ago, and the Columbus Bike Co-op is still going strong. https://www.bikeco-op.org/. They had no plan. I was there through the 501c3 process, and all the necessary business arrangements. Passion turned into action which did good stuff which attracted people, corporate backing, and it just snowballed.

I started the San Angelo Bike kitchen when I moved there. I talked to enough people that eventually a local church donated their unused bus barn, local shops dumped unwanted inventory and tools on me, and a church lady gave me a monthly stipend to "do good stuff". When I moved away, everything got donated to the local Maker Space, and as far as I know it still exists there.

I've traveled a fair amount, and when I go to a new city I find the local co-op if there is one. You can actually tell a lot about the city about visiting such a place. There is no one path to success, no one successful mission. Some are youth focused, some are low-income focused, some are about re-use, some are up-cycling, some actually do compete with local shops on service. You'll find earn-a-bike programs at some, while others are more about DIY with volunteer help. Some have paid staff, others are 100% volunteers.

My advise is, figure out what your passion is, and jump in. If you want guaranteed success, this isn't for you.

Good luck, and I'd love to visit if you get it off the ground.
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