Community Bike Workshop Coordinator

Job title: Community Bike Workshop Coordinator 

Hours: 3 days per week, currently Wednesday – Friday

Contract: Permanent (3 month trial period for both you and BBP to get to know each other) 

Salary: £22,573.69 pro rata based on 37.5 hours per week.

Location: Our shop on Stapleton Road in Easton, Bristol.

Start date: July 2023 or ASAP (to be agreed with successful candidate)

Holiday allowance: 31 days paid leave per year including bank holidays, pro rata. 

For more information about our objectives, services and background, please see our website. 

Responsibilities in brief: 

• Supervise the workshop and oversee the mechanics being done
• Ensure the welfare of a team of volunteers
• Provide continuity in work, ethos, processes and systems within the workshop
• Represent the community programmes in decision-making and meetings

Overview 

The Bristol Bike Project is a member-led co-operative repairing and rehoming bicycles within our community. We aim to help people from all walks of life get out on two wheels and for it to be an inclusive and empowering experience.

From humble beginnings working from a back garden, BBP has grown into one of Bristol’s best known and most successful social enterprises. We’re now a dynamic community hub which welcomes hundreds of people through our doors each week, whether to ‘earn’ a bike, volunteer, learn mechanics or just come and have a cuppa! 

For more information about our objectives, services and background, please go to our website www.thebristolbikeproject.org. 

Reasons to join our team

• No boss!
• A say in all decisions concerning your employment
• A friendly supportive team where you can be yourself at work
• Being part of a sustainable project that makes a real difference in the local community
• A flat pay rate (no one earns more than you) reviewed annually in line with cost of living increases
• Wellbeing support
• Funding for training
• A peer to peer development review process
• 30% discount on all bike products
• 31 days paid holiday per year including bank holidays, pro rata. 

After 3 month probationary period:

• Full wage sick pay for up to 4 weeks per year
• Full employment policies can be viewed in our co-operative handbook.

Role responsibilities 

The main responsibilities of the role are outlined below. The responsibilities provide an indication of the capabilities that we will be expecting from the successful applicant. We also encourage the successful applicant to bring their own experience to bear on the role and help shape the role themselves.

This role, including specific days worked, may change and develop depending on the priorities and requirements of the Co-op. The successful applicant must therefore be dynamic in their skills and be willing to take on new and developing roles as and when required. You will be working in close collaboration with the Community and Communications, Fix-a-Bike and Young Person’s Earn-a-Bike coordinators and others and will be supported by them too.

Job description 

Community Session Facilitation

You will be sharing the responsibility for coordinating/leading four community sessions and solely responsible for one (Earn-a-Bike). 

Your responsibilities specific to each session will be outlined below. 

Coordinators are there to supervise the workshop, to oversee the work being done and to ensure the welfare of the volunteers and participants. You will need to have strong mechanical skills and ability to work on bikes and teach to a high standard as you will need to fix and build bikes, assess parts for quality, and solve technical problems.

Wherever practical, coordinators should help volunteers and participants to fix bikes under supervision, and ensure that everyone has a rewarding, empowering and productive session –  and have fun in the process! 

Our mission includes offering an educational experience for all. Part of your role will be creating an opportunity for volunteers and participants to develop lifelong bike maintenance skills and to have contact with positive role models.

As well as re-homing bikes, these workshops aim to provide a welcoming and supportive space for people from all walks of life, many of whom have experienced exclusion and/or trauma. As well as proficiency in bike mechanics, we are therefore looking for candidates with excellent communication and coordination skills and with a caring and compassionate nature. 

Responsibilities

• Arriving before the session starts, noting any tools/consumables that are missing from the cabinets, and updating the community orders spreadsheet as required.
• Putting away any new tools or consumables that have been ordered for the workshop.
• Welcoming volunteers new to the session, and explaining how the session works. 
• Delivering an induction to the workshop, health and safety, and new volunteer form.
• Allocating appropriate jobs for volunteers. It’s important to buddy up new or less experienced volunteers with the more experienced. 
• Keeping the workshop safe and tidy. This includes clearing up tools, trip hazards and making sure the workshop isn’t overcrowded  –  turn people away if you need to.  
• Checking on people’s wellbeing: are they happy/busy/engaged, do they need extra  attention? A supported volunteer or a Disabled person might need extra help.
• Work alongside participants with a wide range of needs, including mental health, learning difficulties and long-term debilitating health issues.
• Apply BBP policies on maintaining a safe space and refusing to work on bikes believed to be stolen.
• Representing the project and having a general knowledge of the Project’s history, aims and activities.
• Assessing, sorting and storing donated bikes and components.
• Coordinators are required to have a DBS check and Safeguarding training, both of which we will provide.

Community Workshop Coordination

This role has been created to improve the efficiency, communication and streamlining of the community programs and project as a whole. The successful candidate will be organised, committed and an experienced collaborator. 

We need an exceptional person in this role as these programmes are the core of our project.

Responsibilities:

• Drive and co-lead the five programmes outlined below 
• Build a close collaborative relationship with our Community Programmes Coordinator and the Trading Arm (the shop staff)
• Work collaboratively as part of a small team, and as part of our wider cooperative structure
• Attend meetings and represent the community workshop team
• Work closely with the Community Programmes Coordinator on: programme budgets, continual development/improvements of the programmes, outreach plans, and other aspects of the community programmes.
• Reply to emails, find cover in the event of (other coordinators’) absence and other administrative tasks
• Attend training such as fire warden training, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion training, and other training.
• Take part in our wellbeing and peer performance review structures.

FIX-A-BIKE (FAB)

The Fix-A-Bike session is a drop-in session for the ongoing support of people who have received Earn-A-Bikes from the Project, or those who fulfil the EAB criteria. The session is largely staffed by volunteers with 2 paid coordinators (including the person who fills this role). Many of the responsibilities outlined above also apply to this session.

Responsibilities 

• Overseeing mechanical work. This includes ensuring tools are used correctly (to prevent  injury and damage), signing off finished EAB bikes (with the volunteer mechanic present so they can learn from your feedback) and making sure bike stripping work is done properly.   
• Assessing visitors to the session to ensure that they fulfil the criteria to receive free repairs, that the repair required is feasible and prioritising work.

EARN-A-BIKE (EAB)

The Earn a Bike programme was our first scheme and it continues to be at the heart of the project, providing bikes to anyone facing extreme hardship and transport poverty. 

Key activities include: liaising with recipients and managing bookings, running Earn-a-Bike handover sessions, sharing basic mechanical skills with participants, preparing bikes for future sessions, sorting through bikes and components, occasional repairs, ensuring that bikes are safe and up to BBP standard before they leave the premises and documenting the process by taking photos.

YOUNG PERSON’S EARN-A-BIKE (YPEAB)

YPEAB is our young person’s version of EAB for 8 to 17 year olds. Read more about it here. It provides bikes to children and young people from low income families and looked after children. The scheme is participatory and hands-on with the young person working alongside a volunteer in the workshop for around 1 1/2 hours during a Friday after school appointment to get their refurbished bike finished and set up correctly.

AFTER SCHOOL BIKES (ASB)

After School Bikes is a free drop-in workshop for 8-18 year olds, every Friday from 3:30 to 6:00pm. Young people are invited to bring in their bikes for repair, working alongside one of our staff or volunteer mechanics. As well as teaching new skills, we offer young people the opportunity to spend time in a supportive, stimulating and non-judgemental environment and to have contact with positive adult role models. These workshops engage young people from all backgrounds. In your role you will provide a welcoming space and maintain our boundaries around behaviour.

THE SOCIAL CYCLE (SC)

The Social Cycle is a weekly workshop for adults experiencing social isolation. We fix bikes, we drink tea, we chat and have fun. We tackle social isolation by providing the space for people to come together in a relaxed, friendly, nonjudgmental environment. Part of your role would include evaluating the effectiveness of this programme and potentially looking at alternatives. 

How to apply 

To apply, please send a CV and covering letter – with your identifying details removed (so that your application can be reviewed anonymously)* – telling us about your interest in the role and why you would be suitable to hr@thebristolbikeproject.org. Please refer to the responsibilities and the person specification outlined above.

Deadline for applications is 12 noon Friday 9th June. 

If you have any further questions, please get in touch with Drew via email hr@thebristolbikeproject.org or phone on 07724581040.

We aim to avoid bias as far as possible by reviewing applications anonymously. For this reason, please give your contact details and full name within the email rather than in your CV or cover letter. 

Notes on the application process 

We are an equal opportunities employer, and particularly welcome applications from people currently underrepresented in the world of bike mechanics including people who experience racism; LGBTQ+ people; and women. 

We welcome applications from anyone, regardless of education or background. If you feel you have a better way of presenting what you have to offer rather than a standard written CV & cover letter then feel free to send us that instead.