Youth in the shop

Youth Guidelines in the shop

Youth Membership

Anyone under 18 gets a free membership to the Bike Kitchen. This is the same as an adult membership. It enables them to bring in their bikes and get help fixing them. It does not entitle them to any special deals on parts.

Youth Build-a-bike/Digging Rights

Anyone under 18 is eligible to earn digging rights for one bike by volunteering in the shop for 6 hours. In order to access this, youth first need to go through an orientation to the shop during Youth Hours, where a staff member explains to them what the Bike Kitchen is, how it works, how it is a volunteer run cooperative and not a profit oriented business, etc. (This document should be reviewed with youth)

The orientation also includes having them do some minor stuff around the shop such as patching tubes or cleaning a chain, so they get the idea of what they will have to do to build a bike from scratch.

If a youth comes into the shop with their bike, helping them fix that is a great place to orient them to the shop.

Youth Age Limit During Non-Youth Hours

Any youth under 14 (not to be confused with 14 and under) will require an adult 18 or over to be responsible for them if they are in the shop, during any regular, youth, or class hours. Said adult can be responsible for multiple youths. This also means that a staff member may elect themselves to be that person and may take responsiblity for them. It is encouraged that we continue to allow youth to volunteer when the shop environment allows it.