Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Bike Recycling Programs Consolidate and Plan to Grow

You might recall stories this year about the bike recycling programs at Hillcrest and at Evergreen Church.

At Hillcrest

At Evergreen Church
The principals are joining forces and starting work on a new venture, called the Northwest Hub.

Northwest Hub
They're looking for a retail storefront and look to expand programming much along the lines of Portland's Community Cycling Center.
The Northwest Hub is a community cycling non-profit coop. We are currently serving the Salem area out of a small boiler room in the basement of a church. We need help expanding to address the needs of the community. Our goal is to raise enough money to rent retail space in order to better serve the community. Below is a list of our mission goals and links to press about the previous and ongoing efforts of our founding members.

Northwest Hub Goals:
-Provide access to inexpensive service, used bikes and parts
-Provide educational, employment and volunteer opportunities
-Provide a "build a commuter" program (currently implemented)
-Repurpose old bikes and parts previously destined for the dump
-Provide access to workspace and tools for NW Hub members
To "kickstart" things, they're raising funds and looking for charter coop members at gofundme

Check it out and see if it might be something you'd like to be involved in. It's early in the process, of course, and at this point it looks you'd be giving a straight-up donation rather than purchasing a membership in a coop. The official non-profit incorporation isn't done yet, so be aware of that if you're considering donating and have record-keeping requirements or need to know about the exact organizational structure. (fine print, etc., blah, blah, blah.)

Obviously there's more to come on the story. Other events are being planned...stay tuned for more!

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