Youth Project

About the Youth Project

Life Cycle UK is developing a Youth Project which will offer a range of bike maintenance training courses and cycling activities to young people. Our primary goal is to enthuse young people with a genuine interest and involvement in bike maintenance and all things cycling. We aim to promote the attractions and advantages of bike mechanics and cycling in general; equip young people with practical knowledge and transferable skills; and promote both personal and vocational development.

Our target client group is young people aged 13-19, who are at risk of social and educational exclusion, at risk of (or with a history of) youth offending, and keen to engage in some meaningful training and activity in a non-academic environment.
We are keen, in particular, to include young people who are Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) and, where there is an identified need and it its is appropriate, young people under the age of 13.

We intend to work across the whole of the City of Bristol, but will focus on areas that are under-resourced and at risk of socio-economic exclusion.

Through all of our activities we want to offer young people opportunities to:

  • Take on new challenges;
  • Learn useful, practical skills;
  • Build confidence and self-esteem;
  • Develop team-working, communication and problem-solving skills;
  • Meet positive role models;
  • Develop wider key skills;
  • Enjoy cycling!

Our goal is also to furnish young people with information on a range of cycling issues, encourage links to local community cycling activities, and promote access to both local and national resources. We will be working in partnership with a number of agencies & client groups from both the statutory and independent sectors and are in the process of linking up with the local Connexions, Youth Offending Team, and Youth Services, as well as schools and local youth projects.

Bike maintenance courses and training for young people

Life Cycle UK has broad experience of providing bike maintenance training over a number of years and we now want to engage, in particular, with young people. We have previously run a few one-off bike maintenance courses for schools, youth clubs and organisations such as Connexions, and it was clear that the young people involved responded well and enjoyed the experience. With the inception of our new project, we now want to develop this further.
 
The bike maintenance courses will be pitched at a range of levels and competence. We are aiming to engage with young people who are interested in learning practical mechanical skills and, where appropriate, offer the opportunity to gain either a stand-alone qualification or credits towards already established key skill qualifications such as ASDAN. 

We intend to start with some pilot sessions and courses in February 2008 and then introduce a more established range of course options later in the year. We are committed to offering flexible courses, which will provide training appropriate to the client group. Course duration can also, where possible, be tailored to fit in with each organisation’s own ongoing programmes.

Initially, we hope to offer the following

  • One-off basic bike maintenance workshops and cycling awareness sessions
  • Regular informal bike maintenance sessions at Youth Clubs
  • 6 week courses  (one 2 –3 hour session per week)
  • 10 week courses (one 2 –3 hour session per week) including riding activity

We plan to develop the courses into a more comprehensive programme with a view to securing accreditation from both vocational and cycling bodies. There will be 3 principal elements to these courses:

  • Practical, mechanical skills and knowledge
  • Cycle skills and awareness
  • The development of core ‘Key Skills’

Through these, we aim to provide young people with a positive learning experience.

As an organisation, we feel it is important to promote road safety awareness and safe riding practices and we will incorporate these aspects into the course content. There will also be a focus on the beneficial impact that cycling can have on the individual, the local community and the environment. The Project subscribes fully to the values of the Government’s ‘Every Child Matters’ strategy and is committed to placing these principles at the centre of its work with young people.

As an additional feature of the programme delivery, we are also keen to facilitate work placements for young people in local bike shops.

During school holiday periods, we would also like to offer short sessions for young people attending independent youth clubs and programmes.                                                   

Additional cycling activities for young people

Initially the project will concentrate on bike maintenance courses with some riding involvement. However, our plan is to introduce a number of activity-based events in Summer 2008. We want to give young people the opportunity to get involved not just in riding their bikes and improving their riding skills, but encourage them to develop a lifelong involvement with cycling.

Planned activities include

  • Mountain biking
  • Cycle training and riding skills – urban and off-road
  • BMX
  • Cycle orienteering
  • Bike art
  • 'Wacky Bikes’
  • Bike refurbishment and recycling
  • Guided rides and single day cycling trips                                             

Get involved

We are open to suggestions as to how the project is developed in the future and would welcome ideas from organisations that work with young people and, especially, young people themselves. We are also looking for volunteers to support the running of the project and, in particular, would like to hear from individuals who want to get involved with the additional activities we will be offering.

If you are a young person, or from an organisation that works with young people, and want to know more about this new project or want to get involved, please contact Nic Gharbaoui at the address below or send Nic an e-mail.