Our Mission Statement
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Here is the very brief Mission Statement on this web site (About):
The Bike Oven endeavors to serve the community and improve the quality of urban life by promoting and facilitating, through culture change, the use of bicycling as an alternative to the non-sustainable and climate damaging fossil-fuel powered motor vehicle transportation system.
Here is the medium sized version:
The Bike Oven endeavors to serve the community:
. By empowerment of the community to gain independence from the
overconsumption of climate and environment-damaging high energy fossil
fueled transportation
. By fostering a self sufficient, healthy, sustainable and
cooperative lifestyle through education in the art
of bicycle care and maintenance
. By encouraging increased positive socialization through the
reduction of isolated competition for space on
public streets via the use of low cost human powered
transportation systems.
And here is the "War and Peace" long version:
The Bike Oven endeavors to serve the community
through the promotion of bicycling in the following ways:
. By empowerment of the community to gain independence from
overconsumption of fossil fueled transportation
. By enabling a means to achieve a noise and pollution-free City
environment
. By lowering the required energy footprint for transportation
. By fostering a healthy, sustainable and cooperation-based lifestyle
. By providing a role model for neighborhood youth toward self-sufficiency
. By education in the art of bicycle care and maintenance
. By the reduction of hostility on the streets and highways of Los
Angeles through mitigation of the effects of competition for space
. By encouraging increased socialization by reducing the isolation of
competition for space on transportation routes
. By offering an alternative to the climate-damaging motor vehicle
based system
. By enabling financial independence by facilitation of a low cost
transportation system
. By causing the return of the streets to the population through
the use of human powered transportation -
I would like people to cosider adding the following to our mission statement....
The Bike Oven is a community based, volunteer run, donation based organization run on consensus decision making process. We endeavors to serve the community and improve the quality of urban life by promoting and facilitating, through community involvement, education, cultural exchange and self determination the use of bicycling as an viable alternative to the non-sustainable and climate damaging fossil-fuel powered motor vehicle transportation system. -
I agree with Steve's thoughts, but am not sure the mission statement is the place for them. I think the MS needs to be a really brief, succinct way to emcompass what we do and why we're here. The reason I brought up looking at the MS again was that there seemed to be a lot of activities and goals that a lot of people wanted to be happening that really aren't mentioned in the MS at all. I don't know that it needs to be changed, but I thought that discussing and thinking about it might be a good way for people to think through why they/we are here. So, of course, please take this with a healthly helping of salt. I certainly don't want to try to drive us in any direction, just hoping that the process is constructive. So here is a draft of a rewrite of the MS and a summary of goals...
Mission statement
The Bike Oven endeavors to serve the community and improve the quality of urban life by promoting and facilitating the use of bicycling as a transportation alternative and by using bicycle culture as a catalyst for cultural exchange and activism.
Goals
The Bike Oven pursues its mission by:
- Encouraging cycling as a viable transportation alternative
- Reducing the financial, technical, and cultural barriers to cycling
- Creating a livable urban environment, returning the streets to the population through human powered transit
- Fighting poverty and dependence by providing a low cost alternative transportation system that promotes self-reliance
- Using bicycle culture as a catalyst to bring together disparate groups to promote and pursue culture change
- Creating a network of like minded individuals and empowering them to pursue their individual visions
- Supporting and growing the cycling community
- Lessening human impact on the environment
- Establishing a model of community service that could spread through new entities
- Serving as an incubator for new ideas for community and culture growth
- Bringing like minded individual together for mutual sharing and growth
- Using techniques of consensus and volunteerism to create a group dynamic that values and supports its members
- Using and encouraging recycling to reduce environmental impact and financial dependence -
Some of the above Goals look more like techniques than goals. For example:
"- Creating a livable urban environment, returning the streets to the population through human powered transit"
Yes, this is a Goal.
But...
"- Using techniques of consensus and volunteerism to create a group dynamic that values and supports its members"
This is a technique (as stated), or mechanism, and not (imho) a Goal. -
True, yes...but the 'goal' is to use the 'technique'...hah! I guess it would be better stated to say
- creating a group dynamic that values and supports its members by using techniques of consensus and volunteerism
Since a mission statement should be brief and broad, I thought a "Goals" list might be a way to get more specific without having multiple mission statements.
Regardless, it was accurately pointed out at the last meeting that a lot of the activities we're doing are not part of our mission statement. While I am not advocating one way or the other (in this discussion), I think it is a good point and that it might be a good exercise for everyone to think about how they would define what they want the place to be. If we can come to agreement on that and find a way to express it, hopefully there will be less conflict over what we do and people will feel freer to participate in the functions that they enjoy/value.
Or this may just be a lot of talk happening instead of action... :) With that, I'll leave this to see if others want to continue the issue. -
Reading the above, I think we aren't really living up to our stated mission right now.
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You are not specific enough. Upon reviewing our mission statement at the top of this thread, I see that we, indeed, have lived up to our mission even more that we anticipated at the outset.
Since we moved to our Fig. storefront, gasoline prices shot up and people began seeking alternatives to cars. In droves, they come in wanting to fix up their bike, or buy a bike, or get advice on how to do this. We have responded with all of the above. On a day to day basis, by far, most of our visitors have expressed the desire to change their auto-driving culture and begin their bike-riding culture.
I can't see how our mission can be realized any closer to our original statement.
BTW, "culture change" does not refer to culture in general, it refers to the auto culture being changed to the human-powered culture. Gazing at art hanging on the wall does nothing for this. Our mission statement is quite specific. -
I think we are largely achieving the stated end result in our MS: "promoting ...the use of bicycling". I'm not as sure we are achieving that through the expressed manner: "through culture change". Mostly we are removing some of the cost and technical barriers that prevent some people from cycling. But if they walk in our door, I think their 'culture' has largely remained intact or has been changed elsewhere. Going out to a high school to promote cycling and cycle culture is a more direct attempt at culture change I think. (Thank you for doing that!) Now you can argue that our mere existence helps to shift the culture and that anything to help people get on bikes does as well. I think that is mostly true.
Ultimately, since what we do is really driven by what the people here want to do, I think the MS should reflect what people want and not the other way around. I don't think rewriting the MS changes anything. If we are achieving our stated goal currently, that's great, but it doesn't mean we shouldn't be looking for other things to do if people want to do them. -
Mostly we are removing some of the cost and technical barriers that prevent some people from cycling.
This is what I see too.
Without kiddie bike races, rides, demonstrations, political activity, parties, movies, art, music, food, dance, and an openness to wild ideas it feels like the Oven is only a place that undercuts local bike shops on labor. It is a hard sell to get someone to help fix bikes for free unless there is something more going on.
After all we've been through, the idea of the Bike Oven is turning into an exclusive bike repair-only operation. Reading the mission statement, and knowing what I know about the story of the Oven, that is not living up to our mission. -
OK, I am convinced. Go for it. Let those peripheral events fly. (Or is the bike repair peripheral to the events?) Just so the basic operation is not impacted in a negative way.
I don't look at the Oven as undercutting local bike shops. We constantly state to clients that we are NOT a bike shop. Clients are expected to work on their own bikes. When someone has absolutely no mechanical skills, I have them do the dirty work of cleaning out bearings, greasing, etc.
Almost no one leaves the shop without being confident that they have learned some vital aspect of keeping their bike going. I can have a tyro truing a wheel in just a few minutes. Same for mounting tyres, and adjusting bearings and cables. Do LBSs encourage or even attempt this?
And just what is going on at the Bicycle Kitchen that keeps the volunteers coming back? I don't see any art shows, music, dance, kiddie bike races, etc happening there. -
I agree - we actually help LBSs. In the very short run of course, we have to admit we do hurt them slightly. A person who knows how to fix a flat, won't pay a shop to do it; a person who fixes up their old bike isn't buying a new one. But that's just short term. I'm convinced we create more cyclists and make existing ones more more excited about riding. That means more business for shops over time. We also only undercut their least important areas. Repairs are the least profitable aspect of a standard LBS. That's why the shop's in the back. Bikes themselves have moderate profit. Clothes and accessories are the big money makers.
You have to know how to do something in order to do it. You really have to know how in order to teach it. Again, I "suspect" that feeling like they can't contribute does chase away some people. Having other things going on where you don't have to be expert may help. I assume the Kitchen's proximity to LACC helps to get a lot of people with free time coming through there. We must have some Occidental/PCC students. We should look into spreading the word a bit through the schools. The Kitchen may not have kiddie races, but I know they had a big organic food distribution thing going on for a long time. So they are doing stuff that is not bike specific as well. -
Should I create a new thread for this discussion?
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Mission Statement: It must be specific enough to shape direction and actions and allow for tax free status, but also general enough to give us wiggle room for all the other things we do that are not expressly bike related.
Things to cover:
· Repair of donated bikes for sale
· Teaching bike maintenance to the community
· Tools and facilities open to the public for a small donation
· Space for emerging local artists
First Attempt:
The Northeast Los Angeles Bicycle Learning Center (NELA BLC) is a community space dedicated to empowering the local population with the skills and abilities to safely operate and maintain a bicycle in an urban environment while promoting...
NELA BLC is a "cover our ass" legaleeze in case Bike Oven has some baggage come DBA/non profit time. Again, short, to the point, but with wiggle room. -
Here is some stuff from an old document we created ca. 2009:
b. Guiding principles
i. The Oven exists to promote and reduce the barriers to cycling
ii. Funds are collected as a means to pursue our mission and not as an end in itself.
iii. Volunteers are there to teach and facilitate, not to provide low cost repair service
iv. We seek to avoid competing with traditional retail bike shops and try to support them by creating more cyclists (customers)
v. We donít believe that lack of funds should be a barrier to cycling and will adjust prices accordingly
vi. We believe that cycling intersects and interacts with other aspects of culture in myriad ways. We will use and support all cultural forms that tie in to our mission and principles.
vii. We try to be an incubator for individuals who want to pursue projects related to our extended mission and will use our resources to support them.
viii. We seek to reduce harm and will attempt to reduce, reuse, or recycle whenever possible.
ix. Donations are given with the intention of reducing barriers to cycling, not of creating profit for individuals. The shopís equipment and supplies are not intended to be used by those solely seeking personal profit.
x. When in doubt, do what it takes to get someone on a bike
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Idealism is wonderful. Its just that each of us has their own version. Forget all that BS, I say we go with Andy's version because that is what will facilitate our getting incorporated. And getting incorporated is a top priority now. This is what we need to progress beyond our existance as an underground fringe operation. Never mind that this fringe operation has made great inroads in the direction of our original MS and goal list. We have reached saturation as such and we are ready to play with the big boys now.
Let's hit this hard in our next staff meeting on December 7th. The other hot topic should be our imminent rent increase, which btw, will put our rent at near DOUBLE the current market rate for our area. Our space is 675 square feet, we can get a space twice as big for the rent that we will be paying after the first of the year.
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