Current Programs and Programs in the Works

General Shop Hours
Sopo's primary program is General Shop Hours. The shop is open to the public on Tuesday and Thursday nights from 7:00 pm until 10:00 pm, and on Saturday afternoons from 2:00 pm until 5:00 pm.

During General Shop Hours, people fix their own bicycles, build bicycles from donated parts, help others, donate materials, meet new people, and to get tips on how to cycle safely around Atlanta. Around thirty people participate in shop activities during any given shop session. People of all kinds, including parents and children, police officers, firefighters, homeless people, professionals, students, elders, local politicians, new cyclists, and old pros can be found working together. A shop visitor once exclaimed, "it feels like a community in there!"

Mobile Shop
Sopo brings the bicycle repair shop to other communities and youth services agencies. Sopo repairs bicycles with DeKalb County Department of Family and Children Services, the Whitefoord Community during the annual BikeRite Day, the Reynoldstown Civic Improvement League during the annual Wheelbarrow Festival, and the East Atlanta Kids Club during the annual Brownwood Bike Rally.

Youth Programming

Youth Night

During the summer of 2007, Sopo provided a weekly Youth Night series. Ten Reynoldstown and East Atlanta youth, including three girls, attended Youth Night throughout the summer to learn bicycle maintenance skills together. One participant, Maurice Jones, has since joined the Sopo Board of Directors and is a regular volunteer during General Shop Hours.

Summer Camp and After School Programming (IN THE WORKS!)

With your support, Sopo can operate ongoing youth programming, including an after school program in partnership with the East Atlanta Kids Club. Sopo would use an Earn-A-Bike model, teaching the kids bicycle maintenance repair skills as each child earns their own bicycle. Each child would also earn a helmet, a lock, and lights. By learning how to maintain their own bicycles, and by being provided with maintenance support, these children will always have functional bicycles to ride. Having a bicycle that performs properly will instill them with a lifelong love of cycling. By participating in the Sopo community, these kids will also learn about sustainable development and community organizing.

International Rescue Committee Partnership

Youth Interns

Sopo Bicycle Cooperative is an intern site for the International Rescue Committee's (IRC) youth programming. The IRC provides refugee resettlement services. One IRC youth, Yonatan Araya, has been a part of Sopo for more than a year, and has become an organizer, board member, and supervisor for incoming IRC interns. Sopo has been an intern site for three IRC youths over the last two years.

Sopo-Clarkston Shop (IN THE WORKS!)

With your support, Sopo and IRC can develop a long term bicycle repair project beyond the intern partnership. Sopo and IRC are developing a Sopo spin-off shop in Clarkston, GA, where IRC is located. Yonatan Araya would be the shop manager and continue to be a youth leader in his community. The Sopo-Clarkston shop would serve the refugee community, and provide a Create-A-Commuter program for low-income individuals. Create-A-Commuter programs provide adults with bicycles, locks, lights, helmets, and effective cycling training in order to ensure that they have a reliable means of personal transportation. The Sopo-Clarkston shop would also provide youth programming, including an after school program and a summer series.

Alternative Life Cycles
To meet the needs of people who are disabled, Sopo Bicycle Cooperative is building a program to acquire and distribute alternative bicycles. Currently, this project fills requests on a case-by-case basis. To date, Sopo has distributed three tricycles to one adult, one teen, and one child. Sopo receives requests from people, and parents of people, who are obese and Autistic, and people who have Cerebral Palsy. Sopo is looking for partner agencies and organizations with whom to build a sustainable and more efficient program. With your support, Sopo can make this a reality.

Task Force for the Homeless Bicycle Lending Library (IN THE WORKS!)
To assist our homeless friends in accessing jobs and job interviews as they transition into independent living, Sopo is developing a bicycle lending library at Task Force for the Homeless. Like the Sopo-Clarkston shop, the Task Force Library would also distribute helmets, lights, and locks, and provide support for program participants to maintain the bicycles. With your support, together we can create a job-ready and economically viable Atlanta.

Bike Parking
Sopo installs bicycle parking racks at local business locations. This project improves bicycling infrastructure, and it is an investment in the local economy. Bicycle racks show that Atlanta is a bicycle and environmentally friendly city. [more]