March 2020 Update - It's a wrap!  The IOBY crowdfunding campaign closed in early March, and with the help of almost 100 supporters we exceeded the fundraising goal.  You can still chip-in and help BiCi Co. weather the COVID crisis while supporting essential transportation in our community and the Hartford region - DONATION AND MEMBERSHIP INFO HERE.  BiCi Co. members and supporters are the lifeblood of our community bicycle workshop.

On February 5th this campaign was updated to include our stretch goal of getting 'Bikes for Jobs' funded for 2020. This critical program gets those most in need to work via sustainable and healthy transportation.  Think about how many jobs exist within a walkable two-mile radius of the corner of Park and Main Street in Hartford. That includes most of Downtown, but doesn’t reach the West End, East Hartford, West Hartford Center, Windsor, or Wethersfield. Now expand that radius to five miles, an easy biking distance in the same thirty minutes. The range of destinations, employers, programs, and opportunities increases as a function of the radius SQUARED.

This campaign is critical to carry the Do-It-Yourself repair hours into 2020, and we are looking to expand that concept to the new BiCi Co. location in West Hartford.  Your contribution will also fund a new school-based Earn-a-Bike project and a "Light the Night" safety campaign.  We can't do it without your help!

BiCi Co. is a terrific project at the Center for Latino Progress.  We are raising funds with this campaign to carry our Do-It-Yourself bicycle repair (and learning hours).  These DIY hours are critically important in our community for residents from Hartford and the metro region to maintain and accessorize their bicycle on a budget.  Aside from fixing their own bicycles the DIY hours are critical for volunteers that attend to tune up bicycles for the annual youth BIKELIFE and Bikes for Jobs programs.  With a staff member (or two) with master mechanic bicycle skills and several handy volunteers, we can up-cycle a whole lot of bicycles and get them under riders in the Hartford metro area.  

Teens attend during DIY hours, and this campaign includes twenty sponsored teen one-year memberships for young people who complete the Earn-a-Bike program.  These young people ride for both fun and transportation, and while in the shop they are building hand-on skills while also making social connections with volunteers and visitors from across the region that wouldn't happen outside the shop. Several teens have followed this path to become staff mechanics at BiCi Co.  The DIY hours support tuning up bicycles for the April BIKELIFE event where teens from across the city take bike safety courses and take home a tuned up used bicycle, lock, light, and helmets.  It takes a lot of volunteer hours to tune up 80 bicycles over the winter for this Spring Break week each year.

Volunteers tuning up adult bicycles at BiCi Co. for those that referred to the Bikes for Jobs program, connecting low-income adults to bicycles that connect them to interviews, workforce training programs, jobs, medical appointments, shopping, and more.  An upcycled bicycle converts a 1-mile walking job search radius to a 5-mile riding radius covering 25 times more area!  BiCi Co. would like to carry Do-It-Yourself hours forward into 2020 and test run DIY hours at the new BiCi Co. West location at our new shop that's currently under construction.  This project will also support Light the Night bike lights and a new 2020 offsite Earn-a-Bike Program at Hartford's Kinsella school.

CUSTOM DONATION LEVELS - Choose a donation level that works for your budget.  If you don't see a suggested donation level that works for you, set a unique value that you choose.  A few additional suggestions below:

• $1,000 - BiCi Co. Lifetime Membership and access to Do-It-Yourself Hours.  This donation level includes a BiCi Co. t-shirt.
• $5,000 - BiCi Co. Founders Circle for the BiCi Co. West location in West Hartford's Elmwoord neighborhood.  This donation level will put your name (or a name you want to honor) on the Founders Circle plaque at the new shop location.  This donation level includes a BiCi Co. t-shirt.
• $Custom - Or select a donation level that makes you happy!  Thank you for moving our bicycle and community mission forward.