Youth Bicycle "Spokesperson" Mentorship

NOLA Women on Bikes is teaming up with Crescent City Bike Tours to host a paid internship for a young woman who has graduated from the Youth Empowerment Project's Trafigura Work & Learn Center to get real-world experience in the bicycle industry!

The internship will provide valuable skill building opportunities such as:

- Learning about the bicycle and transportation industry in New Orleans
- Bicycle Mechanic Skills
- Tour Guide Training
- Retail & Customer Service
- Introduction to Small Business Management
- Learning about the history and geography of New Orleans by bike! 

One graduate of the program will be selected to work at a stipended mentorship at Crescent City Bike Tours, a female-owned and operated bicycle tour and rental company. 

We need your help to fundraise for the youth stipend!

This will be the first mentorship of its kind for YEP, and we will be conducting regular check-ins with Crescent City Bike Tours, YEP, and the youth intern. Crescent City Bike Tours will be donating their mentorship hours, as will YEP and NOLA Women on Bikes - but we need your help to make this meaningful work opportunity a reality!

Every donation of $30 or more will receive one hand-screenprinted NOLA Women on Bikes v-neck t-shirt! In your donation, please include shipping address and specify size (small, medium, large, or extra large - they are women's sizes). 

The mentorship program will begin in late January of 2014, and last for 3 months.  During these three months, the intern will learn about customer service, help guide bicycle tours, learn about managing a small business, and hone her mechanical skills with routine tune-ups of the rental bikes. 

NOLA Women on Bikes will be scheduling regular check-ins with our youth intern, Crescent City Bike Tours, and YEP to ensure that the program is a success.

After the mentorship is up, the intern will have valuable work experience on her resume, as well as the opportunity to get a tour guiding license and the potential to continue with paid employment with a bicycle tour company.  NOLA Women on Bikes and YEP will help provide guidance to help her with her next step.

This mentorship opportunity will provide meaningful job experience to a promising young woman who has received training to work in the bicycle industry.  It will prepare her for future work as a bicyle tour guide or bike shop mechanic, and it will introduce her to the ins and outs of small business ownership. 

Currently, many youth in New Orleans face challenging prospects to secure employment.  In New Orleans, 23% of youth aged 16-24 are neither working nor in school.

This valuable work experience will help increase her skills and grow her network to work in related fields.  And, by specifically giving this opportunity to a young woman, it will also help to increase representation of women in the bicycle industry, where there is a significant gender gap, especially for women of color.  

This mentorship is one small step towards reducing youth unemployment and creating a more equitable and representative bicycle community in New Orleans. 

We are excited to make it happen - please help us by donating to make this a reality!