Gabriela Centurion

Marshai Mundine cleans his bike using the materials available at Cycles of Change.

With wrench in hand, Calvin Catchings tightens the wheel of his younger sister's pink and purple bicycle. Catchings works on one of the six bike racks at Cycles of Change APC — the community-oriented bike shop located right across the street from Alameda Point Collaborative (APC) headquarters. He uses its free tools and services.

The Bike Shop is the love child of the two organizations, which collaborated to provide a friendly do-it-yourself bicycle service shop. Although the shop opened in June 2006, a counterpart, operating under the same name, has provided bike services to East Bay public schools for over a decade.

The shop promotes healthy living styles and affordable transportation, especially for the neighborhood. "To transform bikes from being looked at as a toy to a vehicle is something that needs to happen," said site director Barry Luck.

Luck believes that living healthy isn't just about getting exercise in the literal sense, but feeling safe and secure. The store provides a type of "refuge" for young people involved with APC who can come, relax and feel "free to be who they are."

"It engages people in a really productive activity but it nurtures, [too]," Luck said. Kids have the opportunity to volunteer, participate in a credit system that converts work hours into bicycles and accessories or just hang out with friends.

But the true inner workings depend on volunteers and donations. In fact, all the bikes and bicycle parts in the shop were donated. Even fellow bike shop Alameda Bicycle has donated an assortment of bikes to the store. "People have been extremely generous to us," Luck said.

Some donated bikes are in good enough condition to be sold for hundreds of dollars, which is necessary for the store's survival. Others need a bit of tinkering and TLC. According to Luck, the group must earn at least $25,000 to sustain the shop annually. Forty percent of the total funding comes from a recycling grant from StopWaste.org, the other $25,000 must be found some other way.

In the past four months, the retail shop has racked up $15,000, getting the group within site of its financial goal. Any profits over and above the goal must return to the Alameda Point Collaborative as required by the grant. That's the challenge of maintaining a non-profit business, Luck said. "That's the dream."

The group's "Earn a Bike" program attracts many of the volunteers. Chores such as sweeping and watering plants can eventually add up to a two-wheeler. Luck said the program is very successful, especially for kids under the age of 14, and that typically five bikes are earned every week.

There is also an internship program specifically geared towards young people between the ages of 11 and 15. Interns work eight two-and-a-half hour shifts. While most of the young people enjoy a more lax environment, interns follow a specific program with designated responsibilities. Luck said the program is geared toward instilling a deeper sense of responsibility. Graduates of the internship are rewarded with bike repair tool kits and a free field trip.

Currently, the Bike Shop employs five people, one of whom, Jerald Carney, is employed through APC's on-the-job training program. He is being trained to run a community bike shop, a small business. While working with the kids can be a challenge at times, Carney still finds the shop a sanctuary away from "the drama" elsewhere in his life.

With the close proximity of the Rosenblum Cellars, the largest chalk drawing in the world and the USS Hornet, Luck firmly believes that Alameda Point could one day be a tourist destination. The potential of these Alameda treasures is limitless, "creating culture and community, that's my dream," Luck said.