Children in color-coded aprons stream in and out of a building on a backstreet in Woodlawn. It’s 3 PM on a recent weekday afternoon at Blackstone Bicycle Works, which is filled with the sounds of tools hitting aluminum and enthusiastic children working on bikes. The community-oriented shop at 6100 S. Blackstone is training roughly 175 students between the ages of eight and 18 this year in a program that not only teaches them bike mechanics and customer service skills but also offers a safe space where they can grow and become leaders.
One of her proudest moments came during a ride last year when a Blackstone employee “asked me to lead [while] we were in the middle of the route. I thought I was in trouble at first,” she says now. She took over and has led rides since. “It got really fun for me,” she said.
Blackstone Bicycle Works#
