Volunteering his time, Andrej started the South Atlanta Bike Shop in the spring of 2010 in response to the challenges facing urban youth in our neighborhood. Before moving forward with the idea he spent time listening to his neighbors and other non-profit leaders to ensure the bike shop would be with and of instead of just for the neighborhood community.
South Atlanta Bike Shop is a non-profit youth development organization in the Historic South Atlanta. Its earn-a-bike program allows youth in our neighborhood, ages 11-18, earn “shop bucks” by working in the bike shop and then spend these to purchase bicycles, bicycle accessories, replacement parts and pay for bike trip registration fees.
In the process of earning a bicycles we work with the youth to instill job readiness skills in them such as:
- Communication skills
- Conflict-resolution skills
- Timeliness
- Perseverance
- Attentiveness to detail
- Proactivity