Current Programs and Programs in the Works

General Shop Hours

Sopo's primary program is General Shop Hours. The shop is open to the public on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights from 7:00 pm until 10:00 pm, and on Saturday afternoons from 2:00 pm until 6:00 pm.

During General Shop Hours, people fix their own bicycles, build bicycles from donated parts, help others, donate materials, meet new people, and to get tips on how to cycle safely around Atlanta. Around thirty people participate in shop activities during any given shop session. People of all kinds, including parents and children, police officers, firefighters, homeless people, professionals, students, elders, local politicians, new cyclists, and old pros can be found working together. A shop visitor once exclaimed, "it feels like a community in there!"

Mobile Shop

Sopo brings the bicycle repair shop to other communities and youth services agencies. Sopo repairs bicycles with DeKalb County Department of Family and Children Services, the Whitefoord Community during the annual BikeRite Day, the Reynoldstown Civic Improvement League during the annual Wheelbarrow Festival, and the East Atlanta Kids Club during the annual Brownwood Bike Rally.

Youth Programming

Youth Night

During the summer of 2007, Sopo provided a weekly Youth Night series. Ten Reynoldstown and East Atlanta youth, including three girls, attended Youth Night throughout the summer to learn bicycle maintenance skills together. One participant, Maurice Jones, has since joined the Sopo Board of Directors and is a regular volunteer during General Shop Hours.

Summer Youth Mentor Program

During the Summer months when school is out, SoPo has a Youth Mentor on duty, teaching the kids bicycle maintenance and repair skills. By learning how to maintain their own bicycles, and by being provided with maintenance support, these children will always have functional bicycles to ride. Having a bicycle that performs properly will instill them with a lifelong love of cycling. By participating in the Sopo community, these kids will also learn about sustainable development and community organizing.

International Rescue Committee Partnership

Youth Interns

Sopo Bicycle Cooperative is an intern site for the International Rescue Committee's (IRC) youth programming. The IRC provides refugee resettlement services. One IRC youth, Yonatan Araya, has been a part of Sopo for more than a year, and has become an organizer, board member, and supervisor for incoming IRC interns. Sopo has been an intern site for IRC youths.

Alternative Life Cycles

To meet the needs of people who are disabled, Sopo Bicycle Cooperative has a program to acquire and distribute alternative bicycles. Currently, this project fills requests on a case-by-case basis. To date, Sopo has distributed three tricycles to one adult, one teen, and one child. Sopo receives requests from people, and parents of people, who are obese and Autistic, and people who have Cerebral Palsy. Sopo is looking for partner agencies and organizations with whom to build a sustainable and more efficient program. With your support, Sopo can make this a reality.

SHIFT at Task Force for the Homeless

Sopo Bicycle Cooperative is a proud community partner in this project. The Earn-A-Bike program at Taskforce for the Homeless allows Resident Volunteers of the shelter to access an onsite bicycle repair shop where they can learn bicycle maintenance skills, share bike repair tools, and earn bikes to assist our homeless friends in accessing jobs and job interviews as they transition into independent living, Sopo helped develop a bicycle lending library at Task Force for the Homeless. Like the Sopo shop, SHIFT would also distribute helmets, lights, and locks, and provide support for program participants to maintain the bicycles. With your support, together we can create a job-ready and economically viable Atlanta.

Bike Parking

Sopo installs bicycle parking racks at local business locations. This project improves bicycling infrastructure, and it is an investment in the local economy. Bicycle racks show that Atlanta is a bicycle and environmentally friendly city. [more]

Women and Trans Only Bicycle Clinics

As a way to continue as a safe space for all volunteers and visitors of the shop Sopo is providing monthly Women and Trans only Bicycle Clinics. The maintenance classes are a way for all participants of the shop who identify as female to learn bike mechanics and share skills. We hope that by allowing visitors who may have felt marginalized in other bike shop settings a time to gain comfort within the space without the male-dominated environment, women will feel empowered and safe coming back to the shop to volunteer and work on bikes during other Open Shop Hours. These classes are facilitated by female bicycle mechanics and were created in part to efectively help sustain a more diverse group of volunteers and visitors to better represent our community.