ESC: Bike mechanic & trainer

LeuvenFietst is a non-profit organisation engaged in many different aspects of biking. We run a MTB club with +/- 200 members. We give recreational bike training to youngsters twice a week. We organise bike ateliers at partner organisations. We give bike initiations for schools, youth clubs, refugees and other focus groups. We organise bike camps, weekends and events at different locations. Five times a year we organise a “Bike Repair Café” where volunteers come together to repair (old) bikes, eat and drink something and have a nice evening talking about bikes an bike projects. We work together with and get support from the Flemish Bike Federation, the city of Leuven and a number of non- or for profit organisations to realise what we described above. But most of the chemistry is done by volunteers, they are the beating heart and the common ground of LeuvenFietst. March 2019 we received a grant from the Nike Community Impact Fund to include youngsters with difficult access to sport activities in the regular activities of our club. Leuven (the university city where we reside) is surrounded by smaller and bigger forests and nature reserves. It is the best area in Flanders for mountain biking (although we have no real ‘mountains’). Leuven is also a true bike city where most personal transport is done by bike. The city council is doing a big effort to make it more comfortable for bikers and thus many projects in this context are set up. LeuvenFietst is participating in the debate and the practical realisation on different levels and aims together with concurring partners to go for a greener and carbon free future. LeuvenFietst collaborates on the ESC projects with Velo. Velo is an organisation in the Social Economy oriented towards bike mobility. Velo offers training and / or work experience for people with a large distance to the labor market. The attention goes to both the technical training and the attitude to work. A maximum of effort is put into counseling (on the work floor and on a project-by-project basis) with achievable objectives and an acceleration of coaching. The guidance focuses on the workplace, but also has an eye for the preconditions, guidance for sustainable employment and aftercare after the period at VELO. Employment in the regular labor circuit or the social economy is the goal. The employee is approached integrally and from his context. His well-being in the workplace and his general well-being help determine the opportunities on the labor market. The personnel policy to the permanent team of guidance, administration and bicycle repairers is also focused on high-quality employment, with opportunities for training and talent development. In Vlaams-Brabant, Velo is working on basic mobility by bicycle for everyone. Bicycle rental and repair are the core activities here. The recycling of used bicycles, the pursuit of quality and a variety of bicycle offerings are the starting points. The ecological added value that is being sought here is also extended to other aspects within the operation. Velo's policy responds as much as possible to social needs and opportunities. This in close relationship with and from the involvement of stakeholders. From there, Velo wants to qualitatively expand the bicycle sector (social and regular economy) according to capacity and capacity. Velo characterizes active entrepreneurship with the greatest possible financial independence as a company. Subsidies remain necessary because of investments in guidance and training. New market niches are explored on the basis of the added value that they can offer to employees and the company. The non-profit attitude makes it possible to work from a collegial attitude towards social economy companies and the bicycle trade.