Arts & Entertainment
From Bike Repair to Welding, Teens Are Learning Trades and Building Confidence in Summer Programs
The clank of tools and music fills a workshop in Chicago’s Belmont Cragin neighborhood. For the teens gathered around workbenches, lessons aren’t found in textbooks, they’re learned by hand.
Francisco Rubio is the instructor for Bikes N’ Roses, a free program under Communities United’s Workbench Project. Rubio teaches Chicago teens how to repair and build bicycles, but the real lesson goes beyond mechanics.
“Teaching them how to empower themselves through cycling, through the mechanics of, like, ‘I don’t know how to do this.’ … ‘No, you don’t know how to do it yet,’” Rubio said. “Being able to install that thought process in them — it’s all I really look for.”
The Bikes N’ Roses program operates out of a bike shop in Belmont Cragin, where participants spend the summer learning bike repair while giving back to the community. Kevin Quizhpi, 18, has been part of the program for four years.
“All the bikes here are donated and we help build them,” Quizhpi said. “We even have open shop every Thursday where kids come in from the community … and we all work together to fix the bikes. I even teach some kids how to fix their bikes.”
For 15-year-old David Rodriguez, the experience has been about much more than learning a trade.
“It doesn’t just help with bike skills,” Rodriguez said. “It helps you with, like, problem solving, confidence. We try to be a better person, try to better ourselves.”
Rubio said those are exactly the kinds of lessons he hopes young people take with them. Raised in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood, Rubio said he knows firsthand how the right mentor can change a young person’s path.
Bikes N’ Roses is one of several free programs offered through Communities United’s Workbench Project, which introduces young people ages 13 to 18 to trades including bike mechanics, woodworking and welding.
David Pohlad, who oversees the initiative’s youth programming, said these opportunities are especially important as schools face funding challenges and many after-school programs disappear.
“These programs offer young people something to do in the summers and outside of school, but also an opportunity to learn in a different way,” Pohlad said.
Just a few miles away in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood, another group of teens is learning a different trade.
Students at Austin College and Career Academy are learning more than how to weld. Instructor Sofia Lopez said every challenge in the shop is an opportunity to build resilience and problem-solving skills.
“Whether it’s, like, ‘The machine’s not working,’ or, ‘I can’t get this to work in a certain way,’” Lopez said, “giving them the tools and the confidence to pause, take a second — ‘What do I know right now and how can I fix it?’”
For Pohlad, the mission goes beyond teaching trades.
“We want young people to leave this program with an understanding of how they can build their own narratives,” Pohlad said. “Despite what other people have told them, there’s a lot of time to grow who you are as an individual.”
Whether it’s repairing bicycles or welding metal, mentors hope the most important skills students leave with aren’t just technical.
“We live in low-income areas, there’s also still some gang activity,” Rubio said. “The more that we teach them how to build community amongst themselves and travel together … and look out for each other is a real benefit.”
Rodriguez said the experience can be life-changing.
“If there’s people struggling out there who think they don’t have anybody to talk to or they are alone in the world, find yourself a program like this,” Rodriguez said. “It will really change your mindset about your whole world.”
