Pedal Empowerment

We’ve just wrapped up another great Pedal Empowerment Program. From learning bicycle mechanics through to job skills such as teamwork and communication, PEP has set all participants on the path to employment.

Pedal Empowerment Program participants

We recently welcomed two participants into internship roles at Good Cycles and we look forward to helping them develop their skills over the coming weeks as they make the transition into full-time work.

PEP runs across eight weeks from our workshop in Docklands and at YSAS in Dandenong. In the final week of the program, participants from both locations are brought together for the three-day intensive Shifting Gears. Two of these days are dedicated to higher level bicycle mechanics training, while the third focuses on making the transition to employment led by professional career coaching firm TwoPointZero.

TwoPointZero works with students, graduates and young people at the start of their careers to find their direction and develop their job seeking skills. Good Cycles and TwoPointZero have been working together for over 12 months, empowering participants with work-ready skills such as making a ‘BBQ Pitch’, how to cold drop off a resume and how to answer common interview questions. The day ends with a practice interview, where everyone gets a chance to run through their new skills.

Career Coach Lee Sunlay was impressed by the recent group’s motivation to work in the bike industry, “They were clearly very passionate about bikes – all participants were engaged in volunteer work that is enabling them to develop their skills for the industry, in addition to undertaking the course with Good Cycles. I had a blast delivering the session to them.”

Lee and TwoPointZero help PEP participants to recognise their strengths and weaknesses and how to talk about their own experiences and backgrounds in a positive way – something that can have a profound effect on the confidence and resilience of the young people who come through our programs.

For further information about Good Cycles’ programs, please get in touch at programs@goodcycles.org.