Foster Bicycle Education, Enhance Lives and Build Community
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Foster Bicycle Education, Enhance Lives and Build Community
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This episode’s guest is Mercedes Ross, executive director of Project Bike Tech. Voted one of the top 50 Influential Businesswomen in the bike industry, Mercedes leads an amazing non-profit that uses bicycle education as a conduit to teach core academics, enhance lives, create career opportunities, and inspire new generations to be passionate about bikes. She’s worked in the ski, outdoor, motorcycle, scuba, and craft brewing industries, as well as owned her own motorcycle retail store for 15 years. Mercedes has led countless sales team training seminars and has been a featured speaker in both the bicycle and motorcycle industry national trade shows.
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Foster Bicycle Education, Enhance Lives and Build Community
Tue, 8/31
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
retailers, bike, bicycle, students, school, program, teacher, industry, bike shop, tech, classroom, class, project, mercedes, people, education system, community, kids, curriculum, thinking
SPEAKERS
Heather Mason, NBDA , Mercedes Ross
NBDA 00:10
You are listening to bicycle retail radio brought to you by the National bicycle Dealers Association.
Heather Mason 00:16
Welcome to another episode of bicycle retail radio brought to you by the MBTA. This is President Heather Mason. Thank you for listening. If you’re a first time listener, be sure to check out the previous episodes please do us a favor and leave a review. Alright, let’s dive into this one I’m super pumped about today’s guest voted one of the top 50 influential business women in the bicycle industry. Mercedes Ross is changing young lives. The executive director of project by tech, an amazing nonprofit that uses bicycle education as a conduit to teach core academics, enhance lives, create career opportunities and inspire new generations to be passionate about bikes. It is the on ramp for young adults to develop a lifelong engagement with the bicycle lifestyle, while learning key academic concepts. She’s worked in the ski outdoor motorcycle scuba and craft brewing industries as well as owner own motorcycle retail store for 15 years, Mercedes has led to countless sales team training seminars and been a featured speaker in both the bicycle and motorcycle industry national trade shows I cannot say enough. I’m thrilled to have her here. I’m almost like Alright, welcome, Mercedes, thank you for joining us. Oh, my
Mercedes Ross 01:25
goodness, Heather, thank you so much for having us. And we’re so excited to work with you and NVDA we love our retailers and can’t wait to tell you about what project by text doing and how our retailers can get involved.
Heather Mason 01:40
Oh, my God, I am just honored to be talking with you. I think we met just a couple weeks ago for the first time. And since then, you know, I’ve had a lot of opportunities to ask retailers. Have you heard about the work that project by tech is doing? And I’m really upset that I’m not getting enough yeses. So today I want to dive into it and get retailers up to speed and know how they can work with you and project like tech in their local community. What have you been up to? It’s been a couple of weeks. So you’ve been busy?
Mercedes Ross 02:05
Yes. Well, you know, it is the beginning of the school year. And because of COVID. A lot of schools are starting early. We’re super excited that they are starting in person. Obviously that’s you know, we’ll see what happens this year. Last year was a super challenging year. And our teachers and schools and parents were just amazing. Imagine teaching a an experiential learning class over the internet. So we have a lot of interesting ways a lot of homes got wheels in the mail and parts of bikes and tools got sent to them. And our teachers did an amazing job. But even through COVID hodzic bike tech is growing. And I can’t wait to tell you about how our retailers can get involved and help us grow that platform.
Heather Mason 02:45
Gosh, Mercedes, I wasn’t even thinking about the maybe the pivots you had to take last year with COVID. And I’m so happy to hear that you kept it up and we’re able to still execute the program. Alright, so I did some snooping into your background, nine years a giant bicycle as the merchandising lead owner of your own merchandising company. And now your current role? I thought it’d be cool. If you could just give us a little bit of background on that I had no idea.
Mercedes Ross 03:10
Yes. Well, as a lot of the retailers know I’ve been in the bicycle industry a long time, I really started with specialized and was very much involved in their concept shop program and actually getting retailers to merchandise their stores. And then that kind of developed into retail store planning and design. Because retail store is very specific to bicycle shops, and architects and store designers don’t know what those bicycle retailers need. And so I really specialize in specifically product placement, traffic flow, and why bicycle shops should be the way they are. And you know why the service department should be where it is where the cash wrap should be, and how come it’s important to zip up jackets in the apparel department. And so for 30 years, everybody had to listen to me up on stage at interbike telling them what to do and where to put stuff and I so enjoyed that. You know I love our retailer base the the bicycle retailer base is such an endearing amazing group of business people and the millions of hats that they throw up in the air are just phenomenal. Having been a retailer myself, I completely understand that that’s a challenge. And you know, you’re just doing 10 million things at once. And this year, especially with product levels being an issue, there’s more challenges with COVID. My goodness, they’re just heroes in my book, and I still understand where they’re coming from. And in my later years and my quote unquote, retirement, I wanted to do something to give back to the industry that gave so much to me. And I really felt like this was a missing piece. And as I dove into it more I realized that our education system is really thirsting for a program like this. So it was kind of a win win. It was oh my goodness, the education system needs something like this. And wow, our retailers in our world our outdoor industry world really needs employees and so perfect
Heather Mason 05:00
thinking it’s so important right now. I mean, I’m hearing retailers expressing concerns over staffing issues. And when we’re bringing these new mechanics into our industry from and then here’s this project, your project bipac talking to you, and I’m like, Oh my God, this all fits together. Alright, so can you give us an overview of what project by tech is?
Mercedes Ross 05:17
Yes. So project by tech was born about 15 years ago, our founder, Barry, Michelle has a bicycle shop. And she asked that critical question, why isn’t there bike shop, I wasn’t there auto shop for bikes. And she did the tough thing. She banged her head against that education system in California, and managed to start up a program in her local high schools in her backyard, and started to develop the curriculum with her teachers and put a lot of her own personal money into this and really got the program going. And back then the California system was kind of open to this experiential learning. And so long story short, I came and started designing her store with her through giant, and I saw this wonderful nonprofit that she had. And so I became a board member. And as I was segwaying, out of my store design world, we were looking for an executive director, and Barry just looked at me and she goes, you know, you’d be the perfect person for this. Why don’t you become the executive director, I’m like, I, my God, I’m still telling people where to put their socks and how to display their bikes. And she’s like, no, you’d be perfect. And so we segwayed me out of what I was doing. And then I became the full time executive director. And then we did the next step, which is what the industry really wanted. They wanted us to be national, and they wanted us to incorporate more than biotech. They wanted to incorporate all the things that our employees need. And so that’s what we’ve done over the years over the last 15 years is we’ve developed a national program. We’re still grassroots we’re now in We’re in 10 states coming this fall, and hopefully expanding to more but really excited about that, you know, every state’s another challenge.
Heather Mason 07:00
Yeah, so 15 years. So it started by a retailer who saw a need for this that makes me like, so happy and just smiling inside. So how has it been for you coming to the non for profit side? Has there been some things for you to learn taking on this roller? Oh, yeah,
Mercedes Ross 07:16
I went from questioning my retailers why there’s an empty slot on their bike rack to learning an entirely new language, not so much the nonprofit part of it, but the education system, and what we need for the education system to understand that we are an incredible industry, and that the skills that these students are learning to be a bike mechanic are far reaching. So yeah, it’s just learning about a nonprofit. And then learning about our education system was a steep learning curve. But needless to say, there’s two completely different languages. Yeah, I think you have to speak bike language. And then you also have to speak education language, which has its own set of words and acronyms and everything. So what we really are is we’re the conduit between the biking community and the education system.
Heather Mason 08:06
I can’t even imagine I think last we spoke I was like, but how are you doing this? Like? The entire industry is paying attention to what you’re doing. I know people for bikes, Nikah professional bicycle mechanics Association, the MBTA, I want to think about how we can relate that back to retailers in such the work that the NBA is doing, are retailers part of getting these, you know, schools going, making those connections? How can retailers play a role? Mercedes? Absolutely, actually,
Mercedes Ross 08:34
the retailers are the key role. They are the key role. So think about it, a retailer is in a community, they probably sold the principal of the school, their bike and the teachers and most of the students at the high school. And so every single one of our classrooms has what we call a sponsoring retailer. So there’s a main sponsoring retailer. And that retailer, usually brought us the school meaning they introduced us to the principal or a teacher or a school administration, Board of Education person, and then we do the rest. And so that’s what’s so important for retailers to understand is, without the retailer, we can’t just call call a community and go hey, we want you to have this program in your school. You know, if we have a retailer who’s already in the community already has those connections is you know, already partaking in some of the things it’s only the biggest benefit is both for us and the retailers that we’re diving back into community, giving back to the community and that retailer sponsorship is really just introducing us to the principle so we know how many plates they’re throwing in the air, we understand how busy they are. You guys are probably thinking oh my goodness, what more I need to do one more thing you know, and so we understand that so it project by tech, and we can go into this later and how it actually works is really a turnkey, just complete solution for the high school. All the retailer has to do is introduce us to the principal Are these other administrators and we do the rest, then we can talk about what the retailer continues to do to support that room. You know, this year’s a little tough because the one thing we need is used bikes and used bike parts, but we supply everything they need new, but we need old bikes, we need old bike parts, we need, you know, the retailer to come in and talk to the classroom or a field trip to the bike shop, you and I can discuss a little bit later what the other things are that we find retailers doing. But the main thing is to understand that it’s the opportunity for that retailer to get back into their community and dive in and be part of their community again, and needless to say, it’s a win win for the retailer, they get back into their community, and they’re producing employees. So
Heather Mason 10:49
I mean, we all have, like, you know, I’m just thinking like the local math teacher who comes into the shop all the time, who knows the principal of the school or, you know, it’s just having that right conversation with that right person, and then connecting them to you. And who knows, like the sky’s the limit from there. I want to get into the curriculum a little bit. I remember. So I’m thinking okay, like, is this replacing technology class or photography class? Like, is this an elective? Like, how is this offered within the school?
Mercedes Ross 11:19
Okay, so most schools, it can be offered as an elective, we work really hard it within each region where school is to work with the community colleges to have corresponding credit college credit classes. So I just got off the phone with up here, Colorado Mountain College, it’s a community college, and we’re in a lot of their towns where they have campuses. And so they very much would like to have that be a corresponding class, so that the student that is taking project by tech gets college credits within that system. And so just to go over what we actually do so the curriculum was developed by teachers. And obviously, the founder, Barry, who’s a retailer, selfishly, she put a lot of things in there that would help her in her store. And so what we’ve done is developed a curriculum that not only teaches the student to be a bike mechanic, that is the basis of this, but we also introduce them to retail and all the aspects of retail. So inventory, profit loss, why you need to be at work on time, why your service, people need to be efficient. We also have other parts of our curriculum, which we’re developing, we bring in engineering, and if they do want to go to college, you know, what do they need to be an engineer, we bring in climate change, you know, how can we affect climate change, we bring in the fact that it’s a healthy thing to do to ride a bike, and it changes their lives, we bring in trail building and being an environmentally conscious, and we really work with our students to be charity minded and give back to their community. We, each one of our classrooms gets a fleet of bikes from free bikes for kids. And those free bikes need to be fixed by each student. And each student then picks a person in their community that is in need of a bike, it might even be the student. So we teach them charity, we teach them to give back to their community. A lot of times our kids are the bike techs at local rides, you know, they’ll set up a tent, they have the ability to have a mobile, some of our toolboxes are mobile, and the classroom has a little tent and they pitch a project by tech fix your bike event out in the community. So there’s lots of ways that the room gets utilized. And the other thing you need to understand is the nickname our kids call this class is life tech. Because we really take all aspects of what they need to do to be a good employee down the road, whether like I said, whether they go to college and become an engineer, or whether they go out become a bike mechanic or an employee at a bike shop or work for specialized and become a you know, a designer, we really open up their eyes. You know, I think it’s not said enough that we employ 7.2 million people in the outdoor industry.
Heather Mason 13:57
That’s a phenomenal number. And I’m just thinking of what a great introduction to the bicycle industry and just for a more bicycle friendly America. And I’m hearing you say classroom and I know our listeners can’t see you but I can see you now and you’re sitting in what looks to me like the most beautiful workshop. It’s a classroom of it looks like a classroom in a school and there’s several workstations on one side and additionally on the other it’s set up so have multiple students could be working on bikes at one time. Is this what a classroom could look like? Or or does look like?
Mercedes Ross 14:28
Yes, so our typical let’s go through it a little bit. Our typical classroom is 10 stations and the teacher station. Each bench has over 40 tools. Obviously Park Tool is a big sponsor of ours and has had a very critical part of developing this program along with qbp giant specialized they’ve all had a big part of this we base, our teachers manual and our workbook off Park Tool, and we also work closely with Barnett’s bicycle Institute to help us with the curriculum as well but the classroom Everything the teacher needs is in the classroom. And so the teachers bench is to die for it is all the specialty tools and things that we just want off, that don’t need to be at every single student’s bench. And every teacher just rules when that big pallet comes from Park Tool, they’re just so excited. And everything from a compressor to, you know, a parts washer to, you know, all the things you need, we do ask the school to provide a classroom that has, you know, non carpeted floors, a sink, possibly a door to the outside, not all those things always happen. But we don’t need a really big room 20 by 40 is the smallest that we have. But we very much encouraged them to have about 10 benches. And like I said, sometimes the schools mix the benches to be half portable and half stationary, because they like to do events and be out in the field with the toolkits for basically, we have really thought of everything tubes lube, everything down to brand new bikes, brand new helmets, everything they need to run the course. And then they have access to the curriculum. And the curriculum was really developed to a introduce the student to the industry, B teach them the basics of bike mechanic in over a two year period. So there’s a level one and level two, and then make it easy for them to continue to supply that classroom. Obviously, if you’re fixing a lot of bikes, you run through a lot of parts. And the industry does a great job with allowing us to purchase that for those schools that have reduced price. And so the industry very much steps up to the plate to make sure that this program continues in the school. So the goal is obviously to get the lab in, and then keep the lab going. We’ve got like I said, we have classrooms that are 16 years old. And those classrooms are very eclectic.
Heather Mason 16:49
I can only imagine. So I’m so excited about this. I wish we had this in my area, you know, having a 13 year old and how is the expansion going? You spoke briefly about it earlier, but how many states are you currently in? And what does it look like for expansion?
Mercedes Ross 17:04
Okay, so we need to get the word out. Because a lot of people just don’t know about us, you know, we’re small grassroots, and it’s usually word of mouth. And so like I said, we’re in seven states. And our goal is to expand to 300 schools within the next five years. I know that doesn’t sound a lot like a lot. But every time like I said, when we go into a new state, we have to have that state approve our curriculum and make it possible for a school to bring our program in. So we expand into new states slowly, expansion is easier in the states that we exist already. And I can certainly send you a list of those. And I can send you a list of our existing schools so that if some of the retailers don’t even might not know that they have this program in their backyard, that there’s graduates coming out, and that they can become involved. And so I’d love to pass that around. But the main goal is to get the word out there and get as many programs going in high schools as we can, right.
Heather Mason 17:59
So so you very simple, you’re like a retailer can introduce you to a principal or the right person at a school. What’s the timeline from there? And I’m just thinking about the funding. I mean, you said you’ve had some generous sponsors, do communities help as well?
Mercedes Ross 18:12
Yes. So this is how it works, we get introduced to the principal or the school. And what we need to understand is timing. So the schools right now are obviously teaching this next year, starting October, November, they start thinking about the next year, and they start budgeting the next year. And so starting to talk to schools is a good time to do that is October, November, December. By January, they’ve pretty much made their decisions and budgeted for that coming year. And so if you can remember being in high school, you picked your classes for the next year in February, right. So we really need to be in the schedule, there’s a lot that happens. And so you were talking about the funding. And so the cost of putting this lab in is really inexpensive than the school systems. And the industry has stepped up to the plate and really provides about half of it so that the school only has to come up with what is in the education system, a nominal amount. So let’s say a school wanted to start this program by themselves and write the curriculum and buy all the tools and everything. It would probably cost them about $120,000. And with project by tech because of the industry, they can purchase it for 60,000 and that gives them everything they need, including we teach the teacher
Heather Mason 19:26
who’s the teacher,
Mercedes Ross 19:28
well, that’s a whole nother bus. But just so you know, so the lab cost is about $60,000. To put that into perspective, I was just speaking with someone that was setting up a nursing program and a dentist program and the chairs alone are $100,000 a piece and to put in a dentist program in a career technical education was is a million dollars or woodworking is a half a million auto shop is 2 million and so 60,000 is a really inexpensive way to bring experiential learning to their schools. You know, so So wait, what were you asking who the teachers are?
Heather Mason 20:03
I didn’t mean to interrupt you. But I am wondering who teaches the classes? Yeah,
Mercedes Ross 20:06
it’s so interesting. You know, a lot of our teachers are math and science teachers, but we do have some history teachers, all of them, avid avid cyclists have worked in a bike shop. And I’ve always wanted to teach a bike tech class and are generally have some bike technology in their back pocket. And then we teach them how to teach the class. And we really give them absolutely everything they need, all the videos, all the instruction, all the exams. And so they really need a basic knowledge of bike tech. And we do certify our teachers. So a teacher has to be a certified project by tech teacher, so we make sure they have the knowledge to teach the class. But then it depends, you know, in different school systems, the career technical education platform is usually what we come under. So that’s auto shop, and woodworking and bike tech, because we are so you know, breaking the rules and knocking down walls, because our pathway as it were to be in the bicycle industry or to be in the outdoor industry doesn’t exist, we’re really creating an entirely new career technical education pathway. So our biggest struggle is to educate the education system, that there’s a career there, that there’s the ability to make money, and that there’s tremendous amount of opportunity. Usually, when I talk to a board of education, that’s the first hurdle is to say, Hey, you know, we have an incredible, amazing opportunity here for these students to get employed, the trajectory can be up to two years, some have taken five years. So the first thing is, is to get the administration, the best person to hit is a board of education person. So within your community, the second best person is the principal, because the principal doesn’t buy into it. That’s the toughest part, having said that, a lot of educators shift between schools and so so it’s good to have both a board of education member and a principal with it. And then the teacher kind of evolves, sometimes, you know, we have a math teacher overseeing a program and five byte texts from a bike shop teach the class together. So they all take turns. So there’s all kinds of ways to bring in the teacher but and we certainly have them all out there. But once we’ve been introduced to the school, and they establish it, that they would like the program, the next step is to find the funding. And the funding comes from grants within education system, there’s federal funding what’s called the Perkins grant. For programs like ours, there’s a lot of local grants that are out there that will fund things like this. And so that’s the next step then is we find the funding the space is another issue.
Heather Mason 22:44
Because imagine,
Mercedes Ross 22:44
yeah, not only do you need the lab, but you need storage, because you have 25 us bikes, and you know 20 brand new bikes, or 11, brand new bikes, and then bins of parts and everything. So you need some kind of a storage unit. Thank god we’re working with tuff shed. So are we good see containers. So then the space is established, the teacher is established and trained. And then in the summer, we implement the classroom and then the fall, the class starts to be taught. So a class size a perfect class size is 20 kids. So it’s two kids per bench, which is super important because we teach them to work with someone else right away. And some of the schools have to have 35 students just in California, there is no 20 students per classroom. And so the teacher then has an assistant. So it’s a level one, level two, the level two students usually end up being a teacher’s assistant too. And that’s how it works. So it can be anywhere from one to two years, we’ve had ones that just call us up and go we have the money, we have the teacher we have the space, okay, sign at the bottom line.
NBDA 23:51
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Heather Mason 24:27
I’m thinking okay, first perfect timing for this podcast to come out. Because like your timeline of like best time to reach out to schools, I think this is gonna like we’re gonna come out in September and perfect time for retailers to start putting you in touch with the proper person. When you go through this process those 20 or 35 slots, you know, when you finally launch? Do they fill up quickly, like can you tell me what that feels like? Like are kids excited to take part in this program? Absolutely. So
Mercedes Ross 24:54
what happens initially is the first class fills up immediately by the second year. The school is calling us and saying, Hey, we want to add, you know, some more classes. And one of our busiest school care has five of these classes a week. And that teacher teaches 150 kids go through his, you know, level one and level two classes, it grows really quickly, a waiting line ends up happening immediately. In the second year, if not, in the first year, we have a 98% attendance rate. So if you’re in the education system, that’s how they get their money is attendance. They love our class. Nobody skips bike tech. And like I said, kids that initially don’t even ride a bike, take our class. And in the end, they end up riding a bike. And what happens to the bike community is they fix dad’s bike that was in the garage, and then they fix their sister’s bike and mom’s bike. And so then all of a sudden, all four of them are out riding bikes, Well, hello, you know, then dad decides it needs to buy a new bike. I’m mister retailer, here you go, you know, what we’re doing is encouraging hills bikes that have got flat tires and stuff to be fixed by the kids. And so it has this ripple effect in the community. And it has a ripple effect in the school. That is the coolest spot where everybody shows up. That’s not even taking the class. Teachers show up, you know, and so it has this amazing effect on the school community. One of the principals said to me that that class broke barriers, he said, there’s kids who would never talk to each other on either side of a bike stand, and they have to talk to each other, they have to work with each other, and they end up becoming friends. Whereas in, they would never have become friends. He said, and this was in a pretty gnarly school where there was a lot of, you know, different types of kids. He said it changed his entire school dynamic. And that’s the school that has the five classes. So a large population takes the class and they do things like one day, they’ll have everybody, all the teachers and students bring in their bikes to fix them so that people have you know, or they’ll have the middle school bring their bikes over to fix them. There’s lots of different ways to just affect the community. And then there’s one other part that you know, I’m very much involved with all the other youth organizations that are nonprofits, and we’re working with the cycling coalition. But locally when one of these rooms goes in, the purpose is not just for the high school, the purposes for it organically to start affecting the community in that the community can use that room in the high schools not using it like in the summer. Santa Cruz uses all our all our classrooms in the summer for Erna bike programs for less fortunate people. And you know, programs like Nika or our little Bella’s, or trips for kids need bike tools, they need to fix those bikes. And so Nick is always really glad when there’s an entire room full of bike tools for them to fix their bikes.
Heather Mason 27:42
We are such a big ecosystem. And I’m I mean, I have goosebumps hearing you say you know trips for kids and little Bella’s and that Yes. And you know, being a mom and being a pass Nikah coach, kids are different, you know, we can have the kid who is really into electronics really mechanically inclined, maybe the kid who doesn’t want to go out and try out for the team sports or kids who even raised Nika who have told me who joined AIGA. But don’t race and say, I’m just here because I want to be around bikes, right? So this is an opportunity to meet kids, wherever they’re at wherever they’re comfortable, and give them an opportunity to be around bikes with no prereqs. It’s just Come as you are, and really unify people. I have goosebumps about this. I love this. I do do I love what I do. But you mentioned the hurdle, you know that you have to overcome, you know, maybe in some of those initial conversations, and I’m thinking, there has to be some great stories of alumni that you can say, these are where our students, you know, end up,
Mercedes Ross 28:42
do you have any stories you could share with us about I have so many stories, and we really, you know, we change lives. And some of our schools are in underserved areas, where the students may or may not go to school, they may not show up at school at all, they’ll be down on the corner, you know, in town doing something they’re not supposed to be doing. And this class, one student in particular, it really affected him and the way I met him as I had just started a project by tech, and I was at sea otter, Monterey, and this young man taps me on the shoulder. And he goes, you know, Mercedes, he goes, I want to introduce myself, you weren’t there. When I was taking the class, I took both level one and level two, and I got this, you know, brand new bike that I built there, he built up a bike for himself. And he goes, and before this class, you know, I didn’t even think about riding a bike. And this has really changed my life. I’m here with snap on, and he ended up doing a climate ride. And he ended up getting his whole family on bicycles. He ended up graduating high school, which she said he had no plans on doing and he just thanked us for doing what we’re doing and to keep doing what we’re doing. And then the story continues two or three years later, I was literally just walking down this road and there was a tire place and of the Shopping Center. And I happened to notice the snap on truck. And I just glanced at it. And sure enough, his name was on it. So if you know what it takes to become a snap on franchise owner, that young man changed his life, he turned his life around, I went into the tire shop, sure enough, there was Adrian selling tires, and just he showed me his truck. And you know, he’s 2.5 kids now and has a business and he looked at me and he basically had tears in his eyes, he goes, I would have been in a really bad place if project by tech hadn’t come along. And so we change those kids lives, we change their trajectory, you know, he ended up being in the tool business, which is not, you know, he was selling tools to bike shops, it and then you have, you know, the bicycle trip, which is the founders shop. She has two locations. And each of those managers is a graduate from project by tech and all the mechanics are project by Tech graduates. We have another store in New Hampshire, and the teacher is actually the owner of the store. And he basically just built himself, his own staff over the last year, and he’s actually doing our pilot, we’re so excited. lightspeed has signed up with us. And as you retailers know, it’s so important for those students to know the point of sale system and everything. And so he’s helping us develop that curriculum with lightspeed. And he literally his whole staff is his students. He just brings them over the screen. So I’m seeing numbers. We have students at Calfee, we have students at schram. We have students at Santa Cruz, the end up with the vendors, it just depends on what their interest levels are. And so yes, so lots of success stories. And I will say this, you know, over the 15 years, we’ve graduated 4000 students, not all of them end up in the bike industry, but they all end up riding bikes, and they all end up being cyclists, and we have an effect on every single one of them.
Heather Mason 31:53
So many success stories. And you know, you mentioned the retailer in New Hampshire, and I think about all the things we have in front of us as retailers as people that are in the industry right now, we’re in this changing time, there’s so many different things coming at us every day. And it’s like, okay, you’d like me to connect you to someone at a school district and you’re thinking, Okay, it’s gonna take two years. But think of the potential these new employees, these the future employees, I mean, this is it’s critical, we take action now. We can make real impact in the retailer scope. Mercedes, give us some, I don’t know, retailers who have made a real impact or any, you know, share something to maybe motivate some retailers to want to take the next step here.
Mercedes Ross 32:35
Well, you know, that two year timeframe is just the longest time like I’ve said, you know, someone can come to us and if the school is interested, has the money as the funding in space and teacher it can go in and for weeks, so don’t even think that the two years is just the long term. You know, sometimes it can take long, but and not to get disappointed if it doesn’t go in right away. Yes. So here in Summit County, the Vail resorts, as you know, is a very large, they own a lot of ski areas across the country. And they are on a huge retail base. And they took a big interest in our program up here. And those graduates immediately after the first year, they had, you know, almost all the graduates from that class went straight down into their retail stores and became bike builders in their great beginning, you know, bike builders and beginning bike mechanics right off the bat, they’re great employees on the floor, because we teach them all of that there is an instant, you know, instant turnaround, if you can get in into a school and we are presenting you with this in the exact right time, for next, not this fall, obviously. But next fall, you could so get a school on board, and have students even during the school year apprentice with you, apprenticeship programs are great. You basically bring these students in and the school district covers the liability insurance and that student, you don’t have to pay them. There are apprenticeship programs, where in the summer, the state pays for that apprentice to work for you. There’s just so many opportunities, and no, it doesn’t have to take two years at all. The turnaround can be really quick. And I’m not telling anybody anything. But teaching employees is a huge chunk of our time investment and money investment is training employees and we’re giving you something that started it’s been changed already, or the student has been trained already. So just such a, you know, huge impact on not having to train that person. Right off the bat. They know what you need, you know, and we’ve drilled it into their heads that they need to zip up the jackets,
Heather Mason 34:33
such a big asset. I want to work closer with you like I feel like this is only the beginning of our future collaborations. You know, I definitely I’m so thankful to you, you know, what is your current focus? You’re doing such great work like in your role, like are you traveling a lot? Are you going to set up these new locations? What are you will you be at sea otter? I see you there.
Mercedes Ross 34:54
Actually, someone was just saying that I need to get care. Yes, hopefully COVID in mind, I will be theater, I hope so, um, we do go out and I do visit pretty much every school when I can, we can’t be at every installation because they all happen at the same time, which is this week. So our teachers, you know, teachers are great with installing the in the students actually take a big part of it. So they understand what it takes to put something like this up. But having said that, I do travel a lot. And when I do travel to the towns, I tried to reach out to the retailers that are there, you know, what everybody needs to hear is, it’s not about each one of us, it’s about the fact that those students in those kids lives are going to change because we’re giving them an opportunity, right. And so when I do go to towns, like I went to this town in Vermont, and all the bike retailers were tough competitors, we all sat around, had some coffee doughnuts and got this program going in the local high school. So because it was going to be a benefit to all of them. And so sometimes a bunch of retailers share sponsoring and mentoring the program, because ultimately, they’ll all benefit. And so yeah, so I do travel quite a bit, and I tried to get out and see everybody,
Heather Mason 36:04
that’s my favorite part of the job. I love our industry. And I, you know, wasn’t even thinking that we could really bring retailers united to collaborate on a project that could you know, especially in inner cities, or other areas, it doesn’t even matter
Mercedes Ross 36:18
right rule, it doesn’t matter, the more of the community businesses that are involved, the more the school is apt to listen, because you know, it would for coming in, like I said, cold calling, they just, you know, we’re just another program trying to get in their door. But if four of the bike shops in town, go, Oh, my God, you so need to put this program in the high school, and then you reach out to the most important people, the mothers, of those students that are mechanically inclined, then things start to happen, you know, the puck gets boiling pretty quickly. And and all of a sudden, you have a program in the school in your backyard. And you know, it’s endless, the possibilities that come with that. So you know, the goal is to get the word out there and let people know about our program.
Heather Mason 37:00
Do you have any specific needs? I mean, we have so many different listeners, industry associations, suppliers. Do you have any specific needs right now that, you know, we could put a call out
Mercedes Ross 37:11
for absolutely introduce us to schools? Absolutely. That’s the most important part. And like I said, we know that the retailers are so busy. And so we’ve really created a turnkey program that they really don’t have to do too much. Or they can do as much as they want. I have a list of things that they can do we have, you know, list of benefits that I sent you. And you can certainly share that we have a list of what sponsoring retailers have done in the past and what they do. But it’s all a matter of how much that retailers bandwidth is. And they can contribute as much as they can or not, you know, it’s just a matter of getting the program in place. And then we really lean on the retailers visit the school isn’t carrying the burden of keeping this program going over the years so that they don’t feel so alone, you know, so that there’s a mentor in this community that is helping Shepherd this program.
Heather Mason 37:59
Yeah. So project by tech.org. You can go there learn more Mercedes, five years from now, you know, what would be your ultimate? Where would you be where would project like tech be in five years from now?
Mercedes Ross 38:11
If I have all my wishes, I wish we were in every state. Getting into the states is the toughest part. That’s our biggest lift. And certainly, you know, we Okay, so here’s my story. I was hiking up a mountain sledding in Vermont, and this, this man came up behind me and his his girlfriend, and they were from New York City, and they didn’t have any water. And they certainly looked like they shouldn’t be hiking up the mountain in Vermont. So I gave them my water. And I you know, kind of told them where they were to go and, and slowly but surely, they followed me and made it to the top of the mountain. And at the top of the mountain, the gentleman said, Hey, can you take a picture of us in front of this wonderful American flag that’s inside of this lift? And I said, No, no, you need to, you know, do it with a view in the background. He goes, Yeah, now I’m kind of the senator I need to do in front of the flag. And I’m like, Oh, really, you know, what state are you senator have you know, and I’ve got these wristbands and say project bright tech on them, because that’s how I tell people about it. And I put it on their wrists when I’m writing. And so I put a project biotech route, you know, on his wrist right away. He’s the one senator for New Jersey, and I’m not very political, and I just wasn’t paying attention. And I was up there with my old college roommate and my sister and we come around the corner and my college roommate goes, Oh, my lord. It was Cory Booker. And I got it anyways. But I’m going to bring this story to an end because what he said to me was super interesting. He loves our program. We’re finally getting to some programs into New Jersey, and he looks at me and he goes Mercedes. He goes, there are 26,410 high schools in this country. And 11,340 private schools, you need to be in every single one of them. Are you ready? Okay, not quite yet, but we’re getting there. You know, call you when we’re
Heather Mason 39:54
no pressure. Oh,
Mercedes Ross 39:56
- So we have 26,400 In schools, and we have a lot of schools to get to. So you guys need to help us.
Heather Mason 40:05
It’s awesome to have this opportunity in front of us like you can like, it’s really good work, right? You feel really good about it. Yeah. And you know,
Mercedes Ross 40:13
it just things like the girls that send me pictures of the bike projects they’re doing. And you need to understand that a lot of our schools or alternative schools, kids that are failing in high school, they’ve gone through 10 high schools, they end up in this alternative school, and they may not graduate, they may never, you know, continue their education. And they do they finish school, they find a path. And you know, it is all about the students. It’s how we’re changing their lives. And that’s the most important part of this is those students stories are just so memorable. And the fact that we are changing lives, and wouldn’t it be great for you, as a retailer to have some of those stories on your walls and have some of those employees inside your amazing businesses and take part in this community project that would be so beneficial to both you and the community? You know, I think we really need to step back and go, it’s not about us. It’s about the kids.
Heather Mason 41:07
I am so ready to get the ball rolling. Okay, so how should people can they contact you directly? Will you share your downside? Okay,
Mercedes Ross 41:13
yes, absolutely. I’m going to give you my phone number because I’m available to everybody write this down. 303-618-6233 you can go on our website, which is project by tech.org. You can email me it’s director at project by tech.org or info at which is easier to remember project by tech.org. Brian and I are here to chat with anybody give them a you know, ideas on how to walk into a school and have this program I you know, I have meetings with schools I have retailers will say hey, you know, Sally’s the principal of the school, I want you to chat with her and have a meeting, we’ve set up a zoom, and I can do the rest of the work. Like I said, we know you guys are busy. Oh, my goodness, you’re so busy. And so we wanted to make this as much turnkey for you. I mean, I’ve been working with you guys for 30 years, I know exactly what your bandwidth is. And so we it’s a turnkey program. It teaches the kids everything that you need as a retailer, and then some. So we really give you these wonderful moldable human beings that are interested in the coming part of our world. And we it’s always evolving. So we always have meetings with retailers, you know, how do students do that ended up with your store? What else do we need? That’s why we brought in lightspeed we you know, if a bike segments coming in, we have a lot of other stuff coming in, because retailers have said, Hey, you know, the kid could have known this more. So you guys are critical into helping us develop this program. It really takes the whole industry to nurture it and to keep it moving forward. You know, Barry, just so you know, so the retailer’s industry know, she put $1.5 million into this program to give you employees and so oh my goodness, right? So we just need to keep this going and teach these amazing kids when an opportunity of being part of project bike tech is
Heather Mason 43:05
okay, so we are going to have to do a follow up podcast and see how things are going. I’m really I’m gonna put you know, a request out to our retailers, please email Mercedes director at project by tech that org. Let’s get set up. Mercedes, thank you so much for coming on for your energy. I mean, Your smile is infectious. And I really hope that kind of this conversation allows retailers to take a deeper look at project by tech and what you’re doing to bring awareness to communities and schools and bring more people into our industry. I think you’re amazing. I can’t I can’t go see otter so please look for me if you ended up going.
Mercedes Ross 43:41
I so well, I so well. And yeah, Erica parkhills you got to go to sea otter, I’m like, Okay, okay, I gotta put that on my schedule, you know. So absolutely. And I look forward to seeing you and hearing stories and, and that’s what we’re here for. We’re here to help you, as a retailer, bring this program into your community, whatever you need it. We always figure out ways we always find the money, we find the teacher, we find the space, just have to give us that opportunity. And then we go from there.
Heather Mason 44:07
Well, thank you so much. That is it. I invite you to connect with me. Come on bicycle retailer, radio, share your story with our listeners. There’s lots of great love for our industry. teaming up with projects like tech web trips for kids, check out the MBDA website. There’s lots of links there, see who our partners are and the work we’re doing. If you’d like to support the show, don’t forget to subscribe and share your favorite episode with your friends on social media. Thank you for listening. Come back here soon. And with us we go.
NBDA 44:35
This has been bicycle retail radio by the National bicycle Dealers Association. For more information on membership, and member benefits, join us@nbda.com
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The NBDA has been here since 1946, representing and empowering specialty bicycle dealers in the United States through education, communications, research, advocacy, member discount programs, and promotional opportunities. As shops are facing never-before-seen circumstances, these resources offer a lifeline. Together, we will weather this. We at the NBDA will not waver in our commitment to serving our members even during this challenging time—but we need your support.
Now is the time to become a member as we join together to make one another stronger. Whether you’re a retailer or an industry partner, your membership in the NBDA is one of the best investments you’ll make this year.
Learn more about the benefits of being a member and join now.
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