Beards for Babies: WooRides Pupil Transport Van
Donation protected
ALI IS A BABY FACE, LETS GET HIM TO SHOW IT FOR THE BABIES! Have you ever seen Ali's chin? Now's your chance!
What Are We Up To Now?
We are in a pivotal place for growth in our worker-owned cooperative and are reaching out in search of funding that would help us to make the most of an important new opportunity. Many of you are familiar with us as Worcester's new pedicab service. We envision ourselves holistically as a transportation service and have had plans to complement our pedicab service with year-round transportation services using sustainable cars. We are ready to embark on the start of that journey, by adding a van to our fleet!
We will be using this van to provide services to an early child care center here in Worcester, which has reached out to us about providing transportation for their students. The van we have in mind will fit certain specifications that will allow us to eventually turn it into a gasoline-electric hybrid! We've been approved by the Cooperative Fund of New England for a loan to purchase the van, but this van will still need to be insured and registered to get it on the road, and it will require paid drivers (us worker-owners and other employees!) to run services for the early child care center and other livery contracts we are working on acquiring. In order for us to cover these costs for the first month or so, we need your help!
Our Ask
Ali, one of our worker-owners, is putting his beard on auction! Every donor will get to vote on a style of facial hair for Ali's face. Whichever style gets the most votes is the style that Ali will rock for a whole month! Make your donation and cast your vote by leaving a comment indicating your choice in the comments! The style with the most amount of dollars in its favor will be the winner!
The choices are:
The Bare Chin (Clean Shave)
The Beard Knot
The Handle Bar
The Friendly Mutton Chops
Any donation's at $250 and above will grant you a complementary Major Taylor History Tour (up to 2 adults & 1 child) in the back of a WooRides pedicab!
Ali's Current Bearded Face:
The Bare Chin (Clean Shave): Make Ali look like he's 13 years old again!
The Beard Knot: Help Ali land a job with Jack Sparrow!
The Handle Bar: Help Ali land a job as the Monopoly Man, a.k.a. Mr. Money Bags (The Hamburgler?)!
The Friendly Mutton Chops: Help Ali land a job as a NASCAR driver!
Our Story
Our worker-owned coop put rubber to road in June 2017, but the incepting idea goes as far back as 2014 when one of our current members took note of the increasing traffic in the city of Worcester and more downtown activity than he had ever seen before. A lay-off from a full-time job and a trip to his mother-country, Bangladesh, where bicycle rickshaws are a-plenty, fomented action to impact Worcester’s transportation landscape. While the initial desire was to start a locally-owned and operated bikeshare for the city, this idea was put to rest when a large corporation, Ofo, was approved to operate bikes in the city starting in September of 2017. Our small, under-resourced, and forming cooperative was not going to be able to compete with a global bikeshare company whose cost per bike was only $50. So, WooRides, named for one of the many monikers of Worcester, decided to start where the cost of entry was low: bicycle rickshaws, commonly known as pedicabs in the United States. With a larger vision to impact transportation with bicycles, hybrid and electric vehicles, WooRides knew that it needed to start somewhere, however small, in order to engage the community, gain public support, and capture an audience. WooRides’ mission has always been to bring sustainable transportation services and products to Worcester, with a focus on underserved communities, but in 2017, we knew that we first needed to stretch people’s imaginations as to what alternative transportation can look like. Can it be fun? Can it be sustainable? Can it be people-oriented? We say yes, and after more than a year of operating WooRides, we know that our community agrees.
Our Work in the Community
As an alternative transportation cooperative, we have sought to work with the youth of our community, the same community from whence we came and are still a part. We have done so by fostering young people's bike mechanic and marketing/design skills, and supporting their creative style of cycling. Last year, as a "host" employer for the Worcester Community Action Council's YouthWorks summer jobs program, we (predominantly Ali) had the privilege of working with and mentoring 6 youth, who focused on bike mechanic & design work at WooRides. In partnership with grassroots organizations like Worcester Earn-A-Bike (WEAB), we also supported our youth and their larger decentralized network of youth cyclists to raise money for and to host a youth-run bike block party which occurred in August 2018. In the fall of 2018, with the City of Worcester's Department of Youth Opportunities & WEAB, we facilitated a 6-week youth cycling & driving safety program with 6 youth who not only shared their expertise with their peers here in Worcester, but will now be facilitating a training on bike & car safety and laws at the Youth Bike Summit this February in NYC! You will also find us at some public events, providing our pedicab services to community members or at events or rallies hosted by grassroots community organizations. Lastly, we are vested in growing the worker-owned coop economy here in Worcester, which is why we are a part of Cooperation Worcester. We hope that you will support us in our mission to create a more equitable community by supporting cooperatives & democratic workplaces like ours. You can do this by donating to and sharing our GoFundMe, and by hiring us for our services!
Ali, Anthony, and James standing proudly in front of their graphic design work for WooRides' shop location! Chris Sawyer (a friend), far left, helped them with applying the vinyl decals cleanly and neatly.
Our Plan for Sustainable Growth
We are now growing our services to include sustainable transportation for early childhood education centers and after school youth enrichment programs. We already have an early childhood education center that has committed to paying us for our transportation services in order to alleviate the transportation challenges of the current students and parents of their center. Our service will also help the center garner more parent interest and student enrollments. In order to serve them, we will need an 8-10 passenger van, for which we have already received a loan from the Cooperative Fund of New England in the amount of $20,000. This will enable us to purchase a used gasoline-fueled van, capable of being converted to a hybrid using aftermarket technology, to provide our services. While we have secured a customer pre-launch, payment from the childcare center is not immediately available upon completion of service. The center receives funds from a grant in order to pay for transportation services and these payments are delayed by 30 to 60 days due to the lag in processing paperwork for proof of transportation. In order to start on the right foot, we will need support to cover the costs associated with the first couple of months of operation including insurance, loan, and wage costs.
Our 2019 Goal
We believe that in 2019, with the launch of our early childhood education transportation service, we will be able to end with a surplus. Moreover, we will create nearly two full-time (equivalent) jobs through this new service, increase our earning capacity, and deliver on our mission in an even deeper way. Our modest projections illustrate that our van service will generate a revenue of over $47,000, and pay wages of over $38,000 in our first year of operation. Support from our community will enable us to achieve this milestone, and help us to expand our scope and our impact: on the community, workers, and our financial growth capacity.
Our Track Record
In 2018, our second year in operation, our cooperative earned a total of $5,619.72. Strictly from pedicab riding we earned $3,899.72. Additionally, we earned $320 from our work in planning and facilitating Coop Academy 2018, received a $1000 grant to host a youth-run bike block party, and in September we started subletting part of our office space to a mission-focused collective for $100/month. In our first year, we spent far more hours riding our pedicabs, and our hourly earning as a coop was only $63.00/hour of pedicab riding. In contrast, in 2018, we made $127.86/hour of pedicab riding. This demonstrates our evolution in becoming more efficient and working smarter. Our performance in our second year enabled us to end the year with a significantly smaller deficit than the previous year (-$252.79 in year two vs. -$798.77 in year one).
ALI IS A BABY FACE, LETS GET HIM TO SHOW IT FOR THE BABIES! Have you ever seen Ali's chin? Now's your chance!
What Are We Up To Now?
We are in a pivotal place for growth in our worker-owned cooperative and are reaching out in search of funding that would help us to make the most of an important new opportunity. Many of you are familiar with us as Worcester's new pedicab service. We envision ourselves holistically as a transportation service and have had plans to complement our pedicab service with year-round transportation services using sustainable cars. We are ready to embark on the start of that journey, by adding a van to our fleet!
We will be using this van to provide services to an early child care center here in Worcester, which has reached out to us about providing transportation for their students. The van we have in mind will fit certain specifications that will allow us to eventually turn it into a gasoline-electric hybrid! We've been approved by the Cooperative Fund of New England for a loan to purchase the van, but this van will still need to be insured and registered to get it on the road, and it will require paid drivers (us worker-owners and other employees!) to run services for the early child care center and other livery contracts we are working on acquiring. In order for us to cover these costs for the first month or so, we need your help!
Our Ask
Ali, one of our worker-owners, is putting his beard on auction! Every donor will get to vote on a style of facial hair for Ali's face. Whichever style gets the most votes is the style that Ali will rock for a whole month! Make your donation and cast your vote by leaving a comment indicating your choice in the comments! The style with the most amount of dollars in its favor will be the winner!
The choices are:
The Bare Chin (Clean Shave)
The Beard Knot
The Handle Bar
The Friendly Mutton Chops
Any donation's at $250 and above will grant you a complementary Major Taylor History Tour (up to 2 adults & 1 child) in the back of a WooRides pedicab!
Ali's Current Bearded Face:
The Bare Chin (Clean Shave): Make Ali look like he's 13 years old again!
The Beard Knot: Help Ali land a job with Jack Sparrow!
The Handle Bar: Help Ali land a job as the Monopoly Man, a.k.a. Mr. Money Bags (The Hamburgler?)!
The Friendly Mutton Chops: Help Ali land a job as a NASCAR driver!
Our Story
Our worker-owned coop put rubber to road in June 2017, but the incepting idea goes as far back as 2014 when one of our current members took note of the increasing traffic in the city of Worcester and more downtown activity than he had ever seen before. A lay-off from a full-time job and a trip to his mother-country, Bangladesh, where bicycle rickshaws are a-plenty, fomented action to impact Worcester’s transportation landscape. While the initial desire was to start a locally-owned and operated bikeshare for the city, this idea was put to rest when a large corporation, Ofo, was approved to operate bikes in the city starting in September of 2017. Our small, under-resourced, and forming cooperative was not going to be able to compete with a global bikeshare company whose cost per bike was only $50. So, WooRides, named for one of the many monikers of Worcester, decided to start where the cost of entry was low: bicycle rickshaws, commonly known as pedicabs in the United States. With a larger vision to impact transportation with bicycles, hybrid and electric vehicles, WooRides knew that it needed to start somewhere, however small, in order to engage the community, gain public support, and capture an audience. WooRides’ mission has always been to bring sustainable transportation services and products to Worcester, with a focus on underserved communities, but in 2017, we knew that we first needed to stretch people’s imaginations as to what alternative transportation can look like. Can it be fun? Can it be sustainable? Can it be people-oriented? We say yes, and after more than a year of operating WooRides, we know that our community agrees.
Our Work in the Community
As an alternative transportation cooperative, we have sought to work with the youth of our community, the same community from whence we came and are still a part. We have done so by fostering young people's bike mechanic and marketing/design skills, and supporting their creative style of cycling. Last year, as a "host" employer for the Worcester Community Action Council's YouthWorks summer jobs program, we (predominantly Ali) had the privilege of working with and mentoring 6 youth, who focused on bike mechanic & design work at WooRides. In partnership with grassroots organizations like Worcester Earn-A-Bike (WEAB), we also supported our youth and their larger decentralized network of youth cyclists to raise money for and to host a youth-run bike block party which occurred in August 2018. In the fall of 2018, with the City of Worcester's Department of Youth Opportunities & WEAB, we facilitated a 6-week youth cycling & driving safety program with 6 youth who not only shared their expertise with their peers here in Worcester, but will now be facilitating a training on bike & car safety and laws at the Youth Bike Summit this February in NYC! You will also find us at some public events, providing our pedicab services to community members or at events or rallies hosted by grassroots community organizations. Lastly, we are vested in growing the worker-owned coop economy here in Worcester, which is why we are a part of Cooperation Worcester. We hope that you will support us in our mission to create a more equitable community by supporting cooperatives & democratic workplaces like ours. You can do this by donating to and sharing our GoFundMe, and by hiring us for our services!
Ali, Anthony, and James standing proudly in front of their graphic design work for WooRides' shop location! Chris Sawyer (a friend), far left, helped them with applying the vinyl decals cleanly and neatly.Our Plan for Sustainable Growth
We are now growing our services to include sustainable transportation for early childhood education centers and after school youth enrichment programs. We already have an early childhood education center that has committed to paying us for our transportation services in order to alleviate the transportation challenges of the current students and parents of their center. Our service will also help the center garner more parent interest and student enrollments. In order to serve them, we will need an 8-10 passenger van, for which we have already received a loan from the Cooperative Fund of New England in the amount of $20,000. This will enable us to purchase a used gasoline-fueled van, capable of being converted to a hybrid using aftermarket technology, to provide our services. While we have secured a customer pre-launch, payment from the childcare center is not immediately available upon completion of service. The center receives funds from a grant in order to pay for transportation services and these payments are delayed by 30 to 60 days due to the lag in processing paperwork for proof of transportation. In order to start on the right foot, we will need support to cover the costs associated with the first couple of months of operation including insurance, loan, and wage costs.
Our 2019 Goal
We believe that in 2019, with the launch of our early childhood education transportation service, we will be able to end with a surplus. Moreover, we will create nearly two full-time (equivalent) jobs through this new service, increase our earning capacity, and deliver on our mission in an even deeper way. Our modest projections illustrate that our van service will generate a revenue of over $47,000, and pay wages of over $38,000 in our first year of operation. Support from our community will enable us to achieve this milestone, and help us to expand our scope and our impact: on the community, workers, and our financial growth capacity.
Our Track Record
In 2018, our second year in operation, our cooperative earned a total of $5,619.72. Strictly from pedicab riding we earned $3,899.72. Additionally, we earned $320 from our work in planning and facilitating Coop Academy 2018, received a $1000 grant to host a youth-run bike block party, and in September we started subletting part of our office space to a mission-focused collective for $100/month. In our first year, we spent far more hours riding our pedicabs, and our hourly earning as a coop was only $63.00/hour of pedicab riding. In contrast, in 2018, we made $127.86/hour of pedicab riding. This demonstrates our evolution in becoming more efficient and working smarter. Our performance in our second year enabled us to end the year with a significantly smaller deficit than the previous year (-$252.79 in year two vs. -$798.77 in year one).
ALI IS A BABY FACE, LETS GET HIM TO SHOW IT FOR THE BABIES! Have you ever seen Ali's chin? Now's your chance!
Co-organizers (2)
Woo Rides
Organizer
Worcester, MA
Ali Soofi
Co-organizer