BUILT FOR WHAT’S NEXT
Impact Report | 2025-26
15
Years of service in Atlanta
800+
Youth Served in 2025
A LETTER FROM TIM & BECKY
This year marked a defining chapter for Bearings. We expanded our physical footprint, strengthened our programs, and deepened our roots in the community — all while staying true to what has guided us for 15 years: creating access, opportunity, and belonging for young people through bikes.
From opening a new retail shop and Beltline connection bridge to watching youth earn bikes, race with confidence, and step into paid job training, the progress we saw in 2025–26 was made possible by a community that believes in long-term impact. Your support fuels every repair stand, every trail ride, and every young person discovering what they’re capable of.
Thank you for building this future with us.
Tim & Becky O’Mara, Co-Founders
600+
Bikes restored & put back on the road
BUILDING WHAT COMES NEXT
Building Pathways. Opening Doors.
In Southwest Atlanta, where too many young adults face disconnection from school and work, higher unemployment, and cycles of poverty, Bearings Bike Works is creating real pathways forward. Nationally, about 20% of Black 18- to 24-year-olds are neither in school nor working, and low proficiency rates in Atlanta Public Schools leave many unprepared for the workforce. Bearings addresses this urgent need with a research-backed approach. The Frameworks program serves as a pre-employment preparedness experience grounded in the three strongest factors identified by a 2018 Brookings Institution study: Earning credentials
or training, gaining early labor force experience, and participating in feedback-based programs. Through paid, hands-on work in the bike shop, participants build technical skills, strong work habits, and confidence, while receiving ongoing feedback from adult mentors.
The program design helps young people develop a growth mindset, handle feedback, and build positive relationships.
This year, the opening of our new 3,000-square-foot Retail & Repair Shop — transformed from an old storage shed — dramatically expands Bearings’ job training capacity. The shop nearly triples our previous workspace and now serves as a vibrant training hub right beside the Atlanta Beltline Westside Trail. Over the last 12 months, over 24 teens and young adults logged more than 10,000 hours of job training and meaningful work at Bearings. The Career Accelerator Program achieved a 46% completion rate in 2025 (above national averages for similar programs), with recent modular and flexible adjustments driving even stronger engagement. Frameworks participants leave prepared for their next steps — whether rapid employment through partners like WorkSource Atlanta or continued education at Atlanta Technical College and others. With the new shop and expanded capacity, Bearings is even better equipped to help the next generation with the skills and confidence they need to thrive.
ROLTON’S STORY
From Skill-Building to Real-World Opportunity.
Rolton first connected with Bearings in 2024 through his older brother Jarvis, a former Frameworks Fellow who went on to become a bike mechanic. Looking for a meaningful jump start in his work journey, Rolton arrived with a natural interest and real aptitude for mechanics. He quickly immersed himself in the hands-on training, consistently stepped up to take on greater responsibility, and developed strong professional skills in a supportive workplace environment.
Inspired by his own growth, Rolton encouraged his sister to join the Frameworks summer high school internship program, bringing another family member into the Bearings community.
In December 2025, we connected Rolton to YouthBuild through an initial exposure experience and supported him as he applied and enrolled in the program. YouthBuild is a paid community-based pre-apprenticeship focused on construction training. He is now on a clear path to entering an HVAC technician apprenticeship program in 2026. Program leaders describe him as a standout trainee — reliable, hard-working, coachable, and moving forward.
Rolton’s story powerfully reflects Bearings’ mission: providing genuine hands-on experience that builds real confidence and opens doors to meaningful careers. His journey shows how a welcoming space for learning and working can create ripple effects that extend far beyond the bike shop, equipping young people with the skills and mindset to own their futures.
THE FRONT DOOR TO WHAT’S NEXT
At Bearings, our programs work together to meet youth where they are and grow with them over time. In today’s urban settings, young people face formidable threats — negative influences from peers and media, rising mental health challenges, and deepening isolation.
Positive youth development programs are essential, providing structured support that builds resilience, fosters belonging, and equips them with the skills and relationships that are needed to thrive.
For many, that journey begins in Skills for Life, where hands-on mechanical learning builds confidence, patience, and pride. From fixing a flat to understanding how a bike works top to bottom, students gain real skills through meaningful work.
From there, youth often move into our youth cycling programs, putting skills into motion and deepening relationships. Through Cone Crusher Clinics hosted in community parks and local schools,
young riders build confidence and bike handling skills in fun, supportive environments. For those ready to take the next step, Bearings offers two team pathways: our elementary team; focused on play, connection, and foundational riding skills, and our competitive middle and high school team; where riders develop discipline, teamwork, and leadership through racing and training.
For teens, Bearings extends the pathway through Frameworks, our paid job training program. Fellows gain hands-on shop experience alongside mentorship in resume-building, interview preparation, financial literacy, and character development. Frameworks supports long-term success by exploring career pathways through workplace field trips and connecting youth to job opportunities beyond Bearings. Together, these programs create a continuum — from learning a skill, to leading on the trail, to preparing for life beyond the bike.
300+
Youth Served in 2025
7,000+
Hours logged learning
85%
Surveyed students report having a mentor-like relationship at Bearings
SKILLS. RELATIONSHIPS. LEADERSHIP.
WHERE BELONGING TAKES ROOT
Migeal found friends, structure, and a strong sense of belonging in a brand-new city.
Migeal had just arrived in Atlanta from Jamaica. He didn’t yet know the city, hadn’t made friends, and was still figuring out where he fit. One afternoon, while doing wheelies on the Beltline, he crossed paths with our team. We struck up a conversation, met his mom who was walking nearby, and invited them to check out Bearings and consider joining the cycling team.
Migeal joined, and the impact was immediate. Over the course of the season, he found friends, structure, and a strong sense of belonging in a new city. Bearings became a place where he could show up consistently, be known, and feel supported during a critical transition in his life. Migeal’s athletic talent surprised everyone. Throughout the season, he emerged as the fastest middle school rider on the team by a margin, regularly outperforming high school athletes. His success earned an invitation for him to compete at the state championship, where he continued to excel.
Migeal’s story reflects what our program does best: meeting kids where they are, welcoming them in, and giving them a place to grow — socially, emotionally, and athletically. We hope to continue nurturing his talent for years to come, and just as importantly, to remain a place where teens like him can find a home.
ON THE TRAIL & REPRESENTING BEARINGS
Bearings’ youth cycling programs provide young riders the chance to grow far beyond the bike. Through clinics, practices, and races, students build confidence, discipline, and a sense of responsibility — while representing Bearings in the broader cycling community.
During the 2025 Seasons:
700+
Youth Participated in a Cone Crusher Clinic
70
Elementary Team Riders
29
Middle & High School Riders
A FULL-CIRCLE MOMENT
In 2025, Bearings celebrated 15 years serving the Southwest Atlanta community — and one of the most meaningful moments came when alumni returned to the place where it all began.
On a sunny spring afternoon, a familiar face walked into the shop. Jonoah hadn’t been back in nearly ten years, but the connection was instant. He grew up just down the street, earned his bike at Bearings alongside his brothers, and spent his childhood riding through Adair Park with his friends. Today, Jonoah is serving in the United States Marine Corps and working as a diesel mechanic. Standing in the shop, he smiled and summed it up simply — motioning around the room: “All because of this.”
Stories like Jonoah’s filled the room during our 15-Year Reunion in June 2025, as alumni shared memories, laughter, and reflections on how Bearings shaped their childhoods. The bikes, the stars, the friendships — it all came rushing back. What started as a neighborhood bike project has grown into a community that continues to show up, years later, in powerful and profound ways.
THE IMPACT THAT GROWS OVER TIME
Bearings’ 15-Year Reunion brought alumni back to Bearings from around the region and across life stages. What they shared was clear: The bikes mattered, but the relationships, confidence, and sense of belonging mattered more. Years later, Bearings continues to show up in their lives in ways both expected and surprising.
POWERED BY COMMUNITY
For 15 years, Bearings has been fueled by people — neighbors, volunteers, donors, families, and community partners who believe in the power of bikes to create opportunity. Through strong partnerships, we expand access, remove barriers, and deepen our impact across Southwest Atlanta.
In 2025, we celebrated that same spirit through events that brought everyone together. From milestone fundraisers to joyful rides and reunions, these moments strengthened connections, honored our past, and invested in the future of the youth and families we serve.
Through our partnership with the Atlanta Department of Transportation, Bearings supported Safe Routes to Schools by bringing Cone Crusher Clinics into local schools and participating in events that promote biking to school. These efforts help students build confidence, learn safety skills, and see biking as a fun and reliable way to get around their neighborhoods.
Bearings partners with neighboring non-profit Trees Atlanta to support their bike-based summer camp by providing training counselors in basic bike repair, and offering tune-ups and resources to camper families to ensure their bikes are safe and summer-ready.
Trees Atlanta is also installing a Woodland Demonstration Garden surrounding our new Beltline bridge, highlighting native plants, and creating a welcoming community space.
Bearings works closely with Georgia Cycling Association in many ways, most notably ensuring urban youth who want to ride can do so, and improving and growing the network of trail systems in metro Atlanta. Together, Bearings Bike Works and Georgia Cycling Association are bringing visibility to and expanding access to cycling for youth of all ages.
CELEBRATION & CONNECTION
Through our partnership with the Atlanta Department of Transportation, Bearings supported Safe Routes to Schools by bringing Cone Crusher Clinics into local schools and participating in events that promote biking to school. These efforts help students build confidence, learn safety skills, and see biking as a fun and reliable way to get around their neighborhoods.
Bearings partners with neighboring non-profit Trees Atlanta to support their bike-based summer camp by providing training counselors in basic bike repair, and offering tune-ups and resources to camper families to ensure their bikes are safe and summer-ready.
Trees Atlanta is also installing a Woodland Demonstration Garden surrounding our new Beltline bridge, highlighting native plants, and creating a welcoming community space.
Bearings works closely with Georgia Cycling Association in many ways, most notably ensuring urban youth who want to ride can do so, and improving and growing the network of trail systems in metro Atlanta. Together, Bearings Bike Works and Georgia Cycling Association are bringing visibility to and expanding access to cycling for youth of all ages.