#2BFayetteville

The trails are only one component of the latest developments—one that promises to be a game changer for the cycling community and Northwest Arkansas in general. Another is a three-year, $1.03 million grant awarded to Northwest Arkansas Community College (NWACC) by the Walton Family Foundation to support a groundbreaking, cycling-focused curriculum and learning space. The grant will fund an accredited bicycle assembly and repair technician program along with a cycling and technician education center. When the program launches this fall, it will be only the second of its kind in the United States. "We are not the first or second or even tenth training program," Dr. Megan Bolinder, Dean of Workforce and Economic Development at NWACC, explained. "But we are only the second BIEA accredited community college technician training program with the specific outcome of providing affordable, equitable, quality training and job placement upon completion." Those enrolled in the program will be set on a course to earn a Bicycle Industry Employers Association (BIEA) accredited certification in bicycle assembly and repair and gain skills in bicycle mechanics, wheel repair and assembly, braking, bearing and suspension systems, service department operations, electric bikes and more. The Technical Certificate in Bicycle Assembly and Repair will provide students with skills in assembling and repairing bicycles, as well as critical thinking, problem solving and customer service. This training will prepare them for entry-level technician jobs within the cycling industry in retail, manufacturing, and engineering technology. It's another building block in an expanding, comprehensive foundation supporting the cycling community here in Northwest Arkansas. Program geared toward job placement One unique component of the training is that participants who earn a certificate in the program will be eligible for a guaranteed starting salary with BIEA affiliate employers. "Part of the arrangement with our accrediting organization is that for every student who successfully completes this rigorous curriculum, BIEA affiliates will agree to provide a job with a full-time starting salary of $32,000, with benefits," Bolinder said. "And for these technicians to get a technical certificate from a community college with a promise of not only a job but a specific minimum salary, that's really unusual. We're limiting the first inaugural class to only 24 students, in order to fully actualize our commitment to helping students secure job placement at the end." And the training doesn't have to stop at a technical certificate. NWACC offers pathways to earn an Associate Degree of Applied Science in General Technology. "These are credit bearing courses that can be transferable," Bolinder continued. "So, while it's a year-long commitment there's also an educational pathway as well as a professional placement pathway depending on what the student wants to pursue at the end." 8

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