Blog: City Blog

Two Bikes Mentorship Empowers Knoxville Youth

Two Bikes is a bike shop in Knoxville's Old City. It opened in April 2021 and serves local cyclists, many of whom commute through downtown and drop in to the store to use the community workstands posted in the rear of the space.

The bike shop is also home to a mentoring program empowering local youth.

Sales and E-Commerce instructor Annmarie Groves explains that the bike shop's internship program, which began in summer of 2022.

"The store's owner, Mitchell [Connell], tells a story about when he was in high school -- that he would hang out for hours at his local bike store and do anything -- sweep floors -- to try to get a job there." Eventually, he did get a job there. "He wanted to create that opportunity for kids in this community," she says.

Annmarie Groves and Tahn Cao review Two Bikes' online inventory.

High school students ages 14-18 can sign up to learn about e-commerce and marketing or bike maintenance. A few, like Connor Weaver, a sophomore at Fulton High School, have learned both.

Mentor Tahn Cao learned the value of mentorship when he was a young man. Through his church, he had opportunities to experience the outdoors and outdoor sports that he wouldn’t otherwise have had.

"I'm not a teacher or a parent," says Grove. "More like a friend, but you have to follow the rules."

For National Mentoring Month, the Empower Knox team is helping showcase the value of mentoring in our community through a series of videos and social media posts. See how mentoring benefits the mentor, the mentee and our entire community.

Visit this list of resources to learn more about mentoring opportunities in Knoxville.

Posted by ptravis On 25 January, 2023 at 12:37 PM