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If you come across a one-of-a-kind bike on Rochester streets, know that there is a good chance that it is a vehicle for a youth determined to attain higher education.

Youths in Rochester are getting an education, both academic and practical, in a new group formed to provide an opportunity for self-expression and success in the classroom.

Collective Pata de Perro, a project of the Alliance of Chicanos, Hispanics, and Latin Americans (ACHLA), has begun a program in which youths fix up donated bicycles, paint them and ride. The youths also make sure that their schoolwork is attended to with one-on-one tutoring from college students.

RCTC student David Chaffee has been tutoring high school students through the ACHLA Juntos program for the past two years and has seen the sessions pay off as a teacher’s aide at Mayo High School.

“It helps big time,” said Chaffee. “The ones that have went to get tutoring have less difficulty in class because they already know the material.”

In addition to tutoring, Juntos also offers English classes to non-native English speakers as well as family cultural programs and activities.

ACHLA has worked with the University of Minnesota – Rochester to develop a youth mentoring program over the past few years. However, many youth had difficulty finding transportation to get to the tutoring sessions.

The bicycle program allows the youths to become responsible for their own transportation to meet with tutors. In addition to learning skills in bicycle mechanics and having a creative outlet among friends and community mentors, the youths are given tools to become more independent.

“(Pata de Perro) is a place that they can come hang out and have fun and create art and bikes, but also start to think about college. A lot of kids’ parents never went to college,” said Miguel Valdez, an organizer of the collective.

Though the project is hosted through ACHLA, many Sudanese and Cambodian youth also participate. The diverse group grew out of college readiness events for children of immigrant communities.

Greater public health is another positive outcome of getting young people active on bicycles. Valdez commented that there is a bicycle safety component to the program, which is designed in the model of the Scraper Bikes Movement in Oakland, California.

The collective meets twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays evenings at the Smart Ride Ecotaxi garage in the alley behind the Senior Center on the 100 block of north Broadway. The bikes are donated by various community members and organizations. Members of Justice and Opportunity for Youth (JOY) as well as Kiwanis have donated their time and talents in the garage. In exchange for the bicycle donations, the collective gives back a percentage of newly refurbished bikes to Kiwanis’ Pedalling Forward program.

Having existed for only one month, Collective Pata de Perro has begun to draw a group of about 20 volunteers and youth to be found enjoying a summer day while assembling, decorating, and testing out their new rides.

Paint is donated by the Rochester Art Center and a few artists volunteer to help the youth design their bicycles and create spaces to showcase their art.

“It’s fun to get to create stuff and do art around the city,” said Yiep Lam, a junior at John Marshall High School, who joined the collective recently.

In the coming month, Collective Pata de Perro can be found at:

•Cambodian Association of Rochester, MN Water Festival. August 18 and 19, 10 am – 5 pm at Silver Lake Park.

•Back to School Rally. August 21, 4 – 7 pm at East Park

•Latinofest: August 25th 12:30 – 5:30 pm at Rochester Civic Theater.

For more information on how to get involved or donate bicycles, visit www.facebook.com/CollectivePataDePerro or stop by 115 1/2 N. Broadway, alley suite 113, Rochester between 5 pm and 7 pm on Tuesday or Thursday.