Olathe Lowrider Bike Club expands to Johnson County Juvenile Detention

OLATHE, Kan. – The Olathe Leadership Lowrider Bike Club has been growing and now has 9 chapters across the country. On Wednesday, leaders cut the ribbon on the first club that will be housed inside a juvenile detention center.

The Johnson County Juvenile Detention Center wanted to partner with the Olathe Lowrider Bike Club to build bikes inside the facility four years ago. First, they had to figure out funding and safety and security measures.

“We had to look at what types of tools had to be brought in here and Erik’s program the genius of it is it has tools that are easy to manage,” Ellen Hawks, Director of the Juvenile Services Center, said.

The lowrider bike program started in 2016 for at-risk Hispanic students and has expanded to all Olathe students

For program founder Erik Erazo, projects aren’t as much about building a bike as building relationships and mentoring. He says what better place to provide leadership than where kids may have started down the wrong path.

“Kids have questions and they are going to find answers right but if an adult that’s there doesn’t give them those answers they are going to find them somewhere else. and we hope they get to ask those questions and get those answers from adults who care about them and lead them on right path so hopefully they don’t end up in an adult facility,” Erazo said.

In the school setting, students work on the bikes all through high school and take them home. Inside juvenile detention, the average stay is about three weeks.

“It is going to be a little bit different as far as how that’s going to work but it’s a team-building project, Erazo explained.

The detention center has 8 children currently detained who are excited by the program according to the center’s director.

“Everything we do is designed to make positive and meaningful changes and I look at this opportunity to really grab your attention peak your interest,” Hawks said.

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