An after-school program that teaches bicycle mechanics to neighborhood teens on the North and West sides has been given a boost by Mayor Rahm Emanuel after being dealt several blows in recent years by the Chicago Archdiocese and the state of Illinois.

On Sunday, Emanuel announced a partnership that will create 65 jobs for teens at a nonprofit bike repair shop in the Belmont-Cragin neighborhood that has been shuttered since earlier this year.

"There are tools and bikes there and the heat is on but nothing is going on," said David Pohlad, program director for Bikes N' Roses, which provides after-school and summer jobs for local high school students. The program's Albany Park location at 4747 N. Sawyer Ave. has stayed open with the help of teen volunteers. "What this new funding allows us to do is turn back into a program that has two locations and start working with our West Side youth again."

The Belmont-Cragin branch of Bikes N' Roses will reopen in time for summer employment season. The mayoral boost includes $96,000 from the city's One Summer Chicago program to fund 50 summer jobs and an additional $60,000 from the city's Out of School Time Project to keep some youth employed year-round.

This is the first time Bikes N' Roses, ( http://www.bikesnroses.org/ )a program of Communities United, formerly the Albany Park Neighborhood Council, has partnered with the city. Previously it received grant money from groups including the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.

But when the Illinois Coalition for Immigration and Refugee Rights endorsed same-sex marriage in 2013, the Chicago Archdiocese told the neighborhood council and 10 other groups that they must leave the coalition or lose their Catholic funding. Though it had no formal stance on marriage equality, the council chose to stay in the coalition, forcing it to give up a $20,000 grant and scale back the program. It has not applied again for funding from the Catholic campaign.

While not employing young people, the Albany Park retail store and repair shop did become relatively self-sufficient, inspiring program leaders to open the second location at 2010 N. Lawler Ave. The program acquired a grant from the Illinois Department of Human Services, but within months the state budget freeze halted that funding. Communities United has continued to pay the rent with hopes that the state will reimburse them when a budget is approved. But it has not been able to pay employees.

Bikes N' Roses is one of more than 150 sites across the city to provide 25,000 youth jobs this summer.

"It does not make up for the loss of state funding one to one, but we are excited about partnering with the city because we see it as an opportunity to have a sustained presence," said Anna-Lisa Castle, development director for Communities United.

Five adults and about a dozen teens from the North Austin, Belmont-Cragin and Albany Park neighborhoods will bike to Springfield in May to protest the budget stalemate and cuts proposed by Gov. Bruce Rauner.

"Even though we've had these losses the program is really resilient and there's a clear demand for it in the community," Castle said. "We always have young people walking in the door, and we've been able to offer affordable parts and labor and bikes. It makes biking accessible, and we're engaging young people."

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