An Exciting Proposal

We'll be growing! The Café is outgrowing it's Board Room, our microbusiness and self-employment classes are ramping up, and we know we could be doing so much more to help people in Pima County find work and start businesses.

The Library is seeking funding for a full-service entrepreneurship and job help center downtown at Main Library. We envision it will be a place where anyone can come get help, whether they're starting over, or a startup. We are planning rich resources and a variety of programming so that jobseekers and the business-curious could visit over several days and find something new every time.

Functionally, we expect this space will have a teaching lab, breakout rooms, and a meeting area perfect for the Catalyst Cafés.

What will it be like? We don't know yet, but we are looking at several existing library entrepreneurship centers in Arizona and around the country, as well as facilities for coworking.

Eureka Loft, Scottsdale Public Library

Here are some examples of what other libraries are doing:
Eureka Loft, Scottsdale Public Library   
ThinkSpot, Mesa Public Library
Digital Commons, Washington DC Public Library   
The CoWorking Space at Richland Library, Columbia, SC
Business Science and Industry Department, Philadelphia Free Library      
Small Business Center, San Francisco Public Library

And here are some coworking spaces we're looking at:
WeWork, NYC
Entrepreneur Works, Philadelphia, PA

Dogpatch Labs, Cambridge, MA
Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator, NYC   
GreenSpaces, NYC
The Yard, NYC
Vuka, Austin, TX

I want to make this planning process as open as possible, so watch this space for more news. --Lisa