{"id":10650,"date":"2020-10-13T14:28:11","date_gmt":"2020-10-13T20:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/?p=10650"},"modified":"2020-10-28T16:16:49","modified_gmt":"2020-10-28T22:16:49","slug":"libraries-as-entrepreneurial-business-hubs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/articles\/starting-or-growing-a-business\/libraries-as-entrepreneurial-business-hubs\/","title":{"rendered":"Libraries Poised to Become Post-Pandemic Entrepreneurial Hubs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Loma
Rio Rancho’s Loma Colorado Public Library created a business hub where WESST offers workshops.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

When New Mexico libraries finally return to pre-pandemic\nhours and services, many will offer even more resources than they did in the\npast, especially to entrepreneurs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public libraries are ideal places to nurture people who want\nto start their own businesses: They are community hubs with deep roots, and\nlocal librarians are portals to knowledge, tools, and ideas that can create\njobs, build the local work force, and drive development. Libraries are trusted,\nsafe and welcoming spaces that offer culturally and economically diverse\npatrons free access to computers with internet access, meeting rooms, and other\nspaces where entrepreneurs can meet and brainstorm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Libraries can be entrepreneurial centers in some of the same\nways business incubators are, because they provide networking opportunities,\nvast resources and a platform for information sharing. And they can support the\nnext generation of entrepreneurs without the expense of building, maintaining\nand managing a separate, limited-use facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Such initiatives that broaden the use of public\ninfrastructure as a means of economic development are not new in New Mexico. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Loma Colorado Public Library created a business hub in\nRio Rancho by inviting local resource providers, such as WESST \u2014 a statewide business\ndevelopment and training organization, to hold workshops at the library. Rio\nRancho Mayor Greggory Hull, a former business owner, spoke at one library-based\nnetworking session to offer a firsthand account of what it takes to run a\nbusiness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other communities have asked for help from Creative\nStartups, a nonprofit organization whose Libraries as Launchpads program\nteaches librarians and local educators how to better serve creative\nentrepreneurs. Each year, Creative Startups selects several community libraries\nto host its online LABS program, which guides aspiring business owners from\nidea to business model to growth. Local librarians help participants access the\ninternet and become part of the program. Once engaged, participants interact\nwith program leaders and other participants who follow the same six-module\ncurriculum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Urban Libraries Council, a library advocacy\norganization, worked with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a nonprofit\norganization that promotes entrepreneurship, to create a framework by which\nmunicipal libraries can expand offerings to business creators. It\u2019s in keeping\nwith the Kauffman Foundation philosophy that lack of knowledge about where to\nbegin and difficulty navigating licensing, legal requirements, taxes and insurance\nare surmountable barriers to entrepreneurial opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The New Mexico Municipal League\u2019s Grow It program has\nsimilar ambitions. It has identified and mapped community-based entrepreneurial\nresources throughout the state and created a database for every New Mexico\nmunicipality to post on its own Grow It page. Members of the League\u2019s Library\nprofessional group have access to custom bookmarks that direct local library\nvisitors to their Grow It business resource page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As business owners and entrepreneurs recover from the\npandemic, they may only need to look as far as their local library for help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visit the Municipal League\u2019s Grow It website<\/a>. Read the Kauffman Foundation\/Urban Libraries Council’s Leadership Brief: Strengthening Libraries as Entrepreneurial Hubs<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finance New Mexico article 681<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Mexico libraries are poised to become entrepreneurial business hubs using Kauffman Foundation and other strategies. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[53,453,452,451],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10650"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10650"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10670,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10650\/revisions\/10670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}