PROVIDENCE – Innovation Studio, the Boston-based organization that oversaw programming at Olneyville's "Biz Bodega" small business resource center, has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
Biz Bodega, a partnership between Innovation Studio and Providence nonprofit One Neighborhood Builders, ceased operations more than a month prior to Innovation Studio's bankruptcy filing, said Kyle McKendall, a spokesperson for One Neighborhood Builders.
According to court documents, Innovation Studio had $27,538 in assets and $701,117 in liabilities at the time of its Chapter 7, or liquidation bankruptcy filing, dated April 8.
Ashley Medeiros, who now serves as the Ocean Tech Hub director under R.I. Commerce Corp., was the organization's president and executive director at the time of its bankruptcy filing.
Innovation Studio and Medeiros did not immediately return a request for comment on Monday.
Innovation Studio had previously notified One Neighborhood Builders that they would not be renewing their contract to provide services, McKendall said, but added that the community development organization had not been aware of Innovation Studio's deeper financial situation.
“That ceasing of operations [at Biz Bodega] was planned independently from our knowledge of any bankruptcy filings with Innovation Studio," McKendall said. “We had learned from Innovation Studio months prior that they were scaling back their Rhode Island programming and focusing on Massachusetts, so the [One Neighborhood Builders] team was very surprised at any notice of bankruptcy filing.”
One Neighborhood Builders, which owns the former Biz Bodega property, is otherwise unaffected by Innovation Studio’s bankruptcy filing, McKendall said. One Neighborhood Builders supplied the space to Innovation Studio free of charge, with Innovation Studio providing its own small business support programming and resources on-site.
The Innovation Studio website lists a seven-person team across Rhode Island and Massachusetts operations, as well as a seven-person board of directors. The organization also ran a brick and mortar "innovation center" in Roxbury, and another center in the Boston Seaport area from 2013 to 2023.
Innovation Studio and One Neighborhood Builders
launched Biz Bodega, located at 222 Manton Ave., in April 2022, envisioning the space as a "community hub" where entrepreneurs and small business owners could access resources such as a conference room; event, networking and coworking spaces; and a resident business specialist for walk-in services and scheduled programming. Though open to the broader community, the center focused on the needs of central Providence entrepreneurs.
But this concept of a brick and mortar resource center seemed to conflict with the needs of the Biz Bodega's target audience, McKendall said.
“The key takeaway of that program was that most small business owners are already strapped with resources and time," McKendall said, and “solo shop [owners] who can’t leave for a few hours to do a training or course at the Biz Bodega.”
Visiting shop owners at their locations “has proved a much more successful outreach program,” McKendall said, and will remain a focus among One Neighborhood Builders' central Providence team.
One Neighborhood Builders is currently exploring new opportunities to make use of former Biz Bodega space, McKendall added.
Jacquelyn Voghel is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Voghel@PBN.com.
