WOONSOCKET –
Skills for Rhode Island’s Future has launched the Small Business HUB to help empower entrepreneurs and small businesses across the city.
Located inside the Woonsocket Education Center on Main Street, the HUB will offer a range of free services for local small businesses, including one-on-one business guidance, access to tools and training, and technical assistance.
Mayor Christopher Beauchamp said he was very excited to see the rollout of the HUB, which holds its grand opening on Wednesday.
"We want these businesses to grow; we need them to be staying here year-to-year, not month-to-month," he said. "How do we do that? The city has to support them."
The city itself provided upward of $80,000 in grant funding to SkillsRI, who used the money to rent out space at the education center for the next two years, said SkillsRI Executive Director Nina Pande.
Last month, Beauchamp heard the need for more support during five listening sessions with SkillsRI, small businesses and entrepreneurs.
"We took that all in, everything they had to say, all the suggestions. Help with payroll, product, legal assistance, whatever they needed," Beauchamp said. "And the HUB will help them navigate all these things a business needs to know."
"The HUB is a collective vision of [the mayor] and the City Council," Pande said. "They saw that the city needed this and helped us make the HUB happen."
In terms of operations, SkillsRI will be staffing a full-time employee at the HUB who will coordinate with small businesses on an on-demand basis, according to Pande. The HUB will serve existing small businesses looking to scale operations and entrepreneurs who are interested in starting a business in the city.
The need for such resources is especially pronounced in a small business's first few years of operations, Pande said, adding that every data point says the first three years is a make-or-break point for them.
"The goal is to increase the likelihood of success for those businesses in the early years," said Pande. "If we set them up for the first year or two of success, we're hoping our work will collectively shatter that data trend."
The Woonsocket Small Business HUB will be SkillsRI's first satellite location, Pande said. The Providence-based nonprofit launched the HUB in partnership with the city of Woonsocket, R.I. Office of the Postsecondary Commissioner, and the Business Empowerment Alliance of Rhode Island, as a part of a larger strategic investment in the economic development of northern Rhode Island, according to the nonprofit.
Another satellite location is expected to open in Central Falls in the near future, she said.
However, funding uncertainties amidst the federal aid and grant freeze is challenging the nonprofit's vision for a small business-powered Rhode Island.
"Our goal is to spread these HUBs throughout communities in Rhode Island. We are in talks with other municipalities who see this need to help small businesses as well. All of that is contingent upon funding. So, we're cautiously waiting to see where federal and state money takes us."
SkillsRI is the state's leading, demand-driven nonprofit workforce intermediary, that works to close the workforce skills gap in the Ocean State.
The HUB was launched in partnership with the Business Empowerment Alliance of Rhode Island, Rhode Island Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Rhode Island Black Business Association and Social Enterprise Greenhouse.
(UPDATE: HUB partners added in 17th paragraph)
Matthew McNulty is a PBN staff writer. He can be reached at McNulty@PBN.com or on X at @MattMcNultyNYC.
