PINE BLUFF, Ark. — Great minds think alike, and folks in Pine Bluff want to get all those minds in one place. City leaders there are talking about getting an Innovation Hub.
“In my time as an educator, I met so many students who had big ideas, who dreamed of owning their own business one day. And I also met adults who just didn’t have the resources and there were barriers that blocked them from going into their own business,” Pine Bluff Mayor Shirley Washington said.
She said there are programs at the local colleges, but the city needs to do more to support local entrepreneurs.
This year her office put out a call for the city to build an Innovation Hub, and Go Forward Pine Bluff answered.
“They had an impressive proposal that they would present if they were the operators of this innovation hub and they are poised to receive some grants to enhance their budget if they move forward with the innovation hub,” Washington said.
She hopes people can learn skills that can lead to a career, similar to the Innovative Hub she visited in North Little Rock.
“There were kids and they wanted to design some t-shirts for the little organization that they had a room where they would go and all they had to do was bring their t-shirts and they learned to design those t-shirts,” Washington said.
Mayor Washington hopes the innovation hub will give people the skills they need to start their own business and keep more doors open.
“As they open those businesses one storefront at a time, one business at a time, we get them operating and it helps to build the tax base. And the tax base will help increase the offering that we can provide,” Washington said.
This project would entail renovating a building on Main Street. Go Forward would provide funding for the project amounting near
“There will be a contribution that will come out of the city budget each year and then part of the rest of that will come from the grant that they are seeking,” Washington said.
The plan will be presented to city council members Monday night before anything moves forward.