Adams Hub business center moves forward under city management

CARSON CITY, Nev. — Adams Hub is reevaluating its services and mapping out a way forward now that Carson City has taken over the business center from its founder, the Hope & Mae Adams Foundation.

In May, the Board of Supervisors accepted a $1.1 million grant from the foundation to lease and run the downtown center for the next three years with the goal of becoming a self-sustaining facility the city can continue to operate.

The hub was put under the authority of the Carson City Library, and Valerie Cauhape, who oversaw Carson City Health and Human Services accreditation process, was hired as business development manager.

“I’ve had the opportunity to sit down with current and previous clients, mentors, and service providers, and talk about what made this place special,” said Cauhape. “We want to keep as much of the good stuff as we can.”

Now, Cauhape is working on Adams Hub’s master plan. A preliminary plan with three immediate goals was approved by the Library Board of Trustees at the end of July.

The first goal is to develop a more comprehensive plan in conjunction with the library’s master plan next year.

Another goal is to provide more workforce development for the Carson City community at large.

Cauhape is working on a schedule of workshops, some free, some with a likely fee of $15, to be conducted by members of the Reno chapter of SCORE, a national organization to help small businesses get off the ground.

“I hope to have a schedule fleshed out in the fall. We may start with monthly meetings and go from there,” she said.

Eventually, Cauhape hopes momentum behind that could lead to a Carson City SCORE chapter.

Cauhape is also working on more lunch and learns, free noontime events featuring various topic experts. On Aug. 27, for example, a representative from Webster Wealth Management, will talk about retirement planning.

The hub plans to offer a six-week series on social media marketing and planning to be held Thursdays, with the exception of Sept. 27, in the evenings. That, too, will likely have a fee for the general public.

The workshops and seminars are all free for Adams Hub members as part of their membership.

The third goal, said Cauhape, is to reassess internal programs at the hub.

Previously, the center offered office space in an incubator program. The office lease was $500 monthly, but renters had to provide an ongoing progress report on their startup businesses and meet certain goals to remain in the hub.

Cauhape is changing that to a more standard office space lease in which members pay $750 per month and have no obligation to report on their progress.

“The incubator program is on pause,” she said.

The other membership levels, based on shared working space, remain essentially the same.

New E, an entrepreneurial program for high school students run by Molly Dahl, is ongoing as well.

And Cauhape is working on rebuilding the center’s roster of mentors and developing an advisory board comprising members of the library board and other stakeholders, particularly from the business community.

“It’s a group we’re going to be checking in with to make sure we’re moving in the right direction,” she said.